electrical drain.... please help electrical guru's

[John Del]

Originally Posted by BowTie Eater 5 Liter

well, here is what i did, i disconnected the neg(-) cable from the battery, and tested the volts between the (-) terminal on the battery and the neg. battery cable. well its over 12v,

Here's what you're missing:

The meter you are using doesn't draw enough current to use that way. In other words, it's a high immpedance unit. You should use an ammeter in line to measure current draw, and compare readings to the manual's suggested value. You can also use a "test light", which will draw current. Put the test light (or plumb in a turn signal lamp) between the battery post and cable (you can use either pos or neg). You can then start pulling fuses and disconnecting stuff until the light goes out (or goes dimmer).

You'll find that when the car is fixed, using the volt meter as you were doing will still show 12 volts drop because of the EECs normal standby current usage.

John