need advice to what is causing my battery to drain?

[slo5.0]

i just bought a new battery 3 weeks ago and now im having the same problems i was having with my old battery. Ok i put a battery in 3 weeks ago and on my way home the other night lights got dim and chugged as if it was the alternator but i had that tested it came out fine, i rewired some old fraid wires from the alt and cleaned the posts and terminals and now even after jumping off my battery charger it wont turn over unless i charge it for a couple hours even doing that it turns over a few times and stops. what could it be??

[Ford Fan]

It could be a lot of things. The easiest way I've found to find it is to get yourself an amp clamp. Hook it up to the negative battery cable with everything turned off, and take a reading. If you have any more than 500ma draw its considered excessive. Start pulling fuses one at a time until the draw goes away. This will tell you what circuit the draw is on, then put the fuse back in and start disconnecting items on that circuit until you find the culprit. Usually, it will be warm to the touch. I've seen the solenoids on the fender stick, I've also seen fuel pump relays sticking. Depending on the quality of battery purchased it could be the new battery is bad as well but not likely.

[iamtheshaner]

Fan's drain directions are pretty much spot on but it sounds to me like the car won't even keep a charge while it's running....which isn't characteristic of a parasitic drain. Sounds like a charging system issue to me. Cable ends would be the #1 thing to look at..... try voltage dropping the fat red wire from the alt to the batt. (on lead on the wire at the alt and one lead on batt +)You want .5V or less.

Otherwise I'd look a bit more at those "frayed" connections you had....... still a few possibilities yet. Perhaps a more detailed description of the symptom?

[gutlas5]

It could be a lot of things. The easiest way I've found to find it is to get yourself an amp clamp. Hook it up to the negative battery cable with everything turned off, and take a reading. If you have any more than 500ma draw its considered excessive. Start pulling fuses one at a time until the draw goes away. This will tell you what circuit the draw is on, then put the fuse back in and start disconnecting items on that circuit until you find the culprit. Usually, it will be warm to the touch. I've seen the solenoids on the fender stick, I've also seen fuel pump relays sticking. Depending on the quality of battery purchased it could be the new battery is bad as well but not likely.

/thread

[slo5.0]

sweet thanks. idk this car has a mind of its own i checked the main red wire on the alt which was shit so i got new wire and fixed it up best as possible but it seems to work. new possitive battery cable, had the solenoid on the inside fender checked for ohms and it was good. the day i did all this i charged it and turned over a few times then stopped like i said, so the next day i go out and put the charger on jump mode and she started right up haha idk what that was about i did that the night before haha. so im finally putting a volts gauge in tomorrow MUCH NEEDED, thanks everyone