For those of you that have not been keeping up on parts 1 and 2 of this saga: Battery is being drained within 24 hours. I have replaced the battery, alt, volt reg, solenoid, all battery cables and terminals... still it drains. I found out that the meter my uncle gave me was a Sperry SP-152A Multimeter. The only problem is, I have never used one before. What I did was disconnect the battery cables and put one prod on each of the cables to check for a draw, and of course there was one. Im not sure exactly what setting to put it on, but I found that when it was on the OHM setting it made it move! Now this is what I dont understand... I took out every fuse and it still showed a draw. I dont get it! is that suppose to happen? I have a long list of things to do from all the people that have helped me so far, but I have come to a hault with this fuse thing. I may just be using the Multimeter improperly, but if not... what else could it be???
I'll say: 1. put multimeter on DC-AMPS 2. at starter selonoid, disconnect all wires from the 2 BIG lugs. 3. measure current from battery + to each wire. also see my post in pt 2 with key off look for voltage to ign system
Never hook a multimeter to a voltage source while in the Ohms setting it will burn up the meter. The ohms setting is used to measure resistance and continuity Here are a couple of tips sites I found for Multi - Meters http://www.techguys.ca/howto/multimeter.html http://www.casemodgod.com/multi-meter.htm
That was a HUGE help!!! Thank you so much! OK, so here is what I figured out... I disconnected everything from the solenoid (starter cable, wires going to alt, wire going to inside of car, and wires leading somewhere I didnt follow). The only one I found with no draw, was the wire where I didnt know where it went. There was draw coming from the starter cable, wires to the alt, and from the inside of the car. From there I did the "spark test". I connected each one individually to the solenoid and looked to see which one made a spark when the positive battery cable touched the terminal. The only one that did it was the one that led to the inside of the car. The spark stopped when I DISCONNECTED the electric choke on my Carb. Now see, here is where I get confused... It didnt start to die until after I put on the new Carb and elec choke, but that was the first thing I took off when it started to drain, and it drained even after that so I threw that idea out. I think a large portion of the drain could have come from the elec choke, so how do I hook up the choke so it wont drain the battery? But some may have been coming from the other things and draining an already weak battery. Does that sound about right?
I'll bet that if you check the coil, you have voltage there as well. Probably ignition switch. The electric choke is powered on when the key is in the run position.
The choke was wired to a red wire that runs from the solenoid to the insdie of the car. There is only draw on that wire when the choke is connected. What else would be powered on when the key is in the run position? So if the ignition switch is bad, it would be powering the choke, the alt, and the starter? That would explain why each of them are showing draw. How would I go about checking/disconnecting/fixing the ignition switch?
The ignition switch is at the base of the column. There is a slightly curved connector which is for the turn signal switch and horn. The second connector is for the ignition switch which is a small box with a rod connected to it going up toward the ignition lock cylinder. You may want to reference Charlie's wiring diagrams to help chase the problem down they are for a 70 but are pretty close. http://www.geocities.com/cping3/WiringDiagrams.html I have a NOS underhood harness that I will look at afterwhile and see if I can help further.
I will look into how to test those. Meanwile look into replacement cost. When in "off" position there should be no continuity between any two terminals.
So you are thinking that it isnt the choke itself that is putting out the spark, but the fact that the ignition switch is left in the "on" position that is making the choke stay on? So a simple way to check this would be to disconnect the switch and see if there is still a spark when the choke is connected? And if there isnt then I know the ign. switch is bad, but if there is then the choke is just drawing juice from it somehow. Does that sound about right?
Do as you said, if you still get a spark after disconnecting the ignition switch, disconnect the choke and check again.
I did exactly that... I disconnected the ignition switch and the spark on the terminal was STILL there. I disconnected the elec. choke, spark gone. Reconnected the choke... YUP... spark is back. So the elec choke is slowly draining the battery. where should I connect the choke so I dont get a spark or drain?
