Well, Dxr wants an update on my 2007 problem. I had to re-read my thread again to refresh my memory. That LED light that stays on when the car is shut off wasn’t the culprit. Couple months later after your last post, my car wasn’t starting again when not started for at least 3 days. Everyday starts fine though. So the current draw is still out there.
I gave up on trying to do this myself so I brought it to the “professionals”. The mechanic used some device to test the alternator. And to my surprise, the meter showed the alt is bad. They installed a rebuilted one then was on my way. So I did my own test and let the car sit for more than 3 days. It started!!! yah!!! That lasted for a good while until…
Couple months later when I tried starting it again after a three day vacation, It was not starting. So yeah problem still exsist. I’d have to use one of those handy jump starters to start it up. I just make sure I start it up everyday which is a pain when I don’t have to drive it at times.
Dxr- let my know too if you fixed your problem.
Quik specs:
1 year old red optima bat
4 months old rebuilt alt
battery ground cable replaced and engine grounds.
damn, so you still have the problem even now? Well, i unplugged that fuse, and iv’e let it set for about half a day and it started but that’s really no surprise. I do drive my car everyday, but i guess my draw is stronger than yours because mine will die within 1 day of not starting. Everything’s been starting up just fine right now, but i still get a very very slight start delay (like 1-2 seconds if even??) Not sure if this is just the nature of the redtop?? I just need to do a test like how FCM said to do it:
Make sure everything is off (Dome light, anything that needs constant power)
Disconnect (+) terminal
Put a light tester between positive pole and terminal
If the light tester turns on, there is a draw somewhere. Start pulling fuses to find your source
I haven’t gotten around to testing that one extra amp wire running from my battery… I’ll do that tonight or tomorrow and post up the results. Quick picture of engine bay…
-Notice the extra red wire running from the positive terminal. This is the one that runs into the firewall and had the fuse under my steering colomn.
-There is also an extra red wire from the (-) terminal and this wire bolts back into the firewall (not sure whyy?)
Bonus pix… please excuse the inaccuracy of the front plate.
I still have a current drain. I was thinking about using one of the “battery quick disconnect switch”. Does anybody have positive experiences with them? If I switch the knob to “off”, will I shut off the memory of the radio?
mine still drains too. I bought one of those car jumper things that will jump ur car by itself. but i drive it everyday, so it’s not TOO much of a problem. but if i don’t drive it for a few days… i need to bust out the jumper. =\
sorry to revive this thread but damn i believe it has something to do with the number 8 fuse under the hood. I did the multimeter test and find that to have the most current draw. I just don’t know what that fuse is for? Funny thing is that all three of us have the same red top optima… I think this is leading somewhere. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think Optimas cannot be charged like conventional lead acid batteries and that could be the reason why it’s dying over the weekend. During the weekdays the battery never gets charged to the top so it never lasts during the weekend.
I’m going to try this theory and see how it works.
Okay… here’s what I discovered. Aparently my problem was linked between the optima battery(red top btw) and the alternator. When the alternator was going out it took out the battery aswell but because optima batteries are deep cycle batteries, they are easily topped thus gives the impression that the battery is full. If I drove it every day, the car would start but as soon as I left it sitting for 12 plus hours then the battery would drain. I never looked into the alternator because it was recently changed so I decided to take my car to pepboys where one of my buddies ran a load test on their machine and found out that my car was running straight off the battery(thus leading it to its death).
In conclusion, when I first changed the alternator the battery was at the brink of death. By the time I changed the battery(2nd time around) the alternator has giving out aswell causing a mysterious draw. So since I had warranty left on both my alternator and optima, I just went ahead and swapped them out at the same time. Ever since I did this the problem never came back. Just last week I left the car sitting for 5 days straight and no dead battery.
I’m telling you I was pissed because everytime I went to school and came home I would have to unplug the battery. I even went out and bought a jumper pack and a 200amp relay to permanently disconnect the battery when the car was parked.
