Pulled the horn relay and put a new one in. When pulled there is no more draw. And I don’t have horns, so wires are just sitting in the engine bay. Pulled both buzzers next to relay and no change.
1979 el camino parasitic draw
- Thread starter tnick93
- Start date
fellas the cig lighter is ground period it's made hot by connecting B+ to the point on the end. so if it is disconnected it doesn't mean much. just that the circuit in question has found B+ somewhere. I have It too. Mine has had too many radios in it. it's amess in there. If the blinker switch is not correctly set on the column there are many small parts in it that could go to ground. they are cheap aftermarket.
If I understand you correctly it sounds like something is broken on the horn wiring in the steering wheel/ steering column. The horn wire goes into the turn signal connector, on the turn signal switch there is a brass spring loaded button that contacts the brass on the plastic turn signal canceling cam then another spring loaded button connects the horn button to the brass contact on the turn signal canceling cam.
I would look there first. Sounds like something is broken and causing the horn relay to be grounded all the time.
I would look there first. Sounds like something is broken and causing the horn relay to be grounded all the time.
Cool I will disconnect the turn signal switch at the column and see if that changes anything before I take the wheel off again.
Yes, this is why I made the suggestion to just disconnect items one at a time and watch the result.
Some of the PCBs are true per the older processes such as in the sixties and seventies. Later on... Late seventies and eighties and after, the mask is the reverse of the lay down of copper and silver paint. Lay a pvc, cellophane, or polyethylene isolating sheet on top of that and you can have a trickle current. Very very small. Enough to harm an FET or maybe CMOS but not enough for anything else.
In your connectors/connections it is possible that one is touching another that it shouldn't be, but not enough to fully "short". So essentially short to "foreign load" or ground, but there is something in the middle, dirt, grease, plastic that is creating enough intrinsic resistance that it is not a full direct short.
Best is just unplug connectors and watch the result.
Remember if using analog meters volt meter is parallel across the load, amps is in series with the load. Digital VOM, not sure, volts might have internal shunt, but I always hook up in analog fashion anyhow just to make sure.
Some of the PCBs are true per the older processes such as in the sixties and seventies. Later on... Late seventies and eighties and after, the mask is the reverse of the lay down of copper and silver paint. Lay a pvc, cellophane, or polyethylene isolating sheet on top of that and you can have a trickle current. Very very small. Enough to harm an FET or maybe CMOS but not enough for anything else.
In your connectors/connections it is possible that one is touching another that it shouldn't be, but not enough to fully "short". So essentially short to "foreign load" or ground, but there is something in the middle, dirt, grease, plastic that is creating enough intrinsic resistance that it is not a full direct short.
Best is just unplug connectors and watch the result.
Remember if using analog meters volt meter is parallel across the load, amps is in series with the load. Digital VOM, not sure, volts might have internal shunt, but I always hook up in analog fashion anyhow just to make sure.
It sounds like you have a small current bleeding over some how to the cig ltr circuit. Pulling the cig lighter reduces resistance and current flow increases.
You could do the math and find the actual ohms value, but fairly pointless.
You unplugged the horn relay and drain stopped? So there is your issue or a big part of it.
My guess... And just a SWAG; is the energizing coil in the relay or one of the contact tips not released properly and making light contact.
This would account for the small current draw and as explained above, it is not making good solid contact and again accounts for the small draw.
You could do the math and find the actual ohms value, but fairly pointless.
You unplugged the horn relay and drain stopped? So there is your issue or a big part of it.
My guess... And just a SWAG; is the energizing coil in the relay or one of the contact tips not released properly and making light contact.
This would account for the small current draw and as explained above, it is not making good solid contact and again accounts for the small draw.
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Yea drain stopped. I put a new relay in and problem re occurred. With your response and what others have said the horn might be grounding and keeping the contact in the relay. When I get home tomorrow I’m gonna check the horn wires in the engine bay and see if there is a charge, disconnect the turn signal switch, as well as re check the cig lighter wiring and then if none of that changes things. Go back around and pull each light again
UPDATE. had a brief moment today to disconnect some things. Disconnected the turn signal switch and boom no more draw. So y’all were right about the horn being grounded at all times. I will pull the steering wheel in the next few days and investigate why the horn is always on.
That was one of the first things I did was disconnect all alternator wires to see if that was the cause. I was hoping it was going to be a quick fix like that
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