Hey hows it goin? I am in the process of retuning and upgrading a few things on the turbo cavalier. I have run into a problem though taht I cannot seem to figure out what is wrong. If I leave the car parked for around a day or so (even tested it with putting a brand new battery in it and just let it sit without starting it), and when I go to start it up... NO JUICE. The battery is completely dead. The alternator works fine, and the batteries going into it are brand new. Defiantely sounds like a short in the system.... but how would I tell forsure and what are some possible ways of narrowing it down to where the short might be if that is the case? Any feedback on this issue would be greatly appreciated. It gets very annoying having to boost the @!#$ all the time.

Thanks,
Andrew

Is there anything electrical that you have noticed that does not work (ie cigarette plug, amp not powering on etc)?? Has the car ever been wrecked. Sometimes at the point of impact some of the wires can get pushed into the frame or other metal parts in that location and get shorted...

Peace...Dan

Dan Newman wrote:Is there anything electrical that you have noticed that does not work (ie cigarette plug, amp not powering on etc)?? Has the car ever been wrecked. Sometimes at the point of impact some of the wires can get pushed into the frame or other metal parts in that location and get shorted...

Peace...Dan

Nope... everything electrical works fine to my knowledge. I have the stereo out of it at the moment, but I am going to put it back in to make sure that it works. The car has also never been in a wreck. It is baffeling I tell ya!


2004 Stage 4 SRT-4
1996 Cavalier Z24 Custom Turbo

I am going to check the way I have all my gauges wired up though. Really at the moment, the only thing that I could possibly think of is the way my a/f gauge is wired. I will check that and leave an update when I find out.


2004 Stage 4 SRT-4
1996 Cavalier Z24 Custom Turbo

Sometimes voltage regulators go out in alternators and drain the battery, sometimes overnight. Listen to your alternator with your car off, and listen for any electrical sounds at all, if you can hear a faint wine, thats whats going on. I'ts not that uncommon and could be your problem even if you can't hear anything. I'de also check the battery wires, and wires going to the alt and starter for any frayed spots that might be grounding out.

Those are ususally the things that cause the problem your having.

oh crap, I forgot, sorry...

do this first....

with a good battery in the car...unplug your alternator, let the car sit overnight (or how long it ususally takes for the battery to go dead), then in the morning plug it back in and start your car. If the car starts fine and the battery hasnt drained, its the voltage regulator.

Or what you can do is find out how much juice you are losing...
What you wanna do is get a multimeter and use it was a ammeter to see the current flow of the battery. If its more then 100mA then you need to get an alternative power source for your assessories. If you don't have any assessories then you got a problem.

Thanks a lot for the info guys.... definately some good info. I have to pick up the car this weekend from my bud's shop and I am going to do a few of those tests to see what the hell is going on. Ill keep you posted.

Thanks again


2004 Stage 4 SRT-4
1996 Cavalier Z24 Custom Turbo