Not sure if this will work for you but it did for me so try it. I didn’t really understand the concept of how the battery and alternator was killing each other but the mechanic at pepboys said it had something to do with too much load when one of the two components went out.
oh one last thing. I don’t think that optimas give really good warnings as to when they are giving out. Next time I’m going to switch to a ever ready battery. Lead acid batteries are not great but they don’t have the slow cycle charge bs to mess with. I found nothing but headache with optima in my da. Good Luck to you Akira!
FCM thanks alot for your help man. I really appreciate it.
Jungle- Give me another update a couple of weeks from now. Let your car sit again for a week and let me know. I wanna be absolutly sure that your problem is fixed.
Cause my alt is just 10 months old. And my red top is a year old. Could be a bad rebuilt alt.
[QUOTE=91akira;1987273]Jungle- Give me another update a couple of weeks from now. Let your car sit again for a week and let me know. I wanna be absolutly sure that your problem is fixed.
Cause my alt is just 10 months old. And my red top is a year old. Could be a bad rebuilt alt.
Thanks[/QUOTE]
My alternator was only 6 months old when it went out. My red top was about a year old. That’s exactly what I said to myself from the beginning. This is my third alternator since I got this car. This is my 3rd battery aswell. My first battery was a duralast gold top(crappy piece of shit). Yeah I’ll post update again. I’ll try and leave the car alone but not sure if it’s possible because there is no vacation coming up.
Okay last weekend I was able to let the car sit from Friday to Monday. I didn’t drive the car until noon on Tuesday and the car started up just fine. Everything is in working the way it should now. I’m not exactly sure how this is but it’s still a mystery to me as well.
I even bought a relay to disconnect the battery from draining but I never installed it because the problem was solved. Good Luck to you and hope your problem is similar to mines.
FCM your presents is needed. I made other threads on this topic. I’ll bring it here for it has a better title. Anyways, I already found the source of my current drain. (fuses pulled one by one) My seat belt retractors are to blame. BTW, the mechanism works fine and dandy. But these solenoids are giving a mysterious current drain on the battery. There is a lifetime warranty on this but they’re incompetent and don’t see “anything wrong with it physically”. As I mentioned the mechanism still works.
With this seat belt retractor disconnected, ALL is good when starting after a week sit. NO DRAIN on batt. A bandaid fix sort of speak. Won’t save my life one day.
So I went to the yards and swapped it with SOOO many seat belt retractors and ALL gave the same current draw reading of 0.39 amps DC. Normal is 0.04a. I’ll never give up till this 2 year dilema is fixed. Help
Unfortunately I have no info on the auto seat belt system, but my guess would be the problem is not with the retractors but with the control module itself.94
The control module thats located down by the passenger kickpanel was swapped by four different integras. 3 from the junkyard and 1 from a known good one from a friends 91 Da. I did the meter test on his even before I took his module out. His read a normal 0.04a. When I installed his module on my car the test went to the same number i’ve been getting which is 0.39!!
Did you ever figure this out? I’m having constant battery drain too and I’m about to start taking fuses out 1 by 1. I have the autozone yellow top with a year old denso alternator and i had to get the battery replaced already and I had to charge the battery at autozone today. I’m stumped here.
91akira,
If you tested the unit in your friend’s car and it was okay and then put it in your car and it was too high, it’s your wiring. Somewhere along the way the wiring is maybe damaged and allowing current to “escape”.
[QUOTE=sry2say;2087194]91akira,
If you tested the unit in your friend’s car and it was okay and then put it in your car and it was too high, it’s your wiring. Somewhere along the way the wiring is maybe damaged and allowing current to “escape”.[/QUOTE]
Matt- Still have the draw. My bandaid fix was to disconnect the seat belt module. I swapped modules with known good ones. Still drawing power. I figured later it has something to do with my wiring which “sry2say” stated.
Sry2say- Where can I start first when looking for a damage wire? As you know there are huge network of wiring throughout the car. I don’t have much time on my hands to gut the interior. Can you help me pinpoint a known location of bad wiring?
