Help with short in fusebox (pics)

[BLOHS7844]

I attached 2 pics of the exact are i'm talking about hear. If I disconnect the neg battery cables and put a test light between them and the battery, it lights up so I know theres a short. I removed every fuse and there is still a short. It's only when I remove the electrical connector (I removed the screw and connector in the pics) that the short goes away.

Does anybody know what this connection supplies power to? Again I disconnected every fuse but there is still a short

Any help would be appreciated.

It's worth noting that I redrilled my alternator not too long ago because it was crooked and installed an safc. The problem arised before this I think but I drove it all the time so the battery didn't have as much of a chance to drain

 

[NHerron]

Your test light will always light because of a little thing called "parasitic draw" which is keep alive memory for the radio, security system, etc

You need a cheapo DVOM to see actual current flow when unplugging fuses, not the test light

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/art...inding-short-partial-short-battery-drain.html

I believe that pictures shows where all the white thick wires bolt to and the other [thickest] large cable goes to the starter. So it's no surprise your light went out when you unbolted the bunch of white thick wires, it distributes power all throughout the car there

 

[BLOHS7844]

It's connected to 2 thick wires that go directly to the positive terminal on the battery.

 

[NHerron]

From battery-

Thickest cable goes directly to starter. The other bunch of thick white wires run into the fuse box. If you disconnected the white wires from fuse box (same as disconnecting from battery terminal) then you will have no +12V in place except for the starter. But the starter does not draw any current unless switched like during cranking.

The white wires must be in place and a DVOM in series to check how bad current draw is. Then, one by one pull each fuse and see when the current drops substantially. More than 50mA is worth investigating but if it dies overnight with a new battery, it sounds like a much bigger draw is going on such as a dome light left on etc

 

[BLOHS7844]

I have a regular multimeter that I almost fried by testing the battery directly but If the current is only gonna be like ~50ma then I think it'll be fine

 

[NHerron]

Most multimeters have a 10A setting. Set your meter to the 10A setting first to see your initial results. If somehow you fry the multimeter that way, you can replace the fuse inside by unscrewing the back, it is a regular cylindrical glass fuse

Make sure you're not testing across the battery terminals, that would fry the fuse instantly. As the car sits now, hook everything back up like it normally is (as if taking a sunday drive) place one probe straight up perpendicular to the terminal and place the other probe on the clamp. Now lift the clamp off the stud so as not to disrupt current flow

Doing it this way will make sure all the circuits are not interrupted and they do not reset themselves. Disconnecting the terminal and them placing the DVOM in series in most cases will not yield the same results since various electronic modules pull different amperage depending on how long been connected

 

[BLOHS7844]

The car's been down for a couple weeks and it's been disconnected most of the time. Every time I hook it back up I hear a single click coming from inside the car. Also when I connect it back up the dome lights don't work (this is the first time that they don't) but the head lights/dash/gauges work.

And whenever I turn the key to the position where the fuel pump engages (one position before cranking) I head maybe like 10 clicks within 2 seconds coming from somewhere in the engine area. This has always happened though. Is that an issue?

 

[NHerron]

That's all normal

The one click inside the car is the MPI relay (assuming key is switched to on)
The several clicks you hear when you turn key to on is the ISC motor

Also, the FP doesn't turn on until you go to crank the engine. FP is on anytime the CAS is outputting a signal into the ECU

If dome lights don't work, check your room lamp fuse. It's in the fuse box being held in by that funky yellow contraption. Pull up as far as goes and slide the fuse out sideways with a flathead screwdriver.

Most likely the short is in that circuit, just search tuners for "room lamp fuse draw" and you'll find a million of them for some reason

 

[BLOHS7844]

The click was happening while the key was in.

It turns out the leads were just bad on the multimeter so I tested it... 0.17ma and that was consistent even when all suspect fuses were out.

Although this is without an alternator fuse. I destroyed that taking it out because I apparently am not smart enough to unbolt the fuse first. My alternator was just just redrilled and theres always been some wires near the alternator that are just kinda laying around. I'll get a new fuse for it tomorrow and check the draw again

Also with the multi meter I test the voltage between the neg cable and the neg terminal and it was like 13.68. Would the fact that it''s running through circuits raise the voltage reading 1 volt? No idea why it would but the battery voltage reading on my safc was between 12.6-12.7 and I remember a couple days ago when I started it the voltage was in the 14's. I wish I knew the exact amount but that tells me the alternator is (probably) working, if the reading wasn't in the low 14's. Could there still be a short in the alternator?

Edit: I replaced the alternator fuse and it still is reading 0.17ma....