Complete battery drain

[garlandl]

I have an 86 Grand national and have had some problems with my battery draining over a couple of days. My battery was completely dead last week and would not even take a charge. I presumed that the battery was bad and bought a replacement, installed it, and drove the car for the weekend with no problems. Parked the car during the week and when I got in it 4 days later the new battery had been completely drained and also would not take a charge. I have never seen a battery do that and can not figure out what is causing the problem. I pulled out the fuse that goes to the trunk/dome/engine lights, stereo and cigarette lighter. It seemed to slow the drain on the battery and it seems to be holding a charge but I cannot figure what would cause such a drain to kill the battery completely. The only thing I can think of that has changed recently (but not the same exact time) is I installed a cigarette lighter housing that I purchased while at the nationals. Any help would be greatly appreciated...I am at a complete loss and extremely frustrated!
Thanks,

 

[ELLISDALLASWE4]

Go to my site Home then on the lower left click on battery drain....

 

[TurboDave]

Along with the possibility of the radio clock problem, you might want to check and see if your trunk light is staying on when the trunk is closed. You don't have to close the trunk all the way to check this. It should close as you bring the lid down to a point just low enough to get your head in there and see if the bulb is still lit.
Same with the hood light.
Something is staying on somewhere.

 

[HP Man]

An Easy Check. Disconnect a battery cable, put an Voltmeter in series (between the cable and battery post), it will show a volt reading, remove each fuse until VM reading goes to zero, that circuit is the culprit. If that doesn't work then the drain isn't fused, like shorted wire, etc. I've traced many drains using this method. Check first before trying the guessing game. HTH GL Gene

 

[garlandl]

Thanks Dave, The car has an aftermarket stereo in it since I purchased it, so the clock should not be the issue, but thanks for the help. I have been monitoring the voltage drop with a voltmeter and that is how I pinpointed the circuit that seems be the culprit. I guess from this point it may just be a process of elimination for everything on that circuit. Just thought I would throw it out there to see if anyone else had experienced the same problems. Thanks for all your input...it is always appreciated.

 

[Phoneguy]

I would check the cig lighter wire. Mine melted after having too many amps pulled through it. Good luck

Bryan

 

[novaderrik]

the voltage regulator in the alternator can go bad and cause a constant drain. is the alternator case hot after a few hours of sitting?