1979 el camino parasitic draw

[tnick93]

I recently been having a parasitic draw problem, It has been pulling .47amps. I have isolated it down to the Ctsy / clock 20amp fuse. I do no have a clock in the dash, and no lights appear to stay on and function as they should. I have disconnected the Door switches, glove box switch, replaced light switch, turn signal switch, horn relay all with no change in the drain. When I disconnect the cigarette lighter the draw increases to .7amps which I found to be odd. Would this indicate the cig lighter wiring is the problem?

Also when driving and doing slight turns with the steering wheel, I can hear a light click coming from what sounds like light switch. This made me think a short in the light switch or turn signal switch. But it still exist after replacing both of those. Any ideas or what to do next? This electrical gremlin is driving me nuts.

 

[78Delta88]

About the only way to do this is disconnect each item one at a time and watch the amp-meter. These are the hardest to trace down. At the dealership I has access to all the schematics and still I would get stuff almost impossible to figure out.

I mistakenly fixed a radio on warranty one day and after that got all the radio and electrical issues. I fixed a bunch of stuff, but to be honest, for the most part I don't have any idea how. Some of the automotive electrical is enough to give you a headache.

 

[SoFloG]

What are you using to measure the draw, and where? Like 78 said pull the fuses independently and check. Make sure the lighter wiring isn't grounding out. Did you pull the fuse for it, or disconnect the cig lighter itself? Could also be a melted/shorted connection on the fuse panel for the lighter. They can fail over time and people are known to put too big of fuses in the fuse panel which can lead to melted fun somewhere in the circuit.

 

[jcelk]

get a wiring diagram and disconnect one thing at a time on that circuit till you find the draw takes time but it;s the only way

 

[Ernest]

Sorry not helpful... but i've got the same issue with my '79 malibu, but a .170a parasitic draw.

Traced it to that same 20a fuse, clock/lighter/interior lighting/key buzzer/etc, didnt know i had the problem till it drained a brand new battery low enough after 8months.

Checked everything under the hood first, all ok, i have no clock, the lighter is disconnected, other than that, i havent had much time to check anything else, so i've pulled the fuse for now, now im back to .000a draw, same battery is working great again after putting it on a charger.

 

[tnick93]

What are you using to measure the draw, and where? Like 78 said pull the fuses independently and check. Make sure the lighter wiring isn't grounding out. Did you pull the fuse for it, or disconnect the cig lighter itself? Could also be a melted/shorted connection on the fuse panel for the lighter. They can fail over time and people are known to put too big of fuses in the fuse panel which can lead to melted fun somewhere in the circuit.

I’m using a volt meter. Disconnecting the negative and attaching the positive lead to the battery and negative lead to the negative cable. I have pulled the fuse and it drops to zero so I know it’s coming from that ctsy/ clock fuse. I disconnected the cig lighter and had an increase draw when pulled. I re soldered the cig lighter wires so maybe i re attached the wrong ground or the solder is causing a short ?

 

[tnick93]

get a wiring diagram and disconnect one thing at a time on that circuit till you find the draw takes time but it;s the only way

Yea I’ve started disconnecting things and no change yet. There was an increased draw when disconnecting the cig lighter. I don’t have a clock but I’m gonna pull the gauge cluster again and see if the PCB is the problem. It is a new PCB and all the lights work as they are supposed to

 

[SoFloG]

Yea man, I'd check that cig lighter wiring.

 

[ELCAM]

Two loads you are missing on circuit 40 are the Key minder buzzer and the horn relay, also if equipped the dome light delay timer module.

 

[86LK]

Sorry not helpful... but i've got the same issue with my '79 malibu, but a .170a parasitic draw.

Traced it to that same 20a fuse, clock/lighter/interior lighting/key buzzer/etc, didnt know i had the problem till it drained a brand new battery low enough after 8months.

Checked everything under the hood first, all ok, i have no clock, the lighter is disconnected, other than that, i havent had much time to check anything else, so i've pulled the fuse for now, now im back to .000a draw, same battery is working great again after putting it on a charger.

so something AFTER the fuse is causing the draw? any possibility of isolating that out?