Brand new battery quickly drains

NEICE SKAER

MEMBER
1996 GMC YUKON
5.7L
V8
4WD
AUTOMATIC
300,000 MILES

Added 134 for A/C. Started using A/C.
Next morning five year old battery was drained. Purchased new battery and replaced the old one. Ran an errand maybe fifteen minutes long. Did not shut off truck until I returned home. Five hours later the battery was dead. I mean no power at all, no head lights or any power. So I charged battery and swapped the alternator. The next morning cranked right up and drove down the street went inside for about thirty minutes then I went to leave the truck battery was completely dead again. Pulled alternator went have it checked. Test came back good so is put it back. I tried the test light test with removing fuses with no luck. Surviving by removing positive battery cable each time I park for the last couple of days. Truck starts fine once reconnected.

4 Replies

NEICE SKAER

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Had oil changed today. Noticed oil on starter. No problems with starter so far. But another forum stated it could be a starter problem since it has oil on it.

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Tuesday, June 12th, 2018 AT 11:37 AM

ASEMASTER6371

MECHANIC
52,797 POSTS

Good evening.

As far as the truck, you need to check for a drain. A test light tests voltage. Voltage does not drain the battery, current flow drains a battery.

You need to remove the negative cable and put a volt meter in line. Set it on the DC amp scale. Let it sit for about thirty minutes and then check the reading. A normal reading is 50-75 milliamps. If it is more, then remove your fuses one by one until the reading goes down to normal. Then you identified the circuit. Then you need to see what the fuse controls to further find the failure.

As far as the second post, no the oil will not cause a draw.

Roy