Thread: Battery drain problemw/ 64 Chevy C-10

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I have a pain in the ass draw on my battery in my 64 Chevy truck. It will last overnight,but not 2 days before it's dead. I have a switch on the ground, but sometimes forget to turn it off. I have done the test light on the negative side of the batt. and pulled each fuse, but the light never went out. Truck has new battery,voltage reg., and new altenator. Any ideas anyone????

I had an altenator that was bad and would draw down the battery. I did the light test and removed the wire from the altenator.
BradC

Yes it could be the "new" alternator. Pull the live wire off and then check for drain. I had one that had the insulating washer misplaced on the internal regulator, drained the battery about the same as yours.

Yep, we had a Buick one time that if you drove it every day you were ok, but if it sat over a weekend the battery was dead Monday morning. My ex-wife LOVED when that happened and she was going to work. We finally tracked it down to a bad alternator. I think the diode was letting current feed back through it and draining the battery just slightly. We replaced the alternator, no more problem. Have it checked out.

You can also remove your negative battery cable and put a test light between the post and the removed cable end. If the light glows at all you have something pulling current. You might get a faint glow from the memory in your radio, but if it is still on you can start pulling fuses until you find the offending accessory.

Don

Had this problem with before and after I changed the altenator.

Batteries can also short out internally and slowly drain down. Charge it up, pull it out of the car or disconnect the battery cables for a couple of days, then load test it, or just put it back in and see if it held it's charge without being connected to anything.

If that fails, do the negative battery test I mentioned before to find the source of your drain.


Don

Oh, and you could have gotten two bad alternators in a row, especially if they are rebuilt ones. Lots of times the rebuilders find one problem and quit there, and there is a secondary problem they miss. One time I had a new (rebuilt) alternator fail, so I took it back. Second one did same thing. Parts guy says very rudely that I have something wrong with my car that is destroying them, but he will give me one last one. I had him test it on his machine first just to be sure, and he set that one aside. Then he pulled a second one off the shelf to test, and set it aside. Finally after 3 he found one that worked! I couldn't pass that opportunity up and said to him "something on my car is destroying them, huh? Would you like to apologize now?" He did. lol

Just disconnected alt. completely, still had a draw with the test light. Also, this is the second new battery.

don't worry about it--since your truck is 45 years old THEY are going to come and get it and ship it to China for iron

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

don't worry about it--since your truck is 45 years old THEY are going to come and get it and ship it to China for iron

Hey THANKS!!............................for nothing

The only thing left is coil or starter, distributer that is direct wired, unless someone has added something direct wired.
Bradc

Also headlight relay and voltage regulator

If the wire that feeds the ignition from the starter is on the wrong terminal

Thanks DennyW. I was drawing a complete blank as to what was left. Must be my brain that has to much drain....LOL
BradC

Behind left side radiator support

I thought that the Impala used the same wiring harness as the pickups

Thought about the horn relay, will have to check. Thanks to all.