5kt drained battery

[Michael A. Carr]

Hi guys,

Just so happens, that this week-end I experienced the same thing out of the blue and was amazed & delighted to find this thread pop up on the
list.....only to Vanish into thin air all solved !!!
I have a volt-meter ( have No idea how to use it, but I bought a book ) and would sure appreciate a re-cap on what you did told each other to find
the solution on this one. I have an 85 5k cs (non-turbo/quatt too) the battery is 4 mos old/new the alternator is a year and a half new/old. I have
another possibly related symptom lately and that is that we've (me and passengers) been getting amazing static shock ( and yes it is only static)
upon toching anything metal (even painted) when exiting the car lately???

Many thanks to the wisdom and guidance found here, as a newbie & bystander!
Michael

Orignal message's :

Message: 3, Message: 6, & Message: 15
From: DGraber460 at aol.com
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 23:45:38 EDT
Subject: 5kt drained battery
To: quattro at audifans.com
CC: v8q at bellsouth.net, hah at srv.net, rmyers at inetone.net

My daughters 85 5kt (non quat) has had a dead battery every 3 days. I had the
battery checked which shows fine. Once fully charged, the car starts and runs
fine and shows no alternator light. I therefore feel the alternator is not
the culprit.
I remember a post that suggested pulling a battery cable and hooking a
voltmeter in line and pulling fuses till the meter shows zero. When I tried
this, the meter read 12.54 volts with no change as each (and all) fuses were
pulled.
Am I correct in thinking that this shows a drain on the system?
If so, what could be another method for diagnosis?
TIA

Message: 6,
If your voltmeter has a "DC amps" setting, this would be the time to use it -
amps are measured in series, volts are measured in parallel. Putting a
voltmeter in series in a circuit will only show the potential of the circuit,
essentially opening the circuit. Most multimeters have a limited (~10 amps)
current-measuring capability so don't do anything that pulls a lot of current
(like start the car) while playing around here.
HTH
Henry Harper

& Message: 15
Thanks to Henry Harper, David Head, and Robert Myers for squaring me away on
the way to test for power drain using amps, not volts.
Said method points squarely to the driver door jam wiring. I spent about 7
hours redoing _most_ of the wires in that loom about 8 months ago to fix a
non operative driver window, but I must have either missed some or buggered a
few.
The results were fuses #4, #19, and #23 showing small changes in the .157 amp
reading shown at static condition. All are related to the driver door loom.
If all 3 are removed the meter shows .002 amps. Is that normal, and/or
acceptable?
This list is invaluable!
Thanks guys!
Dennis
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