fastbackford351

So out of the blue my 02 GT started acting up. The alternator is putting out between 13.8-14.2V so that's looking good.

The battery is just over a year old and takes a charge just fine but I am getting some significant arching when I connect the terminals to the battery posts and by significant I mean a lot more than usual so there is a draw somewhere.

I checked all the stupid stuff I could think of but found nothing. I left the battery in the car last night, fully charged and this morning when I started it up it barely had enough juice.

I'm scratching my *** and blinking at this point so does anybody have any ideas where to start to look for my gremlin?

Thanks.

chillindamost

Do you have the mach 1000 stereo? My vert top leaks and I have a draw from my amps getting wet. If you pull the fuse for the mach amps you can see if the draw goes away. The other common draw is if a diode in the alternator fries you will get a draw. I am sure others will pipe up, but that is my situation.

fastbackford351

Thanks.

petrock

Here is a very easy step by step instructions on how to pin point a parasitic battery drain like yours. http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain. You can pick up a multi-meter at most auto parts stores or radio shack or electronics store for under $30. You don’t need a hyper accurate meter like a Fluke meter. Just something that can read below 50 milli-amps (0.05 amps), which most can.

fastbackford351

Great link.

cliffyk

One note, it can take our cars 40 to 45 minutes to "go to sleep"...