I can't figure out what's killing my battery!!

[Rickiv]

Hey everybody, got a question:

My 84 K-10 with a 350 is having a problem. First off, it runs perfectly fine. But something is draining the battery when it's just sitting in my driveway. I have to jump it off every time i try to drive it. It'll turn over, just not all the way. It's got a new battery (3 weeks old), a fairly new alternator (3 months old), a new starter (1 month old), and new battery cables. I had to put a cheap alternator and starter in it because it's my daily driver and that's all I could find on short notice. I'm hopefully going to get some good ones soon to replace those crappy re-manufactured parts with soon.

I'm thinking I've got a wire grounding out somewhere but don't have any idea where to look. I've looked at every wire I can see under the hood and only found one the was bare. I wrapped it in electrical tape and made sure it was well away from any metal it could arc with. I just don't have a clue where I could look next. Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Rick

[Irish_Alley]

where you having this problem before or after swapping the alternator, starter and battery?

[Rickiv]

Now that I'm thinking about it, it's all been since the new starter. I put the new battery in thinking my old battery was just getting weak.

[Captain Swampy]

Take the battery cables off overnight. You'll know for sure it's not the battery then, if it starts. Sounds like maybe a bad starter solenoid if the problem began with the starter. Hopefully under warranty yet.

[TheWaterboy]

Have you tried checking to see if voltage is going to the starter when the key is out?

[Homeofchevy]

Hey everybody, got a question:

My 84 K-10 with a 350 is having a problem. First off, it runs perfectly fine. But something is draining the battery when it's just sitting in my driveway. I have to jump it off every time i try to drive it. It'll turn over, just not all the way. It's got a new battery (3 weeks old), a fairly new alternator (3 months old), a new starter (1 month old), and new battery cables. I had to put a cheap alternator and starter in it because it's my daily driver and that's all I could find on short notice. I'm hopefully going to get some good ones soon to replace those crappy re-manufactured parts with soon.

I'm thinking I've got a wire grounding out somewhere but don't have any idea where to look. I've looked at every wire I can see under the hood and only found one the was bare. I wrapped it in electrical tape and made sure it was well away from any metal it could arc with. I just don't have a clue where I could look next. Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Rick

Before you start it touch the alternator and see if it's hot. I got one once that was constantly drawing the battery down and when it would fail it would max out my volt meter. It's worth a check



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[Macaroni_Sackaroni]

try hooking up a multi meter to your batt and checking for a power drain if you think your alternators good.
orielly auto parts and i think autozone checks for free.


i just bought a 75 stepside c10 from a guy who did a motor swap and the wires look like heck. it killed my battery in three days sittin the garage, brought it to oriellys auto parts they told me i had a bad batt problemm, bought a new batt ...!!problem solved!! jk nope... the c10 killed a cell within 4days (luckily i bought waranty on the battery) they gave me a FREE new one and i hooked up a multi meter found a draw started pulling fuses and found i had a short within my heater/ac circuit.

anyways it just helps to have a multimeter in the garage and in this case it would prob help you save $$$ since you prob have a short somewhere if its not your alternator. id check anything electronic thats not working in your truck first.

id at least suggest avoid having to buy a new battery or jump start your truck every mornin.. you should at least disconnect the batt every time your not using it. when you do and if one of the batt terminals sparks you may have a short circuit/ parasitic draw.

also last advice is if you DO end up buying a new battery from autoparts store, get warranty! if you have a power drain and it messes up your battery then you just get a free one (at least based off orielly auto parts policy)

[AZ4X4SQBDY]

A multimeter is ok for checking but it gets old getting out and checking it each time if your leads are not long enough, I disconnect the positive cable from the battery and hook a test light in between the positive connection and the battery. If you have a draw, the light will be on, then I pull fuses and disconnect circuits until the lamp goes out. Also, disconnect the alternator, if it has a bad diode it can still charge but cause a draw with the key off.

[Macaroni_Sackaroni]

A multimeter is ok for checking but it gets old getting out and checking it each time if your leads are not long enough

yeah i had to go through that routine because the leads weren't very long like you said. the multimeter barely made it to the windshield, but luckily i only had to pull about 5-7 fuses and found the issue pretty fast.

[blazer74]

Cheap test light you can see from the cab works fine   also.

[bd]

A multimeter is ok for checking but it gets old getting out and checking it each time if your leads are not long enough, I disconnect the positive cable from the battery and hook a test light in between the positive connection and the battery. If you have a draw, the light will be on, then I pull fuses and disconnect circuits until the lamp goes out. Also, disconnect the alternator, if it has a bad diode it can still charge but cause a draw with the key off.

Cheap test light you can see from the cab works fine also.

X3

With the advent of on-board electronics, the inline test light is a better choice over a voltmeter for this method.  A voltmeter can indicate a problem when none actually exists.