my car was loosing its "charge" if I let it set for any amount of time. I followed the shop manual and found out there is a short draining the system..via, a light bulb between the negative cable and negative battery post. The buld would light up indicating a short. SO I traced it down the pos. wire and heres what I found, when the ignition fuseable link is pulled(box on pos batt. post also contaning the mpi fuse) the bulb i was using would not light up any more...indicating a short in the wiring coming from this fuse. I did this connecting only one of the 3 pos battery wires at a time( straight one to starter, 90degree one with the 3 fuses and the one bent to the right going to the "air filter" fuse box) I went on to test the relays and fuses in the box located by the air filter, agian with ONLY this pos wire going to the battery. When I pulled the alt. fuse the light would go out, but im pretty sure that fuse provides power to the entire fuse box( pos wire comes from battery straight to it). So i put it back in and started pulling the rest of the fuses/relays. The batt fuse(bottem 40a) would cause the light to go out when I pulled it out. I figured that now im getting somewhere, but I dont know what to do next. I cannot tell where the wires coming from the batt. fuse or the ignition fuse go to....much less test to see the exact point where they are shorting out!!!! What should I do?? SOund like something that heppened to you??? BTW the alternator was just replaced along with the battery( my original suspects of the prolbem)! PLEASE HELP!!!!!
electrical short, Ignition and batt. fuses
Cam
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my car was loosing its "charge" if I let it set for any amount of time. I followed the shop manual and found out there is a short draining the system..via, a light bulb between the negative cable and negative battery post. The buld would light up indicating a short. SO I traced it down the pos. wire and heres what I found, when the ignition fuseable link is pulled(box on pos batt. post also contaning the mpi fuse) the bulb i was using would not light up any more...indicating a short in the wiring coming from this fuse. I did this connecting only one of the 3 pos battery wires at a time( straight one to starter, 90degree one with the 3 fuses and the one bent to the right going to the "air filter" fuse box) I went on to test the relays and fuses in the box located by the air filter, agian with ONLY this pos wire going to the battery. When I pulled the alt. fuse the light would go out, but im pretty sure that fuse provides power to the entire fuse box( pos wire comes from battery straight to it). So i put it back in and started pulling the rest of the fuses/relays. The batt fuse(bottem 40a) would cause the light to go out when I pulled it out. I figured that now im getting somewhere, but I dont know what to do next. I cannot tell where the wires coming from the batt. fuse or the ignition fuse go to....much less test to see the exact point where they are shorting out!!!! What should I do?? SOund like something that heppened to you??? BTW the alternator was just replaced along with the battery( my original suspects of the prolbem)! PLEASE HELP!!!!!
this might help*
I hooked all 3 positive connections back up to the battery and started removing fuses untill the light went out(using method described above), That allowed me to follow farther and farther away from the battery. the battery fuse I mentioned in the earlier post( engine bay fuse box) made the light turn off..actually it was extreamely dim, the fusable link had one white wire with a red stripe comming from it, it went below the raidatior and over to the drivers side of the car. Then into the space between the fender and the unibody of the car, into the interior behind the gauges/dashboard. Then into the junction box, aka"fuse box infront of the door". None of the fuses or relays affected the light. So i started pulling the connectors/harness' on the front of the box off one by one, replacing it after it did not effect the light. The only one that effected the light was a connector on the top of the box, it was actually the white wire with a red stripe when I removed it the light turned off, actually it was extreamly dim like when I pulled the batt fuse in the engine bay...................So with this additional info can some one take a good guess why none of the other connectors effect the light???The white wire w/red stripe is a positive wire that traces all the way back to the battery. So it is providing the power to the junction box, thought im not sure what actually uses the power...maby the taillight/blinker relays??
So PLEASE help me if you can make sence of this!!!!!
I hooked all 3 positive connections back up to the battery and started removing fuses untill the light went out(using method described above), That allowed me to follow farther and farther away from the battery. the battery fuse I mentioned in the earlier post( engine bay fuse box) made the light turn off..actually it was extreamely dim, the fusable link had one white wire with a red stripe comming from it, it went below the raidatior and over to the drivers side of the car. Then into the space between the fender and the unibody of the car, into the interior behind the gauges/dashboard. Then into the junction box, aka"fuse box infront of the door". None of the fuses or relays affected the light. So i started pulling the connectors/harness' on the front of the box off one by one, replacing it after it did not effect the light. The only one that effected the light was a connector on the top of the box, it was actually the white wire with a red stripe when I removed it the light turned off, actually it was extreamly dim like when I pulled the batt fuse in the engine bay...................So with this additional info can some one take a good guess why none of the other connectors effect the light???The white wire w/red stripe is a positive wire that traces all the way back to the battery. So it is providing the power to the junction box, thought im not sure what actually uses the power...maby the taillight/blinker relays??
