Can't find my battery drain

[188slo50]

I did some test and came up with this . I unhooked the negative battery terminal and hook a test light to the battery and touched the core support , it lights up so this tells me I have a drain. I start pulling wires off the hot side of the starter relay , the lght goes out when I pull the yellow wire that turns into 4 wires . I hook this wire straight to the battery and light comes on ,as I get into the car to start looking the open door chime starts dinging . While it is dinging ( battery ground wire still unhooked ) the test light flashes the exact same time it dings every time . I unplug the plug at the steering column the light goes out a little more but the door chime is still dinging it keeps going until I take the key out of ignition. What the hell is going on ??

[nitrostangracin]

I did some test and came up with this . I unhooked the negative battery terminal and hook a test light to the battery and touched the core support , it lights up so this tells me I have a drain. I start pulling wires off the hot side of the starter relay , the lght goes out when I pull the yellow wire that turns into 4 wires . I hook this wire straight to the battery and light comes on ,as I get into the car to start looking the open door chime starts dinging . While it is dinging ( battery ground wire still unhooked ) the test light flashes the exact same time it dings every time . I unplug the plug at the steering column the light goes out a little more but the door chime is still dinging it keeps going until I take the key out of ignition. What the hell is going on ??


It is very hard not to get frustrated when dealing with Electrical issues. Go ahead and unplug the Dorr Chime and see if the draw goes away. You need to unplug it, and then check the test light again. Keep the door closed as it creates a draw with the door switch.

[188slo50]

the other day when it chimed the negative baterry cable wasn't even hooked up, so how did it get its power and is this part of my drain ? How does the chime get its power ignition switch plug?

[nitrostangracin]

the other day when it chimed the negative baterry cable wasn't even hooked up, so how did it get its power and is this part of my drain ? How does the chime get its power ignition switch plug?



An Alternator can store some residual voltage in it. Some electronic components throughout the car will have there own ground circuit. Until that voltage disperses it can still chime.

[Sphinxmunkey]

An Alternator can store some residual voltage in it. Some electronic components throughout the car will have there own ground circuit. Until that voltage disperses it can still chime.

Unhook the battery cable and sit on the brake pedal for 30 seconds, usually clears the ecu and should do away with any residual voltage...

[nyfreakinrican7]

Let me get this straight. You start trouble shooting a drain by disconnecting the neg side of the battery and using a test light. I'm just trying to understand I am not familiar with finding shorts in wiring and I need to learn. My cars battery will die after like 2-3 days of not driving it and there is nothing visibly powered up while the car is off.

[Sphinxmunkey]

Yours sounds like a dead cell, take your car to advance auto and get them to test the battery and alternator... if you don't know its free and takes 3 minutes.