I have a 1993 Bonneville with a S/C series I in a SE. I have currently been having battery drainage issues. It started after my car broke down and my fiance (MattStrike) swapped out my old engine for the new supercharged engine. The battery that was in prior to the break down had died due to sitting. He put in the battery that came with the donor car. Shortly after, the battery started to drain to the point where the car wouldn't start. When I would try to start the car, it would click but not start. Depending on how long it sat, the interior lights would come on but after long periods nothing would come on. I figured the battery was bad and thus put a new battery in from another car. The battery had worked fine in that car but soon after putting it into my car, the problems began to occur again. I have tried turning and leaving things off such as the heat and radio but the battery still drained. Thus, my fiance said something must be staying on to drain the battery. On his advice, I checked all the fuses to get their amp readings. The fuse box under the driver side had only fuse 11 (bat/ radio/ oil lvl-life), which gave a reading of .085-.103. Fuse box under the hood gave readings of .008 for Ign sw, .002 for ecm, and .055-.08 for elc. Finally, the fuse box under the passenger side had only fuse 3 (wasn't labeled so not sure what it is for), which gave a reading of .177-.18. I also did a amp reading from the negative batter connector to the negative battery post, which gave a reading of 2.29-2.3. My fiancee said this reading was high. This was all done with no keys in the ignition. Any ideas to help?

I can't think of anything other than the starter that doesn't go through one of the 3 fuse boxes. I figure there's a 2amp drain from something, but not having my CSMs with me I can't really help figure out what it is that wouldn't be going through one of the fuse boxes.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
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Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

Try disconnecting the battery and see if it drains on it's own during the normal time it would die while hooked up. If it works fine then try disconnecting the alternator for the same time and see if that has any effect.

If nothing changes there then start pulling the fuses until you can find the one that while unhooked doesn't drain the battery (obviously start with the one with the highest amperage draw) find out what all is on that circuit and see if you can disconnect each item individually to see what is bad.

How long does it take for the battery to drain to the point that it needs jump started?

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Ryan

2003 Bonneville SSEi - The Black Mirror SOLD!
2002 Bonneville SE - The Mutt Complete 2004 SLE interior, drivetrain, and body harness swap, ECC swap, HUD swap, black GXP wheels, GXP headlights and tinted tails - SOLD
2003 BMW 540i M Sport, 2001 BMW X5 4.4i, 2010 GMC Acadia, 2017 Grand Design Imagine 3150BH
1982 Cutlass Supreme - The fun one

If you have or know someone who has a clamp on amp meter, you can check right at the battery cable to see if there is an excessive draw when the ignition is off. If there is, just pull one fuse at a time to see shich circuit makes it go away. Hopefully its one of the circuits in the easy to access fuse panel. Remember that there is another fuse panel on the passenger side kick panel. Still just a few screws to access. Certainly not terrible for someone capable of an engine swap, but you know what I'm sayin.

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92 Olds 98. L67, Gen 3 M62, 2.55 pulley, FWI, PLIM, 1.8 YTs.

Just to clarify, I'm 180 miles away from home during the week: I'm good, but not that good.

I had her check the draw on the battery with an ammeter already, and check each fuse in all three fuse locations (DS under dash, PS under dash and under hood). She found .32 amps total draw in the fuse boxes. She found 2.3 amps draw from the battery, with no key in the ignition. So there is a 2 amp draw that doesn't go through a fuse somehow.

I'll have her double check the draw for each fuse again and the battery again. This is a recent development. I drove the car for a week after the swap and never had a problem. Now it drains overnight.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

You should be less than .05 amps. I believe most members (without problems) have found .03 - .04 amps. Years ago when I checked my 89 Bonneville it would show high & then drop down into the normal range. This was caused by the computer drawing more amps when reconnected & it then goes into power saving mode. I don't think your year will do this but leave the meter connected for a full minute to make sure.

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2006 Chevy Monte Carlo SS

Geez, I need to stop skimming. I missed her amp readings completely.

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92 Olds 98. L67, Gen 3 M62, 2.55 pulley, FWI, PLIM, 1.8 YTs.

Disconnect positive battery cable and connect a digital volt meter between the pos cable and the pos terminal of the battery (red lead on cable and black on post), and set the meter to DC, prob 10v or 20v. Make sure everything is off in the car, nothing plugged into the cig lighter and ddors closed and keys out of ignition. Most likely you will see a reading possibly up to 12v, if the battery has that much juice anymore. Start pulling fuses one at a time until that reading drops to near 0. Once it does you have isolated the trouble circuit and need to hunt for an open or faulty component. If it so happens to be the radio circuit it is the power antenna relay.......pull it!

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2000 SSEi Galaxy Silver with New TEP Trans, A 62,000 mile engine out of grandma's car, all new front and rear suspension KYB/ Energy Suspension.
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Problem may be solved. Battery dropped to 10.5v after a few hours in the movie theater (disconnected). Also draw from the battery was actually .2 amps, which I still think is high. Battery has been replaced and things appear to be working, but we'll see.

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Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

I really didn't like that each new battery came from some other car. I'm glad you finally went with a new battery.

Next, check your battery cables, especially the positive cable for internal corrosion. To do this properly you need to slit the insulation vertically an inch or two and peel it away from the copper conductive stranded wires inside it. Look for corrosion in there. If it's all good, pull the insulation back up and wrap the slit area of the insulation with electrical tape. A corroded cable will act as a load and drop voltage across it (and drawing extra current) generally when the car is running. I've had the positive cable completely corroded in all five Pontiacs I've owned. Something to check, at any rate, even though you've got a good battery in it now.

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PontiacDad at WCBF `08: "By any chance, was his name. . .Radomir?"

R.I.P. 10/31/15: 1997 SE: "Silver Shadow"
`05 Mercedes S500

Since last time I posted about this problem, I have made some changes but I'm still having a problem.

First, we bought a brand new battery for the car. This did not stop the drainage issue, so I tested the fuses again and the amps from the negative cable to the battery. There was about a 5 amp draw on the battery that would occur every 10 seconds. With some help, I pulled each fuse while someone read the battery amp reading. We found the fuse and discovered that the electric antenna was the problem. It is now disconnected.

After discovering what I thought was the problem, I kept my battery off of the charger. The car started up fine the first two days. On the third day, the battery was completely drained. So, I took amp readings again and here are my results: Ign sw .008 amps, Ecm .002 amps, Elc .055 amps (This one was drawing enough electricity to cause a spark when I was testing it), and the battery .065 amps.

Any ideas of what runs on these circuits that could be causing the battery drainage?

Those are readings on the fuses under the hood

_________________
Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

I guess the question here is, what's on the ELC fuse (under hood maxi fuse) on the car's that don't have level control/air shocks? It's possible I missed something during the L67 swap that may be a contributing factor, but that was months before this manifested.

_________________
Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

Take the alternator out of the circuit and see if this changes anything...

My thoughts exactly. Said that back in February those amp readings don't really seem high enough to kill a battery in one or two days. Sounds like the alternator went bad and is powering the fields even when the engine is off.

_________________
Ryan

2003 Bonneville SSEi - The Black Mirror SOLD!
2002 Bonneville SE - The Mutt Complete 2004 SLE interior, drivetrain, and body harness swap, ECC swap, HUD swap, black GXP wheels, GXP headlights and tinted tails - SOLD
2003 BMW 540i M Sport, 2001 BMW X5 4.4i, 2010 GMC Acadia, 2017 Grand Design Imagine 3150BH
1982 Cutlass Supreme - The fun one