So PLEASE help me if you can make sence of this!!!!!
so i thought about the testing mentod for a long time and heres what i think.....I understand how theroitically the light should come on when there is a short, the short allows the circuit to complete, energy travels from positive battery post to the ground, inturn "powering" the entire ground(car) so when you touch the light to the ground cable and the neg battery post it lights up....now it is actually completing the circuit. Once the short is fixed the power is no longer traveling through the ground, so the light will not come on....rember i got this method from the haynes repair manual!!!!!!!!!!! The reason I think this is not carrect is because or what barney said in his post....some things always have power..radio, ecu for example, so there is always a complete circuit.
So, would it work correctly to use a multimeter to test for contitnuity(sp?) between the pos battery cable and the negative( cables disconnected from the battery), then trace the power wire further and further untill i find the short???
PLEASE HELP ME!!!!! I've spent +12 hours messing with the light buld method and im extreamly worn out from tracing wires through out the cars many harnesses!!
So, would it work correctly to use a multimeter to test for contitnuity(sp?) between the pos battery cable and the negative( cables disconnected from the battery), then trace the power wire further and further untill i find the short???
PLEASE HELP ME!!!!! I've spent +12 hours messing with the light buld method and im extreamly worn out from tracing wires through out the cars many harnesses!!
I'm not sure if the Hayne's manual is correct but when I did the test the light came on too. The only way to turn it off in my case is to remove the room fuse. I decided to put back the fuse since my battery doesn't drain and it's hard to find the keyhole at night.
First of all, are you sure you have a problem? Like we've discussed, these newer cars are always drawing some power. How long does it take for the battery to go dead? If we are talking a matter of a few days here then what you should do, if leaving the car undriven for that long, is disconnect the battery.
actually the white wire w/a red stripe I was refering to goes from the battery fuse in the engine bay fuse box, into a harness, under the radiator, into the fender, into the interior and finally provides power to the interior fuse box..........but im pretty sure both the heater and clutch get their power from this fuse box.
BTW, KNOW WHERE THE TWO "SIGNAL" WIRES FROM THE ALTERNATOR GO????? not the 2 bigger gauge white wires that feed power back to the battery, the 2 small gauge wires that plug into the alternator.
BTW, KNOW WHERE THE TWO "SIGNAL" WIRES FROM THE ALTERNATOR GO????? not the 2 bigger gauge white wires that feed power back to the battery, the 2 small gauge wires that plug into the alternator.
Dude, check the MPI relay. I had a similar and the MPI relay was bad. A simple way to test it is to remove it when you’re going to bed or something and leave the battery connected. Get up in the morning and plug it back in if your battery isn’t dad the car will start up and the MPI relay is your problem. If the battery still dies after you do this then you have a sort elsewhere. Good luck with it.
It also goes into the fuse box by your left foot and powers 5 more circuts there.
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943 Posts
Short, continuity, drain, blah blah blah...........
What you have is a drain, connect the light between your neg. batt cable and your terminal and pull fuses. The big ones feed the small ones so start with those. When the light goes out trace that circuit to see what small fuses it feeds, replace big fuse, pull small fuses. Find out what components are fed by the small fuse that turns the light out, replace small fuse. Start removing components in that circuit until light turns out, replace that component.
You should NOT have enough of a constant drain to keep the light on. .075A is the most draw you should have and thats pushing it. To verify the amount of current flowing through your system hook an Ammeter between the neg. cable and the terminal.
All of this should be done with the doors closed and all courtesy lamps off. The comp has a sleep mode so the Ammeter is your best way to test since it does not draw current and keep the computer on. 30 sec should be enough to let the computer go into sleep mode.
DO NOT use your multimeter this way unless you intend on hurting yourself.
What you have is a drain, connect the light between your neg. batt cable and your terminal and pull fuses. The big ones feed the small ones so start with those. When the light goes out trace that circuit to see what small fuses it feeds, replace big fuse, pull small fuses. Find out what components are fed by the small fuse that turns the light out, replace small fuse. Start removing components in that circuit until light turns out, replace that component.
You should NOT have enough of a constant drain to keep the light on. .075A is the most draw you should have and thats pushing it. To verify the amount of current flowing through your system hook an Ammeter between the neg. cable and the terminal.
All of this should be done with the doors closed and all courtesy lamps off. The comp has a sleep mode so the Ammeter is your best way to test since it does not draw current and keep the computer on. 30 sec should be enough to let the computer go into sleep mode.
Sounds like you have a bad battery. If the battery won't hold a charge for more than 5 minutes its fucked.
The Proper way to test for a parasidic draw is to put an AMP meter between the Neg battery post and the neg battery cable (cable disconnected)
You put the DVOM(digital volt/ohm meter) setting to Milli Amp's and have the test leads on the AMP configuration. It should register less than 50ma.
Anything more than 50ma and you've got a large parasidic draw.
There will always be about 30-40ma being drawn off the IGN fuse. Normal. You can't just hook up a light and say "its drawing power" Its always going to draw power. That's the way it works. How MUCH is what the issue is.
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