frustrated beyond need expert help

[2GFWDbeast]

i have been having this problem for the last 6 months now. And iv already gone thou 3 battery's. The last battery i bought was about 1 1/2 months ago. Today the car started up no problem. Then no more then 5 minutes the car acted like the battery was almost dead. The only thing i did was take my chip out of my ecu and put in my ecmlink chip.

So i bought a test light and read the tutorial on how to find a short or battery draw. So with the test light hooked up i started pulling relays and fuses, because the test light had a bright light on.

I came across the 40A bat fuse pulled it light turned off. Put it bad in then i pulled the 80A ALT fuse the light turn off on that one to. Finally pulled the 30A belt/ ceintures and the light turned off on that one also.

SO does Does this mean i have 3 places that is draining my battery causing the cells to die in the battery. I'm completely lost. Please help!! The last 2 battery's i replaced had a bad cell.

 

[Absit]

I'm unclear on how you tested the fuses exactly, could you detail the process you used?

 

[2GFWDbeast]

This is the process i used, using a test light. I started pulling fuses and relays till the light turned off. In this case it was the 80A ALT fuse, 40A BAT fuse and 30A BELT Fuse. I know i have a short somewhere because my door randomly lock on there own the the driver side belt randomly clicks all the time.

FOR THE CASE OF AN UNKNOWN BATTERY DRAIN, disconnect the negative battery cable terminal and connect the test light (or ammeter but read precautions above) between that cable terminal and the negative battery post.
[Note: Some aftermarket alarms have a surge current when battery is first connected so if using an ammeter instead of the light, connect a jumper between negative battery cable terminal and negative battery post first. Then connect ammeter in parallel to jumper and finally remove jumper. This will prevent any damaging surge from going through ammeter.]
Be sure the light is the only thing connected to the post - all other battery negative cables go on the other side of the light. The light is now the only thing connected to the battery in series with the rest of the car's electrical (don't try to start the engine with it in). The bulb will limit the current so you now don't have to worry about any short melting the wires. Don't use an LED as this will glow even when you only have 30mA of current flowing which is normal for ECU and radio memories. LED's also only conduct in one polarity so it's misleading if it's backwards.
[Note: If you are also going to be measuring voltages to ground you may want to use the positive post for the test light instead so you don't "raise or float the ground" for the measurements (there will be a voltage drop across the light if it's on, of course, to consider). Just be careful not to touch any metal when working with the positive battery terminal.].

THE LIGHT WILL GLOW BRIGHTLY if there is a full short. An open door will appear as a full short so it should either be closed, or it's door switches disconnected, or the fuses removed that operate items (eg. dome/foot lights) caused by an open door (if the test light goes out when removing these fuses, that is the circuit with the short).
THE LIGHT WILL GLOW DIMLY if either you have a partial short or normal devices are turned on (which you should turn off to then see how it glows).
THE LIGHT WILL NOT GLOW AT ALL if nothing draws any significant current (30-40 mA is an acceptable draw to power the ECU memory, radio memory, etc.).

 

[96 420a-t]

It sounds like your alt is a problem. Unplug the connector off the back of the alternator and see if the light goes out.

 

[sniver]

I have seen 10 posts in the last month about this type of issue falling back to the alternator. Pull the main alternator positive and see if that makes your light go out.

Edit* ^^ he beat me to it.

 

[2GFWDbeast]

ok thanks i will try tomorrow

 

[sniver]

Marked as resolved? Was it was infact the alternator? Its nice if you would take the time to post the answer so fellow members can find a answer during search.

 

[KeelesKustome]

^^^ He's correct. post your results, I'm sick of reading un-answered problems.

 

[2GFWDbeast]

I pulled the 30A belt fuse, and the 80A alt fuse wasn't seated all the way so basically the battery wasn't getting charged, but everything is all good now and no problems