OK, I have it narrowed down to the fuse that handles the dome light. With the fuse in, it draws 13 volts. With the dome light bulb removed, it drops to 10 volts. Interestingly, the bulb was warm to the touch. What else is on that circuit? Does anyone have a wiring diagram of this so I can find all potential sources of drain?
dome lite do you have any courstey lites under the dash that lite up at nite when you open the door ??, is it possible on the headlite switch that if you turn it one way or the other it keeps the dome lite lit with the door closed. the headlite switch is bad ?? , I had one the switch on the pass. door was shorted out an cauing a draw .
I will look at that. I KNOW it has something to do with the domelight, but "where?" is the question. Currently, the fuse will stay out, to minimize drain.
You cannot measure current drain with a volt meter. You must hook up a amp meter in series with the battery cable and battery post. The 10 volts your measuring is just a difference of potential between the battery post and chassis ground, also affected by the meter itself putting a slight load on it. In parellel circuits, which just about every circuit in a car is, voltage is constant. Most meters have a 10 amp scale so hook that up and see what your getting.
Mavaholic, What about the warm dome light and the reduction in volts drawn when I took the dome bulb out? Something is drawing when the key is off. and it is associated with the dome light (or the wire to it). When I set the meter to 15mA DC, it read ZERO, despite the 13v draw. My meter may be screwed up...I don't know. Until then, that fuse is pulled. I will live without the dome light for a while, until I figure this out.
Just because your reading voltage, dosent mean there is any current flowing. If you take a battery sitting on the work bench and hook your meter to it, you will read voltage. But there is no current flowing other than the small amount through the meter. You need to understand that voltage is just a difference of potential.
I understand the difference between volts/potential and amps/current. But I don't understand why my meter is not reading current when it is set to 150mA DC, yet the domelight bulb is warm (but not glowing) when the door is closed and key is off. Starting to sound like my on/off switches at the door(s) may be not going completely off, as ronr was saying. When I take out the bulb, the 13v drain drops to 10, and then to 0 (or at least less than 1) when the fuse is removed. So there IS some drain through that circuit.
On my meter I have to move one of the probe wires into another hole to set the meter up to read amps. Is yours like this? Plus as stated the meter has to go between the batter and the load. So one probe on the battery post and the other probe on the wire or load. clint
I don't want this to sound too stupib but are you sure the bulb is'nt hot from being turned on before you checked it? Or is the car sitting outside to where the sun is heating up the roof and the bulb? Don't take this the wrong way, just asking because it is something like I would do. lol clint
oh , an the draw reading should be taken from the NEG. side of the battery, remove cable an put tester tween battery post an cable( whith the cable off the battery ) I was told if you do it on the postive side of the battery you get a FALSE reading ???? ,
Thanks for the encouragement...I also sometimes do stupid things like pull out the dashboard and check the wiring on my heater blower BEFORE checking and finding the blown fuse (true story, took a couple weeks to complete that job!) I also checked to make sure there wasn't some light or switch in the trunk, where the battery is, so I closed the trunk lid while the wires were hooked up. I disconnected the battery before I opened the door, so the light had no chance to come on. As far as the false reading, since I pulled the fuse and got a near-zero reading, I am pretty sure that my problem is on that circuit. I use my positive terminal because it has a quick-release lever on it to pop it off without tools. I will tell you all what i found if i get a chance to work on it today. But I have lots of paperwork I am swamped in, and may not get a chance today. Thanks for all the suggestions and help.
The Wire Is Black With A Lt Blue Tracer And Goes To The Headlite Switch And To The Lf Door Switch Do You Have A Door Buzzer In Yours?
