So im trying to figure out what is causing my new battery to drain over night. The only things new I have connected to the electrical side is a new solenoid, voltage regulator, Starter, MSD 5520 ignition and on the positive side of the solenoid I have a black and yellow wire with a orange top and a yellow wire that says 14 fuseable. Ive looked on here and those are suppose to be connected to the positive side and of course the starter to the negative side of the solenoid. I have the MSD 5520 connected just as it says negative to negative side of the battery, postitive to the positive side of the battery. I know it could be the voltage regulator but I dont know how to go about diagnosing and figuring out whats causing it. Please help if you can it will suck to pop the hood and disconnect the battery terminal after driving.
YOu need to connect an Ammeter and check the ignition off draw. IF you can get a hold of one with an inductive type clamp its alot easier. Then simply unplug things until the draw drops off. You can also do it with a test light that uses a light bulb. Not the led types. Disconnect your neg batt cable and put the test light from the neg batt post to the neg cable. If it lights up bright you have a significant draw. Disconnect things till it goes out. The Ammeter is the best way to do it but can be tricky without an inductive clamp. Putting an ammeter in series can be a hassle without experience. Fuses tend to get blown up in the meter.
Just a thought! You have a heavy gauge red wire and a smaller gauge red wire on your MSD. Make sure the heavy gauge goes to the B+ on the solenoid and the smaller one is through the ignition switch! If these get reversed you'll have the same effect as leaving the ignition on! It will also make your coil get hot!
once when mine was doiing this, it actually turned out to be the voltage regulator. and one other time it was the selonoid. something inside the selonoid was making just enough contact to trickle the battery dead over a period of about 8-10 hours. I am guessing that the same thing happened when it was the voltage reg. It about drove me crazy. finally I did the ampmeter and just started unhooking things until the draw stopped and it kept drawing until I had nothing left but the voltage reg. So I replaced that and the discharge stopped. The other time I think I noticed the selonoid was a little warm and I could put the amp meter on and bang on the selonoid and the current would stop and then I would start the car and turn it off and it would start the draw again. Replaced the selonoid and the problem went away.
I know the msd is connected properly I followed the instructions. I will try the light testing method and unplug things until I find out. Im guessing its either the voltage regulator or the solenoid. I connected the solenoid up wrong one day I swapped the two on accident I and S it made a big pop and scared the crap out of me. It could have messed up something inside. I will see what I can come up with and let you all know. Thanks for your help!
disconnect the negative side of the charged battery and place a light between the post and cable. Then start disconnecting things until the light goes out. The thing you disconnect as the light goes out is the first offender - fix that and then reconnect each thing whatching for the light to come back on. If you connect something and the light comes on then that is another drain. Fix it and then continue until everything is reconnected and the light stays off. Then reconnect the battery and check for proper charging.
That is pretty much what I did but did it with a meter because the drain wasn't really enough to light a light bulb
