97 Taurus Battery Drain

[jlbee]

After a few days my battery will drain in my 97 taurus GL. Sometime I can go weeks and nothing happens, car starts just fine. I tried to isolate the problem by connecting a test lamp in series with my negative battery post and pulled the fuses one at a time. The test lamp never dimmed so I am not able to detect the problem. Can anyone help me. I would appreciate it very much.


Jerome

[wrightz28]

How bright was the light? Probably not a parasitic draw problem, but a undercharging problem.

[reddon231cars]

i had the same problem on a 97, after extensive checking, found it to be the small box behind and connected to the fuse box. hope this helps. don

[jlbee]

The light is quite bright, like a normal bulb. What do you suggest I do next. Thanks for your help

[shorod]

Do you have a hood light, and if so, was it removed for your test light test? Any bulb, like a hood light, glovebox light, trunk light, interior light will cause the test light to glow quite brightly.

Did you pull all the fuses, or only the ones in the cabin fuse panel? You may want to start with the maxi fuses and relays under the hood to see if one or a combination of them will cause the test light to dim. If so, determine which fuse/fuses caused the light to dim and zero in on that/those circuit(s).

If none of them cause the light to dim, unplug the alternator (I know, easier typed than done) and see if that has an effect. If not, then get a current meter and see how much current you are really drawing. Maybe you have an extremely sensitive test light (or one that's also intended to be bright at 6V).

-Rod

[jlbee]

Thanks a lot, I will do all of those this weekend and let you know what I find.

[MyTaurus8AChevy]

Originally Posted by jlbee

Sometime I can go weeks and nothing happens, car starts just fine.

This is also a symptom of a bad plate in a battery that's about to go bad. Before going through all of that work listed above I'd replace it with one that is known to be good and see what happens. You cannot test this with a meter. Once a battery has been fully discharged it will never be able to retain a full charge again. You might also be able to test it at one of the local car parts stores like Murreys, Auto Zone, ETC.