[B]Electrical problem keeps draining battery. Please Help![\B]

[Wannabe777]

i have an 89 accord dx coupe, and ever since i bought it, 2 years ago, it has had a short or something in it which drains the battery when it is connected. so every night i have to disconnect the battery so that it won't become weaker. i would be much happier with this car if this problem did not exist. a guy at a car lot said i might have something to do with the cooling fan staying on after the car is shut off, but my cooling fan doesn't even work. i put in a new fuse for the cooling fan and it worked for like a week, but then the fuse blew again so i said screw it and took the fuse out. i have no idea what to do. a couple shops have tried looking for whatever is causing the problem but can't find one. if anyone has any ideas, please tell me. if not, tell me how to connect something to the battery so i can switch the power on and off from inside the car. a complete power kill. so that nothing is on and the battery can't be drained. i'd like to know what i need to make something like this and how to do it. i hope someone can help me. i see potential with this car, but say why bother with a problem like that. thanks---Jon

[smufguy]

okay, if ur car's battery is draining, then here are the two things u need to look into.

1) Draining battery
2) Bad alternator not charging battery.

1) Draining Battery:
This is hard since electrical systems are a bitch to get to. Since u have a DX not too much fancy electical stuff going on there. Best way to check if the battery is being discharged by an external source, get a test light, (a bulb with wires) and put it inline with the positive terminal on the battery to the positive cable (cable unhooked) and see if the bulb glows and stays like that for a long time. IF the bulb does glow, then short could be anywhere, check in the engine bay first to see if there are any bad grounds, as in frayed wire, single wire just hanging out of nowhere, or frayed wire touched body parts. Then go to the inside and check ur radio (if u have one) and see if its grounded properly and what not and do the same to the back.

2) Jump the car up, and get out a voltmeter and check to see how much the voltage are on the battery terminal. Check this after the engine has been warmed up and is at the normal operating rpm, 700 - 850rpm. It should be around 13.4V or above, even 13V is not that bad if the alternator is old. if the voltage is around 12.5 and stuff, then ur alternator is not being able to recharge the battery good. Also, u can get a free electrical check up after this home test, at Autozone.

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

Since all of your car's electrical systems get their power from the under-hood fuse box, you can easily check which particular system is causing a drain. As mentioned by smufguy, connect a test light inline with the positive battery lead and then sequentially remove the fuses in the underhood fuse box. One of the fuses is bound to stop the drain. Look on the fuse box cover and see which system it controls. After that you can narrow down the problem and fix it. Hope this helps.

[Neukam]

Since all of your car's electrical systems get their power from the under-hood fuse box, you can easily check which particular system is causing a drain. As mentioned by smufguy, connect a test light inline with the positive battery lead and then sequentially remove the fuses in the underhood fuse box. One of the fuses is bound to stop the drain. Look on the fuse box cover and see which system it controls. After that you can narrow down the problem and fix it. Hope this helps.

It is also possible that the alternator itself is causing the drain. If pulling the fuses does not stop the drain, try disconnecting the alternator.

[shepherd79]

It is also possible that the alternator itself is causing the drain. If pulling the fuses does not stop the drain, try disconnecting the alternator.

I totaly agree with that. On my old car, alternator was draining the battery. i changed it and it was fine.

[Blkblurr]

I had the same problem on my 86 prelude. the alternator was draining the battery.

[gekko]

i had the same problem with my car , first changed the alternator and it was abit better but not good enough then changed the battery to a Optima red top ... now iti's just peachy :thumbup: