About a month ago, my fiancées 1994 cavalier started killing the battery in about a weeks time. Since the battery was five years old we just thought it had finally went out because it was so dead it wouldn't even charge. We replaced it and about a week later it was dead again, down to 10% charged.
I tested the alternator with my tester and then took it to parts store for them to test and it showed it was charging at a high rate, about 15.6 to over 16 volts so we replaced it under the lifetime warranty. A week later the battery is dead again.
So now I finally get smart and use my multimeter inline with my negative battery cable and the negative battery post and find that I'm getting a 95 milliamp draw with the interior lights off and door closed. This car also has a switch on the dash to operate the dome lights which was turned off. I start pulling fuses one at a time and find that the CTSY fuse circuit is what is causing the draw. The things that are on this circuit are: Interior lights, Horn, Power Locks, Audible Warning system, remote liftgate release(which this car does not have) and the Check oil light.
I thought that it might be either the power locks(since they would click and make noise when you would attach the negative batter cable back on the battery with the door open and the CTSY fuse in) or the Audible Warning system because the key in ignition alarm would still sound after taking out the key with the driver's side door open. Ignition switch was just replaced which also deals with this alarm and the battery still drained down so I don't think it's that.
I went to the junkyard and got another Multi function alarm module which is part of the audible warning system since it has a speaker in it and the dinging noise comes from it. I installed it and still the same draw at the battery. I disconnected all of the connections I could find in the driver's side door and the dome light switch in the dash with no results. I disconnected the horn pad and that did nothing.
I disconnected a big black connector that is mounted right next to the alarm module and the battery draw went back to normal. This black connector has tons of wires on both sides and I can't really tell where it goes since it's up under the dash on the driver's side. I have not taken the passenger side door panel off to disconnect all of it's connections but I don't have high hopes that it will solve anything.
This car also doesn't have the typical door jamb switches for the dome light but rather a door handle activated switch which I don't know how it works because with the door panel off, there are no switches mounted to the back of where the handle attaches and I can't see anything else in the door that would be a door switch.
so I'm kind of at a standstill. I'm not the best at diagnosing electrical stuff so what else should I be doing to try and track this issue down? Thanks for any input or advice.
I tested the alternator with my tester and then took it to parts store for them to test and it showed it was charging at a high rate, about 15.6 to over 16 volts so we replaced it under the lifetime warranty. A week later the battery is dead again.
So now I finally get smart and use my multimeter inline with my negative battery cable and the negative battery post and find that I'm getting a 95 milliamp draw with the interior lights off and door closed. This car also has a switch on the dash to operate the dome lights which was turned off. I start pulling fuses one at a time and find that the CTSY fuse circuit is what is causing the draw. The things that are on this circuit are: Interior lights, Horn, Power Locks, Audible Warning system, remote liftgate release(which this car does not have) and the Check oil light.
I thought that it might be either the power locks(since they would click and make noise when you would attach the negative batter cable back on the battery with the door open and the CTSY fuse in) or the Audible Warning system because the key in ignition alarm would still sound after taking out the key with the driver's side door open. Ignition switch was just replaced which also deals with this alarm and the battery still drained down so I don't think it's that.
I went to the junkyard and got another Multi function alarm module which is part of the audible warning system since it has a speaker in it and the dinging noise comes from it. I installed it and still the same draw at the battery. I disconnected all of the connections I could find in the driver's side door and the dome light switch in the dash with no results. I disconnected the horn pad and that did nothing.
I disconnected a big black connector that is mounted right next to the alarm module and the battery draw went back to normal. This black connector has tons of wires on both sides and I can't really tell where it goes since it's up under the dash on the driver's side. I have not taken the passenger side door panel off to disconnect all of it's connections but I don't have high hopes that it will solve anything.
This car also doesn't have the typical door jamb switches for the dome light but rather a door handle activated switch which I don't know how it works because with the door panel off, there are no switches mounted to the back of where the handle attaches and I can't see anything else in the door that would be a door switch.
so I'm kind of at a standstill. I'm not the best at diagnosing electrical stuff so what else should I be doing to try and track this issue down? Thanks for any input or advice.