"Ever since" That was the the WORST possible phrase to have uttered in an auto service office. Typically, it would go something like this "EVER SINCE you changed my oil, I get a noise while braking", or "EVER SINCE you tuned up my car, the radio reception has gotten terrible". I swear %90 of the time, it was totally unrelated to anything we (as mechanics) had done to the car. I figure that when the customer got the bill for all of the work we had done, they just wanted to complain about SOMETHING!

Well, EVER SINCE I fixed my Wifes AC, the battery has been going dead. In all honesty, it started even before I re-installed the "repaired" HVAC Head. She took the car with no HVAC/Radio/Lighter/etc... and the next morning the battery was dead:

I now have an electrical problem in my Wifes car. It started when she took the car before I even put the HVAC/Stereo/ETC back in (see my AC problem thread). The next morning the battery was dead. There is a decent 'draw' with all items turned off in the car (as evident with a 'test light') placed in series between the negative battery terminal and the negative cable terminal.

I have pulled all of the fuses from the box and found that it only goes away when #1 fuse (Fuel Pump/Engine Control) is removed (I have taken out the radio while working in the fuse panel). I have the battery on charge currently and will test it later to see if it just happened to go bad at the same time as me working on the AC. I also will get out my Multimeter and see how many Amps the 'draw' is.

BTW: Yes, the battery is old and No, I haven't gotten it fully charged to determine if it just happened to fail at the worst possible time (right after a unrelater electrical repair). I am off on vacation next week, and I have only done 'preliminary' diagnostics to the car. I just figured that I would put this out there in case there was a 'typical' problem with a draw on the #1 fuse (does anyone know what a 'typical' draw would be? Measured on a Mutlimeter in series between the neg. cable terminal and the battery.

-Thanks, Ken

The typical draw on a car should be like .005 Amps or something like that.That is for the radio and sruff like that.

Once you start checking with the volt meter remove the fuel pump relay and see if the Amps drop.

A couple of times I have seen the relay mess up.

Let me know what happens.

Well, the battery isn't fully charged, but very close and it tests fine (500 CCA after ten seconds load). When I hook my Amp meter up, I 'only' see 0.02 Amps draw. That seems to low to be a problem. Also, I notice that when I unplug the #1 fuse, the draw goes away, and then when I plug it back in, it stays away. That is until I pull another load (such as turning on and then off the parking lights, or opening and closing the door). Once another load shows up (as a lighted test light in series), it will not completely go away until I unplug the #1 fuse again.

Removing the Fuel Pump relay had no effect. The draw stayed. As a matter-of-fact, I tried removing all the relays and no difference. I also had disconnected the alternator, as I have heard that a bad alternator can cause a draw. I also disconnected all of the positive leads and found that only the one with 3 red wires has the draw (the main 'starter' cable, the 'single' grey cable, and the other one (I can't remember at the moment)) draw no current from the battery.

Any idea where I can get a good set of wiring diagrams? Haynes? Chilton? On CD Rom? Any info would be apprecoated.

Thanks, Ken

**EDIT**: I see where you say a typical draw should be about 0.005, I guess I am 4 times the 'normal'. I recognize it isn't right, but I will have to see what happens tonight...

Keep me posted.

Also if you have the dome lights that pause when the door is closed take that into consideration as well the draw will stay for a while.

It might be more informative to put multimeter in place of fuses - one by one than on battery itself

ie remove all fuses and check amps one by one, and while you are there I would plot the FLA for each circuit for future ref, ie turn on heater fan and record for speeds 1 to 4 or whatever - amazing how it can tell of disasters about to happen