battery dieing overnight, alternator wiring?

[vida]

Whats up, every night when my car sits the battery is dead when I go out in the morning. When i start the car there are 3 lights that kinda flicker (not all the time), the hand brake light, battery light and I dont even know what the last one is but its yellow with a wierd icon haha. Im not sure if its somethin with the alternator or wiring somewhere but Ive heard that 1g's have some kind of problem with the alternator and it causes a power drain but it seems like its a short somewhere, there is a small ground wire hanging loose near the alternator but I cant figure out where it goes, its pretty frayed so I dont know how long the wire was and dont see anything on or around the alternarot that it would go to, anyone have any ideas? thanks!

 

[motozachl]

Take the battery/alternator to your local autozone and get them check. What color is the wire? It could go to your power stearing

 

[SrKegler]

Sounds like you have a short someplace. You could also have a dead cell in the battery. Apparently the alternator is charging if you can drive the car after a jump.

Easiest way to find out the problem is to disconnect the negative terminal from your battery. Hook up a test lamp between the negative post and the negative terminal. If the light comes on you have a short. Just pull fuses until the light goes out. That will tell you which circuit has a short.

The yellow warning light is for you radiator coolant level.

The black wire that is dangling is probably from the end of your power steering pump. If you've had problems with the engine dying when parking or making slow speed turn that's the problem.

 

[vida]

The PS ground is hooked up but the other wire goes somewhere else, it is a ground though I checked it with a volt meter. Ill give it a try, thanks

 

[PieEyedPiper]

If the battery won't keep a charge and the alternator is working - your battery is toast.
If the alternator is putting out more than it's rated voltage - they're both toast.

Get it down to Kragen/Advance/whatever and have them do the batt/alt. tests.

Got a picture of your wire issue?

 

[vida]

its not the battery cause I changed it thinking that was the problem, and once I get the car started it runs fine and starts fine until it sits for a little while

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Have you tested the alt. yet?

 

[vida]

i havnt tested it but how could there be something wrong with it if it chages the battery once i jump the car off?

 

[SrKegler]

I fought the same problem for over a week in my car, pulling fuses trying to find a short. I even disconnected the battery when I shut the car off just so I wouldn't have to jump it.

My new alternator had an internal short and was draining the battery. Try the method I mentioned earlier. When I swapped the alterntor out the problem went away.

You definately have a short someplace though. Just have to find out where it is.