Battery Drain
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Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 1
Battery Drain
I have a saturn sl2 [2002] and i have gone thru 4 batterys in the last year. i had a diagnostic test performed and the solenoid, starter and alternator are all good. they came back and said an electrical wire that runs from the transmission is draning the battery. however they told me they dont do this type of service work. i am begining to wonder is this is an accurate diagnostic. any suggestions?
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,912
From: Peoria AZ
Yuh, by a service manual for the car ($20.00) from O'Riellies or Advance and a cheap meter from Harbor Freight ($9.00 or $2.00 on sale) and start making measurements.
As to accurate, I can not tell from what is written but one thing that does not ring true is the statement of what it is and they don't do the work.
My experiance is if they don't do the work when it comes to Electronics, their opinion of what it is generally is pretty much bogus.
A fully charged battery generally measures 12.4 Vdc. An alternator when charging a battery, measured with the engine running generally measures 14.3 Vdc. Anything greater than that is an indication the Alternator/regulator combination is overcharging a battery causing it to fail.
A dead battery can be recharged. So why did you replace the battery? Because it was dead or because it was dead and it would not recharge?
If it was dead, why was it dead? Is it because the althernator was not working correctly? A cheap $2.00 meter used at the time of the problem gives an indication.
I know a lot of people do not really know how to use a meter to find problems, but it is not hard to learn and for $2.00 for a meter on sale from Harbor Freight and trying to maintain a well used Saturn or any car on a budget would seem a reason to learn.
So yes, I suspect your diagnostic is not a very good one. I can't prove it from where I am sitting, but you can I think.
Things that I have found short of actually having a wiring problem which generally but not all the time can be seen by finding damaged wiring?
A radio that does not turn off.
A glove box light.
A trunk Light
A dome light or interior light that won't turn off or I turned it on and not off.
Rear Window Defroster that won't turn off when turned on (that one had me going around in circles)
An under hood light.
A horn problem caused by the Air Bag cover on the steering wheel trying to blow the horn all the time and burning something out.
Hope this helps a bit, this is a problem that is a bit hard to do with a keyboard.
As to accurate, I can not tell from what is written but one thing that does not ring true is the statement of what it is and they don't do the work.
My experiance is if they don't do the work when it comes to Electronics, their opinion of what it is generally is pretty much bogus.
A fully charged battery generally measures 12.4 Vdc. An alternator when charging a battery, measured with the engine running generally measures 14.3 Vdc. Anything greater than that is an indication the Alternator/regulator combination is overcharging a battery causing it to fail.
A dead battery can be recharged. So why did you replace the battery? Because it was dead or because it was dead and it would not recharge?
If it was dead, why was it dead? Is it because the althernator was not working correctly? A cheap $2.00 meter used at the time of the problem gives an indication.
I know a lot of people do not really know how to use a meter to find problems, but it is not hard to learn and for $2.00 for a meter on sale from Harbor Freight and trying to maintain a well used Saturn or any car on a budget would seem a reason to learn.
So yes, I suspect your diagnostic is not a very good one. I can't prove it from where I am sitting, but you can I think.
Things that I have found short of actually having a wiring problem which generally but not all the time can be seen by finding damaged wiring?
A radio that does not turn off.
A glove box light.
A trunk Light
A dome light or interior light that won't turn off or I turned it on and not off.
Rear Window Defroster that won't turn off when turned on (that one had me going around in circles)
An under hood light.
A horn problem caused by the Air Bag cover on the steering wheel trying to blow the horn all the time and burning something out.
Hope this helps a bit, this is a problem that is a bit hard to do with a keyboard.
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