2G Battery Drain - What would this be?

[ipWitan]

The battery drains will be dead if I don't keep it on a battery tender. It has been this way for years. It may have been like this since purchased in 1999, or since repaired from a non-voluntary borrowing in 2002, or something else. The diagnosis is second hand from my father and based on conversations and testing with a mechanic. The mechanic said that the metal plate in the emissions is either coming on or not turning off, which is draining the battery. He said that the computer board was likely cracked and needed to be repaired. And the repair or even finding a new board will be expensive and difficult. Now that the car is in my possession, I would like to solve the battery drain problem. I have searched the internet high and low, read the technical manuals, and have done as much as I can on my own to try and figure out what he means.

Does this description make sense? Or what do you think the mechanic is referring?

My next step is to start from scratch. However, if the above makes sense to someone and you can help narrow my search, I would be very happy! I do apologize in advance for my lack of knowledge about my car and in particular, the electrical issues. No matter how dumb my questions, please feel rest assured that I spend hours of time researching beforehand only to ask said dumb question.

 

[steve]

You're looking for a parasitic drain on your battery. There are many threads on the site as to how to attack the problem. You will need a copy of the electrical manual for your Spyder and a multimeter going forward.

The basic idea is you attach the meter (in current mode) in series with the positive battery terminal and start disconnecting brances of the electrical system via the fuses to see which are contributing to the current draw when things should be off. Once you find the branch you work down it to find the cause.

 

[luv2rallye]

This may also help: https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/f...l-short-or-battery-drain.179481/#post-1496998.

 

[ipWitan]

Thanks for the input. A complicating factor is that I was told the drain mysteriously comes on and doesn't turn off. Thus, I had the impression that the normal drain test may not catch it.

Does it even make sense that there is some sort of heating element associated with the emissions that isn't turning off, or it comes on mysteriously at night?