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chump 101
Dodge Dakota
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6/26/2005
14:40:30
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 Subject: locating a drain
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Message:
Does anyone know of a good way to locate a voltage drain?
The Problem:
I bought a 93 dakota about a year ago and a couple of months after having it i noticed that it was having voltage problems, basically i ended up replacing the alternator with brand new high output one, also replaced the battery with an optima deep cycle, and replaced the battery +,- cables going from the starter and engine block to the battery. the main problem i have now is that if i let the car sit for a few days the voltage on the battery drops anywhere from 10.8 to 11.5 (and stays at a voltage), i can still start the truck but the starter has a really slow crank that speeds up and it usually starts around the 4th or 5th turn over. (if it was the old battery, it wouldnt even turn over, optima deep cycle made a big diffrence). anyways it take s a about two days of just sitting for the voltage to drop, kinda like something that requires 12v to run and once it goes below 12 it shuts down/off.
i dont want end up rewiring the whole truck, just wanted to know if anyone has or had a similar problem.
Ps. everything electrical in the truck is stock besides the radio and i've pretty much eliminated that as being the problem. also its a v6 4x4
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.boB
Dodge Dakota
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6/26/2005
22:24:54
|  RE: locating a drain
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Message:
Disconnect one of the batter cables, and place a voltmeter in line between the battery cable and the battery post. It should show 12v, which indicates a draw. There are some things that will be obvious draws (the computer and the radio), so disconnect them first.
Now start pulling fuses until the draw goes away. Once you've found the short, you have to trace it back to every wire, connection, and component on that circuit.
That doesn't always work, but it's a good place to start.
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OBIO3
Dodge Dakota
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6/27/2005
01:02:31
| RE: locating a drain
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Message:
Think I would first disconnect the battery and check it after it sits a few days > Could just be a bad battery > If ok then get your hands dirty
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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6/27/2005
08:37:47
| RE: locating a drain
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Message:
If you have a tachometer, I can tell you exactly what it is - the tachometer drive board. Pull the horn/tach fuse (I think it's fuse #6, a 10-amp, but check the owner's manual). If the problem goes away, that is it. You can either pull the fuse between uses, or rework the tach board.
My brother had this exact problem for years before I bought his truck. Dealers couldn't figure it out. I pulled fuses one at a time with an ammeter installed and found a 105 milliamp draw on that fuse. I unplugged the tach board behind the dash and current draw went to zero. I did a circuit analysis and found that the tach board is *designed* to draw 100 mA!!! This despite the fact that the FSM says current draw is normally 20 mA (true for models w/o tach).
You can rework the board. Pull the instrument panel trim and gauges, reach over the top of the gauge cluster and yank the tach board out. Cut the circuit trace that connects to the battery and jumper it to the ignition trace (cut pin 2 and jumper it to pin 1).
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