Battery drains every time I turn it off.

[Irrational]

Hi Guy's, This is my first time Posting. My ? to the Bronco God's Is how the **** do i find what + wire is grounding. It all Started when my friend had a bad alternator. He got stuck on the side of the nj parkway. It was night time and late and I had work at 5 a.m. So we come up with a plan to trade batteries that way he can make it home. Well i put the battery in and hooked the + to the - terminal and the - to the + only for maybe 3 seconds. It sparked and made a burning smell. So i flipped the battery and drove home. But the radio was broke now. The next day after work Truck was dead as a door nail. Please help me find this Drain.

Also 1 more quick one do i need a specialty tool to install warin hub's in my 84 bronco? its an independent Dana 44. Thanks alot for lookin

Danny &lt

 

[ladybronco]

i have an 88 and i had a constant drain on mine id drive it go to work come back out 8 hours later and it was dead first i got a new battery but but still the same! I parked my truck one night turned the key to off and noticed my auxillary power kept a lot of stuff on including my radio and clock so i pulled the fuse for the auxillary power and ive had no more problems with that!! never had a burning smell though hopefully it was just a fuseable link and didnt destroy anything important. I have a lot of electrical issues to figure out with mine dont know if im much help im learning as i go but hey miracles do happen! lol

 

[Irrational]

Thank's for the reply, the guy at napa told me to grab the fusible links and if they stretch they are broke. none stretched. <_<

 

[ladybronco]

hmmmmmm well when you find out then let me knowim sorry to say i fond a little comfort that someone else looks at their truck just as i do with an electrical problem and scratching their head im not sure what to do with mine either! :huh:

 

[xsbronco]

Try and take it to an auto store that will check the electrical. Batteries can be sensitive and you could have a short in the battery. Sounds to me that you might have blown a fuse for your radio. Does everything else electrical work ok? You might have also burned up the alternator. I wish the 5 second rule applied to electrical stuff too but it doesn't. It ruins things fast. So, check if battery can keep a charge (charge off vehicle or take to an auto store) check all fuses (get a diagram if possible) also check alt. (voltmeter to battery while engnie running, should read around 14v) Hope that helps a bit. also visually inspect all wires starting closest to battery.

 

[Irrational]

Thanks a lot XS, I already pulled the alternator out and had napa check it praying that was the problem (I'm so dumb id rather pay for an alternator then try and find a short) Its not. the head unit is after market. A previous owner installed it i was thinking maybe that is the + wire I'm looking for, maybe he didn't have a small enough fuse and i cooked the wire. you Guy's are great with all this help keep it coming

Danny

We got 1 1/2 feet of snow in jersey right now and more to come if my bronco isnt fixed soon im going to **** myself. I'm missing all the fun!!!

 

[Irrational]

I forgot to mention yes XS everything else that worked still does

 

[xsbronco]

Hey no prob let us know if you found the prob. Here is a pic of last snow we got in reno, NV. Not since 15 years I hear.

 

[Seabronc]

Here is a diagram of the charging circuit. xsbronco had some real good suggestions there. Get the battery checked out first.

 

[Irrational]

.Hey seabronc, thanks a mill for the diagrams. I bought a new battery and it died that night so i ruled out battery.

Thanks

Danny

 

[xsbronco]

It is starting to sound like you have a short somewhere. Did you run the vehicle after putting new battery in or did it just sit? I would investigate those wires? If your stereo doesn't work still than try smelling around unit or under dash. Something sounds fried. Did you test the battery while running. Should read 14v. That will tell you your alternator is trying to charge battery. Then you can rule that out. I think that sometimes the alternator is tested instead of the circuit. If its ok then start looking for a short somewhere. It is tuff when the wire harness is wrapped up...... Good luck!

 

[Justshootme84]

A simple test you can do to see if the alternator is charging, unhook the + cable while the motor is running. If it dies, the alt or wiring from it is bad. (DO NOT do this on a computer-controlled vehicle, as it can fry the computer.) Check the leads from the solenoid next to the battery, and the - battery cable where it bolts to the frame. You can also use a simple, cheap test light or voltmeter to look for a short, or bad ground.

 

[Irrational]

XS- I agree with you that it is a short, but I'm so bad with electricity i don't know where to start to find it. <_<

JustShootMe- I tried that taking off the + terminal and the truck still ran. I also mentioned in a Previous post i took the alternator out and had napa test it. I also replaced the Ground hoping to fix my problem.

Thanks's for all the quick reply's guy's I'm going to work on it first thing tomorrow.and let you all know how i did GREAT FORM YOU GOT GOING

Danny

 

[BLADE262US]

Heres an idea this happened to me on my 73 mustang . Your 83 bronco has a voltage regulator mounted on the fender well by the starter solenoid . The voltage regulator monitors the battey voltage and when it drops below a certain point it put power to the F or field wire that goes to the alternator which energizes the field winding and causes the alternator to start produceing power to charge the battery . Now if you check the battery voltage while its running it is still goona say more than 12 volts while its running but generally the voltage regulator will hold it at around 14.7 volts . Sometimes when the voltage regulators go bad they will stay on putting power to the F post on the alternator even when the motor isnt running which causes the alternator to be hot from the power going through the windings and also sucks the battery dry in a short period of time . So to check this either put a new battery in it or charge yours up then check with a volt meter to see if theres 12 V at the F post on alternator if there is with the key off and not running then the regulator is stuck on they are very voltage sensitive . You can wreck one by plugging it in before its grounded to the fenderwell . The other way if you dont have a voltmeter is to charge the battery up then hook it up and wait a couple of minutes and see if the alternator case is warm if it is then you need to change the voltage regulator . As for your radio its history they are very polarity sensitive and it would probably cost as much to fix it as it would to get another one . As for the fusible links they wouldnt have blown because a fuse limits current which is electrical flow and a fuse doesnt care which way the power flows through it just care about how much is going through it . An 84 doesnt have a complicated electrical system so theres only a few things it could be just be thankful you dont have a 94 or youd be changing the computer for sure and on them theres more than the engine management one . Hope that helps /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[Irrational]

Blade- thanks a lot for the reply I'm going to work on my truck once the sun comes up and my friend get's to my house. and i will definitely check that.

Everyone that has helped- You guy's are a great bunch here. In 12 hours i got ton's of tips and plan's i hope i find it today so i can go wheeling tonight. more snow is on the way! &lt

&lt

 

[Seabronc]

Wow /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> ! God one there Blades. Never thought of that and probably most likely would have gotten fried by reversing polarity. You can see that path on both diagrams. Someone had a similar problem a while ago and it went away. Bet that was it.

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[Irrational]

Hey guy's i worked on the bronco all day and didn't fix a dam thing b-( . i looked at the positive wire for the starter and it was worn through and on the frame. so i start getting excited thinking i got it. Well it wasn't it. on the ignition solenoid on the side that always has power there is 3 eye hook's one from the + terminal, one to the alternator, and one to the wiring going into the truck well luckily me all the wires going into the truck have 5 amp's of draw so now i have to track them tomorrow. i'm about 2 seconds from saying ***** it and race wiring the truck with a switch panel.

 

[Seabronc]

Sounds like you are hot on it. The one going into the truck goes to things that are hot at all times. If that one going inside the truck is, black with orange stripe, here are couple of diagrams attached that show where it goes.

Good luck,

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[Irrational]

Well, I worked on it again today and didn't get to far. I started off the day at Napa and got talked into getting a new ignition module and headlight switch. The machinist says it could be one of the two. I put the ignition module in but never checked for a draw cuz the sun went down and it was getting real cold in the building i was in. ill be back at it tomorrow /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />