domonte Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Hi my 72 monte carlo was the subject of an engine transpant. It now has a 350 ci from an '85 chebby truck . there is a steady power drain on my battery, and always has been since, I was hoping you guys might have an answer for me: so here's what I know.) There was a bit of an electrical problem before, but it involved my external voltage regulator being at war with my internally regulated alternator. I just unplugged the external one and it seemed to work almost flawlessly so far; exept for this drain. I've never had any other engine in this car as I bought it with no engine. Anyone have experience with this problem? please let me know thanks -Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 1) Disconnect ground batterty cable 2) Put an ammeter in between negative post and cable end - cat switched off 3) if more than 25 milliamps, you have a drain 4) pull each fuse one-by-one from the fuse panel 5) check if milliamps drop after a specific fuse is pulled 6) your drain is somewhere in that fused curcuit(s) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monte70car Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Does the car have an aftermarket radio in or an alarm system? Aftermarket radios will draw juice even with the key off and its to keep the clock and memory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toppless72 Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 I agree with Robert on the aftermarket radio. I just identified this problem on a friends Blazer. His would kill a fully charged battery in two days if he didn't drive it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domonte Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 No It has no radio or any other additional electronic system of any kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domonte Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 Thanks I'm gonna try that this weekend; thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo's70MCs Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I'm going out on left field here. Have you done a load test on the battery? At times you have to start at the basics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domonte Posted March 8, 2013 Author Share Posted March 8, 2013 No the battery is new and I've already had it checked by 2 different places. I appreciate the idea though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo's70MCs Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Adam, what happens when you disconnect and reconnect the (+) cable? Do you hear anything, like some clicking, or perhaps can you see slight sparking when you introduce the connection. That right there would be a sign of a load. Another thought here is the VRs are criss crossed, you have to bi-pass the external completely away from the circuit. Perhaps you're leaving the field exited when it's not supposed to be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domonte Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 Traced the drain to the alternator...... simple effective easy fix lol . Thanx for the posts. !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stangeba Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 So the fix was replacing the alt with a rebuild unit? I would be interested in the "what" was shorted out. Was it the original that came with the car? I'm a nut for keeping the original parts and having them repaired vs an auto parts "rebuilt" unit but if it's already not original then it doesn't matter. (IMO) Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.