cobrak69 Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 I have a 94 that is all of the sudden killing batteries at random. Sometimes it is fine for days and other times it will kill a battery in a matter of minutes. I assume this is some sort of short, but would anyone have any idea where to start looking or any devises in the car that could cause this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAC Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Have you checked the battery cables for corrosion? If not, that's where you should start. Maybe it's not a short; instead the positive cable is corroded at the connection point to the positive terminal and under the rubber insulation. Also, check the negative cable for a bad connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobrak69 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Have you checked the battery cables for corrosion? If not, that's where you should start. Maybe it's not a short; instead the positive cable is corroded at the connection point to the positive terminal and under the rubber insulation. Also, check the negative cable for a bad connection. I have checked that, but it wouln't explain killing a battery. This car is draining a battery to less than 9 volts, if the car wasn't starting but the battery was charged a loose conection would have been my guess too. This thing drained a NEW battery in less than an hour, and it was red cap gel battery at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epricedright Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Sounds like a bad alternator. Any codes? Check your wiring connections and fuses first (there may be a maxi-fuse for your alternator?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobrak69 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Sounds like a bad alternator. Any codes? Check your wiring connections and fuses first (there may be a maxi-fuse for your alternator?). Would a bad alternator kill a battery without the car running? What I am saying is, I can put a NEW battery in and an hour later it woiuldn't light up the dome light. The car was never started and the key was never on. Headlights are off, no hazards, etc. It seems to me like there is either a short or something wearing it down to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenJ Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 AGAIN: Sounds like a bad generator. Disconnect it and see if the battery continues to discharge. There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. - Ludwig von Mises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobrak69 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 AGAIN: Sounds like a bad generator. Disconnect it and see if the battery continues to discharge. I will give that a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAUL T Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Have you checked to see if maybe a glove box light, visor light, or trunk light is stuck on? Has anyone added a new radio? Have you checked for any diagnostis codes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobrak69 Posted October 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2006 Have you checked to see if maybe a glove box light, visor light, or trunk light is stuck on? Has anyone added a new radio? Have you checked for any diagnostis codes? No glove box lights on, Alt. is good, so I am back to square one. I am sending it to a Auto Electric shop Monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
growe3 Posted October 28, 2006 Report Share Posted October 28, 2006 It is hard to think of anything that could drain a battery in an hour, that would not melt wires and/or cause a fire. Even headlights can usually be left on for an hour or more, and still have enough battery to start the car. I would advise you to carefully check the positive cables for corrosion. Disconnect the negative cable first. Disconnect AND SEPERATE the two POSTIVE cable loops. The cable loops can be pull out of the plastic protector for thorough cleaning. All connections need to be clean and bright. Use a small wire brush (brass preferred) to scrub the terminals bright. Washing soapy water and a complete rinse off. Make sure negative cable to the block is clean and tight. Reconnect the positive cables Make sure doors are closed and headlights are off before reconnecting the battery! When connecting the negative cable watch for sparks. A small/tiny spark when first connection is normal. Remove the cable then reattach, you should not get a spark. Any short or load large enough to drain the battery in an hour will show a LARGE spark when connecting the cable. Final note, even new batteries can be defective. -George Drive'em like you own 'em. - ....................04 DTS............................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fred Posted October 28, 2006 Report Share Posted October 28, 2006 Sounds like a bad alternator. Any codes? Check your wiring connections and fuses first (there may be a maxi-fuse for your alternator?). Would a bad alternator kill a battery without the car running? What I am saying is, I can put a NEW battery in and an hour later it woiuldn't light up the dome light. The car was never started and the key was never on. Headlights are off, no hazards, etc. It seems to me like there is either a short or something wearing it down to do that. How come you put a new battery in and didn't start the car right away? Did you get your hands greasy working on things and not want to get in the car... or.. ? I don't see how you could have a drain that would kill the battery in an hour without something noticable going on. I think your new battery wasn't charged. Charge the battery see what happens Clean the cables at both ends and/or replace those bastads MerryChristmas Be a Capitalist or work for one. Work for a Capitalist or be one. MerryChristmas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenJ Posted October 29, 2006 Report Share Posted October 29, 2006 What I am saying is, I can put a NEW battery in and an hour later it woiuldn't light up the dome light. The car was never started and the key was never on. Headlights are off, no hazards, etc. It seems to me like there is either a short or something wearing it down to do that. Okay, I understand that you *can* put a new battery in, but *did* you? Gotta rule out a dead battery here. Since it's not intermittent, this problem can be easily solved. The easiest way to approach this would be to use a "clamp-on" ammeter probe at the battery and pull fuses/relays until the battery current draw drops. I'm guessing you don't have a clamp-on ammeter probe. In that case, pop the negative cable off your battery and connect a 12 volt "test light" between the negative battery terminal and chassis ground. It will light if any current is being drawn from the battery. Pull fuses until the lamp goes out. Investigate the last circuit whose fuse was removed before the lamp went out. Regards, Warren EDIT: With the ignition "OFF," the batterry current draw should be LESS than 60 ma. There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. - Ludwig von Mises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted October 29, 2006 Report Share Posted October 29, 2006 As George said, that is a heck of a drain. When you connect the battery connections, did you get a BIG spark? A drain that large should produce a big spark when the connections are made. Disconnect the negative cable and touch it to the battery (when the battery is FULLY charged ONLY as it can give off gas when its dead), see if there is a large spark when you reconnect the negative cable. Warren provides a method of finding the drain if you have one. Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fred Posted October 29, 2006 Report Share Posted October 29, 2006 As George said, that is a heck of a drain. When you connect the battery connections, did you get a BIG spark? A drain that large should produce a big spark when the connections are made. Disconnect the negative cable and touch it to the battery (when the battery is FULLY charged ONLY as it can give off gas when its dead), see if there is a large spark when you reconnect the negative cable. Warren provides a method of finding the drain if you have one. Yea and the gas can explode BLAM MerryChristmas Be a Capitalist or work for one. Work for a Capitalist or be one. MerryChristmas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadian95sts Posted October 29, 2006 Report Share Posted October 29, 2006 I believe that the dealer has a special connector they can hook up inline with your battery cables that will help diagnose a parasitic battery drain. I will try and find the tool number for it and post if i can find it. Matt The GM tool number is J 38758, See below for the procedure. At the end it shows a table for what the draw from each vehicle systemn should be. This is for a 96 STS but should be about the same for your 94?. Matt Notice Do not turn the parasitic draw test switch to the OFF position with the engine running. Damage will occur to the vehicle's electrical system. Notice The test switch must be in the ON position when removing the fuses in order to maintain continuity in the electrical system. This avoids damaging the digital multimeter due to accidental overloading, such as a door being opened to change a fuse. Important The switch knob on the J 38758 is marked ON and OFF. When the switch knob is in the ON position, the circuit is closed and electrical current will pass through the switch. When the switch knob is in the OFF position, the circuit is open and electrical current will not pass through the switch. Disconnect the battery (ground) negative cable from the battery negative terminal. Install the male end of the J 38758 to the battery ground (negative) terminal. Turn the J 38758 knob to the OFF position. Install the battery (ground) negative cable to the female end of the J 38758 . Turn the J 38758 knob to the ON position. Road test the vehicle and activate all of the accessories, including the radio and the air conditioning. Park the vehicle. Turn the ignition switch to the OFF position and remove the ignition switch key. Set a digital multimeter to the 10 A scale. Connect the digital multimeter to the test switch tool terminals. Turn the J 38758 knob to the OFF position. The current to flows through the digital multimeter. Wait one minute. Check and record the current reading. When there is a current reading of 2 A or less, turn the J 38758 knob to the ON position. Continuity is maintained in the electrical system. Then, switch the digital multimeter down to the 2 A scale for a more accurate reading when the J 38758 knob is turned OFF. Turn the J 38758 knob to the OFF position. Wait 10 minutes. Check and record the current reading. Note the battery reserve capacity. Refer to Battery Usage. Divide the reserve capacity by 4. Compare this to the multimeter milliampere reading taken in the previous step. The parasitic current drain should not exceed this number. Example: If a battery has a reserve capacity of 100 amperes, the current drain should not exceed 25 minutes. Check the charging system if the vehicle has an acceptable amount of current drain and the vehicle battery was weak or failed a load test. Refer to Generator Not Operating Properly . Notice The test switch must be in the ON position when removing the fuses in order to maintain continuity in the electrical system. This avoids damaging the digital multimeter due to accidental overloading, such as a door being opened to change a fuse. When the vehicle has an unacceptable amount of parasitic current drain, remove each fuse one at a time until the current drain falls to an acceptable level. This will indicate which circuit is causing the drain. Refer to Power Distribution in Wiring Systems to diagnose exactly which part of the suspect circuit is causing the parasitic drain. In some cases a non-fused circuit or component, such as a generator, is the cause of excessive parasitic current drain. Repeat the parasitic current drain test procedure after any repair has been completed to make sure that the parasitic current drain is at an acceptable level. When the cause of the excessive current draw has been located and repaired, remove the J 38758 . Connect the battery (ground) negative cable to the battery negative terminal. Tighten to 15N·m (11 lb ft). Component Cellular Telephone Module 0.75 Approximate Current Draw (mA) 1.0 Maximum Continuously Variable Road Sensing Suspension (CVRSS) Module 0.75 1.0 Dash Integration Module (DIM) 1.0 1.5 Electronic Brake and Traction Control Module (EBTCM) -- 1.5 Inflatable Restraint Sensing and Diagnostic Module (SDM) 0.75 1.0 Instrument Cluster 4.0 6.0 Instrument Panel Integration Module (IPM) 0.75 1.0 Left Front Door Module (LFDM) 0.75 1.0 Memory Seat Module (MSM) 0.75 1.0 PASS-Key® III Theft Deterrent Module 0.75 1.0 Powertrain Control Module (PCM) 5.0 7.0 Radio (IRC) 5.0 7.0 Radio Amplifier (Base) (UX8) 1.0 2.0 Radio Amplifier (Bose®) (UX9) 1.0 2.0 Rear Integration Module (RIM) 0.75 1.0 Remote Keyless Entry (RKE) Module -- 3.5 Steering Column Tilt/ Telescoping Module (TTM) 0.75 1.0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...BUT, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "darn...that was fun!" www.madd.ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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