Hi everyone, Here in the north country many are putting their cars up for the winter whilest I'm still dealing with my 68, 289 2brl auto. I still can't trust the ol'e girl to venture too far from home. The alt. is good Battery in less than two years old (durablast) and I keep it charged with my charger and when parked, neg cable disconnected. Everything electrical is turned off and I notice that when I touch batt.cable to batt I see a tiny amount of spark. This tells me something must be draining juice with everything turned off. It has no clock either. Where is the best place to find the problem of a constant drain or is it normal for a few sparks to jump at the batt terminal? I have other unresolved issues such as fuel gage not going up to full.It has a new sending unit and tank and when I disconnect wire from tank and ground it to the body and turn the key on it goes to full so I don't trust the gage either. I ain't gonna give up so I 'm asking for advice. Thank you so kindly for any help from fellow enthusiasts. Herb in Michigan

 

Hi Herb,
The only thing that comes to mind is the alternator or the radio. Try disconnecting one then the other to see if the spark stops. The fuel problem sounds like the voltage regulator.
You can get one here cheap:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...%3AMESELX%3AIT

 

We can tailor a special plan of attack for you to help you custom troubleshoot your problem. We can call it the Hoover Maneuver. It works like this step 1 is to make sure its not an obvious problem like a glove box light that is stuck on. In the dark make sure you dont see any light sources. Step 2 involves the use of a multimeter if you see spark you are correct to assume that something is drawing power but it could be capacitors in say your radio chagrining up...we don't really know so simply set your multimeter to amps and touch 1 lead to the - post and one lead to the - cable. You must do this with the cable removed from the post so the MM completes the circuit and power goes through the MM. You should see no more than .05 to .10 amp draw.

Next we have to test the charge circuit. Simply hook the battery cables up and set your MM to V DC and test across the + and - battery cables you should see no less than 13v with the engine running. If yes then your charge circuit is OK.

Buying a digital mulitmeter is the best thing you can do for yourself it will pay for its self directly.

Execute the Hoover Maneuver as directed and report back

Happy hunting

-Gun