Sucks a battery down.

[anomoly40]

My car will drain a battery and destroy a alternator like a bauss. I've tested it out by taking the negative cable off and hooking it up to a multimeter in a series with the radio, automatic belts, and interior light fuses undone and it still pulls 1-2 volts when its warm but not when its cold. It goes down when the MAIN fuseable link is pulled also.

Its a 93 EFI 5 speed.

[georgeb]

Sounds like an electrical problem (rimshot). Did you try removing all the fuses then seeing if the cable still sparks when lifted from the batt? If it doesn't you can put an ammeter between each of the 2 fuse terminals to detect a drain. Use an analog dash ammeter because it sounds like a large short. Also, was the voltage drop present when running, off or either?

[anomoly40]

Pull fuses doesn't do anything. The Main Fuseable link pulled drops the voltage. But she. The car is cold there isn't a drain detected but when warm there is. Same with voltage across terminals, its 13 cold and 9 when warm.

[georgeb]

The battery itself may be shorted. If it's okay, then you have to look at a wiring diagram and see where the wires go after the + on the starter and unhook conections one at a time. Did you find any burnt wiring? I don't know much about Festiva electrical quirks. Been lucky.

[anomoly40]

I unhook the main link and it drops. Unhooked as many connections as possible without success.

[georgeb]

I have a '93 FSM if you need me to look up something. Are any of the fusable links hot? If you remove the + wire from the link panel does it spark? Does the battery cable spark when removed or are you just looking at a voltage drop? Whatever is the cause of the short it must be something that's not fused.

[anomoly40]

Yeah. So what comes off the main wire and is changes voltage when engine heats up?

[georgeb]

The alternator.

[eurotiva]

If you can't fix it with a hammer.............then it must be an electrical issue....Just sell it..

[anomoly40]

Might as well.

[georgeb]

I reread your original post and am confused as to the way you tested. I've never heard of hooking up a multimeter in the current stream unless you are checking amperage. I can't believe that the instrument was not ruined. Please explain your procedure.

[anomoly40]

Car is off. Pull negative cable. Pull fuses for interior lights, radio, and automatic belts. Then hook multimeter up with the ground(black) wire going to the negative post and the anode(red) wire going to.the cable. This way there shouldn't be anything draining off the battery unless there is a wire grounded that shouldn't be.

[georgeb]

And you've been using the voltage setting for current draw? You should have it set for 10 amps. If the multimeter is part of the circuit it's amps that it's reading. I would connect the cable and check the batt voltage, sitting, running, cold, hot. Also when cable is removed or connected, spark will be heard if there's a short or load. The louder the spark, the greater the short or load (something on).

[anomoly40]

I've tested the alternator plug and while the ignition is on and the car is off, im getting one wire at 11.9v and the other wire at 11.0v from the same ground. Shouldn't they be the same voltage since they both come off the battery? The 11.0v wire is the wire that goes to the ignition.

[georgeb]

Not necessarily. I'll check my FI car tomorrow to see if they're different.