Shawn89 Posted July 1, 2013 Report Share Posted July 1, 2013 OK. I've got my hands on a 85 fiero gt, 77k miles and 4speed. The other day I came out to go to work and the battery in my said fiero was dead. Lights would come on but no noise or anything from the starter. So I changed my belts because they where squeeling the night before all the way home. I figured maybe it just wasn't charging last night because of this....and I was wrong. Next day same thing but no power at all. So I charged the battery got it running and let it run for about 30 minutes. Shut it off and fired it right back up. After doing some reading online I decided to unplug the altinator to see if that was my drain. Nope sure wasn't. In fact after just a few hours the battery was dead no power at all. Also the headlight motors have been unplugged since I got the car. Mind you this battery is not even a year old. So that brings us to today where I took my positive cable off my battery and connected a test light between the cable and the battery. Light came on. So I started pulling fuses out one at a time to isolate the circuit causing the drain. After realizing that every damn fuse was out of the box the damn light was still on. So I thought "ain't nobody got time for that!" And came and posted here to pick your brain because mine hurts. Sorry for the long read I just wanted to give you the most info I could think of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted July 1, 2013 Report Share Posted July 1, 2013 So you connected your test light in series with the negative terminal and negative cable and it never went out? I'd like to know what the actual drain is measured with an ammeter. If you pulled all the fuses, I believe there are some fuseable links in those cars so you may want to trace those out, iirc they're not far from the battery. Now let me just state that I have been burnt by assuming, so I would strongly recommend that you test the battery and alternator for proper operation. That doesn't mean stick a volt meter to the battery, have it load tested. I also wrote this, perhaps you should read it, http://www.columbusracing.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1656240#post1656240 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn89 Posted July 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2013 Well I did change out the battery about an hour ago with a brand new ac delco 78 6year so I'm waiting to see if it goes dead to. While using a multimeter I checked to see what kind of pull I was getting. It was reading about 32.8mA. That to me doesn't seem like it should drain a battery but I'm no expert that's why I changed the battery. And I will start reading your link right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted July 2, 2013 Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 Well I did change out the battery about an hour ago with a brand new ac delco 78 6year so I'm waiting to see if it goes dead to. While using a multimeter I checked to see what kind of pull I was getting. It was reading about 32.8mA. That to me doesn't seem like it should drain a battery but I'm no expert that's why I changed the battery. And I will start reading your link right now A normal draw should be closer to 7-10mA, so it seems something might be a miss. Does the car have anything aftermarket on it? First place to consider as well as what I posted earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectragod Posted July 2, 2013 Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 On Ford Crown Vics, and many other cars, 200-250 ma draw is normal. That works out to a 1 amp every 4 hours, 6 amps total draw over a 24 hour period, on a 72 amp battery. Current draw may be much less on an older car, due to less electronics. I would certainly look for a fusible link powering something, PCM, ABS controller etc. I would certainly load test the alternator, I have seen them put out 14.3 VDC but only put out 10 amps, if it doesn't put amps out with the volts, you will have a battery that is not fully charged, at that point, even a minimal draw will kill it. Diagnosing the alternator shouldn't take more than 15 minutes, tracking down an item drawing current, will take longer. It has been a long time since I touched a Fiero, I don't remember if they had 2 separate fuse panels. I thought there were 2, but I could be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted July 2, 2013 Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 It varies from car to car, and I was wrong. Here is what Alldata says in reference to your Fiero. http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/ND2RACE/dumb/parasiticdraw_zpsd5b62baa.gif So I would say 30mA or so is pretty normal, I would've thought lower on an older car like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn89 Posted July 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 I do have an adtermarket radio. But it dont seem like I'm not drawing any abnormal power while car is sitting. I guess that's good to hear. I did let the car sit for a few hours and went out and fired it up a little while ago and no problem with the new battery. I do hear a whining sound from the altinator, could that be a sign of one being faulty? Would auto zone be able to load test the altinator? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted July 2, 2013 Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 I do have an adtermarket radio. But it dont seem like I'm not drawing any abnormal power while car is sitting. I guess that's good to hear. I did let the car sit for a few hours and went out and fired it up a little while ago and no problem with the new battery. I do hear a whining sound from the altinator, could that be a sign of one being faulty? Would auto zone be able to load test the altinator? Autozone would most likely want it taken off the car. If it's an older alternator it's likely the bearings going out. Doesn't mean that it doesn't still charge the car, but it'll eventually seize up or stop working if that's where the noise is coming from. Just the fun part of an old car, chasing down issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeesammy Posted July 2, 2013 Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 Autozone can both test the alternator while on the car and bench test it. While testing on the car will still be accurate, I have experienced a few situations where the alternator was testing good in the car, then finally yanked to bench test and it was actually faulty. I'd recommend driving it to one and getting the whole system tested so it eliminates some of the guesswork. It's free and won't take too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn89 Posted July 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 Just the fun part of an old car, chasing down issues. This is true lol. I expected issues from the car anyway, after all it is a fiero. You know, cause they never had any problems or anything. But I've wanted one of these cars since I was about 14. But anyway I just went out and checked and the car fired right up. The battery didn't even seem low. Yay! I hope the battery fixed that problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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