ClintB

I have a 1987 LX 5.0 with 90,000 miles that has something draining the battery to the point it will not start after sitting only 2 days or so. The battery is new, 6-06 and this happens after a full charge. I checked the fuses and found a small amount of current draw from the radio/conveniencelight group, which I'm guessing is from the radio memory. I also found a small amount of current draw from the horn/cig lighter fuse, but nothing caught in lighter either. Any suggestions?
Second, the car idle seems to surge when first started even with all accessories off. Now it is cutting off after it is warmed up when you star it and it is is park unless you give it gas. Not sure if this related to the oter peoblem or not. I had the battery and alternator checked and they were good. Should I beef up to a stronger alternator instead of the stock one? If anyone else has had this problem or a clue to which way to look for solutions it would be very much appreciated. I just bought this car less than a month ago and would like to work out all the bugs ASAP. Thanks

randy78045

Are you sure the battery is ok... [:-]

nitrous_bob

does it have underdrive pulleys that you know of? the easiest way to tell if you don't know is to look at the crank pulley.....if it is about the size of the harmonic balancer it is stock, if it's much smaller, it's an UD

also....do you have a big stereo ? big stereo + UD pullies will be a dead batt all day long. especially in the winter.

you can try pulling the cig lighter fuse (not sure what else is affected though) and see if it still happens after a few days or eliminated.

you can cut in a batt kill switch...then you can permannently band-aid the problem, cuz there would never be a draw unless your driving and then who cares

i doubt the radio memroy would draw that much........have you checked to se what the voltage is when the car is running ? the alt should be putting out about 14 volts....anything over 12 is good, 13 is better.

the idle could be many probs...low voltage being one of them.

ClintB

I am getting at least 13 with alt. I'll have to check to see about the U/D pulleys. It has a normal kenwood stereo, no amps or anything special. I pulled the fuses out to the items I mentioned were drawing current and still had the problem? I'm going to have both the battery and alt checked again today. I replaced the battery cables and cleaned all the connections also. Thanks for the quick replies.

nitrous_bob

i would guess the batt is fine, and the alt seems good too.

not much trouble to test them though.

i would have to say possibly a bad ground somewhere...but gonna be hard to track it down.

pull 1 fuse at night, and see what happens...do the same one for a day then switch it up, al least narrow which circuit it is.

the alt is internally regulated, and possibly causing the problem even though output seems ok. autozone will test for free, and it's an ez r&r

good luck, sorry i can't offer any help.

91stanger

Mine had a similiar problem, turned out a crappy old alarm was draining the battery!

jcfsixx9

i had the same problem with the battery draining after it sat for a few days, turned out it was the vanity lights in one of the sunvisors staying on.

3gearburn

alternator test will not check shorted diodes

89Ford

this is a common problem

85_HO_GT

most places dont "load test" they just make sure your battery took a charge, taking and holding are 2 different things. never think that just because its new, its good. plenty of times i have replaced parts and the new part was just as bad as the old one.