Parasitic draw, fully charged battery will die overnight

Tiny
TRISCUIT
  • MEMBER
  • 1986 TOYOTA PICKUP
  • 2.4L
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 120,000 MILES
Freshly charged battery will die overnight and not even have enough juice to turn on any lights.

I’ve since disconnected the negative battery cable and hooked my multi-meter up to both the negative cable and the negative battery post and this initially showed about 4.2 amps. I pulled every fuse both in the engine compartment and in the cab and the amps did not change.

I then checked again to make sure everything was clean and connected very well and got 7+ amps on the multi-meter! This is with everything turned off and the door ajar buzzers disconnected (even though they don’t work but that’s another issue). I went through and pulled all the fuses again and still, no significant drops on the multi-meter's screen.

I believe this leaves my alternator as the only parasitic draw point in that it may be drawing energy back from the battery when the vehicle is turned off. The alternator charges the battery fine and I get a reading of about 14.2 volts from the battery when the engine is running. However, my p/s pump was leaking onto the alternator and may have messed things up internally. I’ve since replaced the pump.

How do I verify that it is, in fact, the alternator causing the drain?

If it is the alternator, how do I know which parts to replace? The alternator is less than 4 years old and has been used for fewer than 2,000 miles.
Thursday, May 21st, 2020 AT 4:37 PM

5 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,916 POSTS
Start by unplugging the connector on the side of the generator. If the draw goes down, the voltage regulator is shorted internally and is not turning off. On the rare chance nothing changes, disconnect the large output wire at the back of the generator. For that one to have a draw would require one of the three diodes in each of the two groups to be shorted, but that would put a dead short across the battery and would result in the fuse link blowing.

The red arrow in the diagram is pointing to the output wire. The blue and orange wires are pointing to the circuits that power the voltage regulator and where it senses system voltage. All three of those are tied right to the battery.
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Thursday, May 21st, 2020 AT 5:13 PM
Tiny
TRISCUIT
  • MEMBER
  • 76 POSTS
Hey Caradiodoc, thanks for responding to my question. I'm going to check into that today and see how it goes. Fingers crossed.
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Friday, May 22nd, 2020 AT 4:43 PM
Tiny
ASEMASTER6371
  • MECHANIC
  • 52,797 POSTS
Good afternoon,

I would start by using an amp meter in line to determine the draw.

Remove the negative cable and put the red lead of your meter to the cable and the black to the battery negative.

Then set the meter to DC amps and read the current flow. It should be 50-75 milliamps. If it is more, remove the fuses one by one until the current draw drops to specs.

Roy
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Saturday, May 23rd, 2020 AT 9:48 AM
Tiny
TRISCUIT
  • MEMBER
  • 76 POSTS
Hey Roy, thanks for responding but I’ve actually already done all of that and wrote it in my original post. I’m down to the alternator.
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Saturday, May 23rd, 2020 AT 11:08 AM
Tiny
ASEMASTER6371
  • MECHANIC
  • 52,797 POSTS
Okay, which fuse did you pull to get the drop-down to spec?

I would remove the big red wire off the alternator and recheck the draw. If it drops to normal, that is the issue. If it does not, you need to retest.

Roy
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Saturday, May 23rd, 2020 AT 11:11 AM

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