How do I look for a short?

[Mighty Thor]

Something is draining my battery on my Fiero. I had my battery replaced last week because it was completely drained and can't be charged anymore. My new battery is still being drained and I can't figure out why or where the short is coming from.

[T-Mill]

Re: How do I look for a short?

How quickly does it drain? If it's noticeably drained just overnight, I would start by pulling all of your interior fuses, and if the drain is still there, then you know it's not after your fuse box, if it doesn't drain, then you can start eliminating things one at a time using your fuse box... either way it's the quickest way I know of to start eliminating things...

other than that it's a matter of visual inspection and some work with a multimeter. I'm sure there are other tricks, but doing this helped me whenever I had a short in my 89 Cavalier, which was about once a month lol

good luck

[Mighty Thor]

Re: How do I look for a short?

Hey thanks Tommy. I will try that.

With the new battery it takes about 3 days to completely drain it. I will pull all the fuses out.

How did you fix your cavalier?

[kristen]

Re: How do I look for a short?

i've been going threw the same things with the camaro for years now. always had it in my head that it was probably the electic water pump or sub and amp or something. but since they are both gone now....i still have the problem. takes my camaro about 5 days to die. never really bothered me since the car never came out...

what did you do....replace all your fues?

[v6droptop]

Re: How do I look for a short?

i've been going threw the same things with the camaro for years now. always had it in my head that it was probably the electic water pump or sub and amp or something. but since they are both gone now....i still have the problem. takes my camaro about 5 days to die. never really bothered me since the car never came out...

what did you do....replace all your fues?

fuses wont cause a short
they only protect the wiring and components if you get a short or overload.
Think of it as a throttle limiter for your electricity.

I like using a test light or buzzer in series with the negative.
Pull all the fuses and hook a test light in series with negative cable
and negative terminal on battery.
If you get any light short its between fuse box and battery.
if no light then plug fuses in one at a time.
When you get a light youve found the circuit with drain in it.
Make sure everything is off and dome light bulb is pulled.

[Mighty Thor]

Re: How do I look for a short?

fuses wont cause a short
they only protect the wiring and components if you get a short or overload.
Think of it as a throttle limiter for your electricity.

I like using a test light or buzzer in series with the negative.
Pull all the fuses and hook a test light in series with negative cable
and negative terminal on battery.
If you get any light short its between fuse box and battery.
if no light then plug fuses in one at a time.
When you get a light youve found the circuit with drain in it.
Make sure everything is off and dome light bulb is pulled.

I like that idea.

[Rob Bell]

Re: How do I look for a short?

I did a test similar to this but used my multimeter. Turned out it was the alternator, it had a short or whatever, and it was pulling about 1.5 amps.... enough to drain the battery over night.

[bluex]

Re: How do I look for a short?

fuses wont cause a short
they only protect the wiring and components if you get a short or overload.
Think of it as a throttle limiter for your electricity.

I like using a test light or buzzer in series with the negative.
Pull all the fuses and hook a test light in series with negative cable
and negative terminal on battery.
If you get any light short its between fuse box and battery.
if no light then plug fuses in one at a time.
When you get a light youve found the circuit with drain in it.
Make sure everything is off and dome light bulb is pulled.

Just remember things like the radio and pcm constantly draw power to their retained memory. Dont let those circuits fool you. Other than that, this is the way I do it also.

[dmw319]

Re: How do I look for a short?

ditto for me here. a good test light and about 30 minutes and you should have it.