Topic: HELP 85 electrical issue

[Thomas P]

My mom has an 88 2wd toyota carbed, and it has an electrical drain somewhere, it is completely stock but the cd player which is wired to the stock stereo wires. I did a sweep of the vehicle looking for anything frayed, damaged or burnt, but nothing. The only thing I found out of place was that the CD players fuse was burnt out, but there were no other fuses burnt, and I dont know why it would have popped, since it was wired to the stock stereo wires, and has done fine for the last 2 years, anyone know what I should do next? The battery and alternator tested good, and the battery is a brand new optima.........

[gnob]

the right way to check for parasitic draw is with an amp meter in series between the removed negative cable and terminal.
then pull fuses until the draw quits, then fix that circuit.

[Thomas P [OP]]

awesome thanks for the tip!

[*ROKTOY*]

I would guess it has to do with the CD player, probably pinched a wire some where and took this long to rub through the insulation and short out. That explains the blown fuse.

[BUDDERS]

I second Gnob's way of finding it.  That's the way I was trained by toyota to do it.

[Thomas P [OP]]

would corroded terminals/wires cause a drain? a fellow from vatozone told me that may be a problemo, and they do have some corrosion

also, i took out the good fuse that is before the fuse to the cd player, and put in a freshly charged battery and 5 hours later the battery was drained

i cant do the test that gnob suggested because my meter only goes to the tenths and i would have to wait forever after each fuse to see if it was still drawing  

im gonna look over the wiring again.....

[brainlessfool]

if you amp. meter won't handle the load you can do the same with a volt meter. unhook the neg. and close the door. shut every thing off. take out the hood light. check batt. voltage. now put the volt meter on the neg. batt. term. and to the cable. should not be with in 1 volt of batt. voltage. if it is I'd start with unhooking the alt. no diff. hook it back up and pull fuses in the box one at a time. don't forget to close the door every time.

[kneedownnate]

would corroded terminals/wires cause a drain? a fellow from vatozone told me that may be a problemo, and they do have some corrosion

  for the funnay    But, he is right.  Corrosion can rob efficient flow.  You can have a battery charged to 13 volts, load tests to 12 volts, good wires, and sometimes the slightest bit of corrosion will make it seem as if the battery is either too low or has a bad cell.

[gnob]

if the battery is real dirty it can drain across itself. and you can do the test with a volt meter or test lamp. the amp gauge is just way more accurate.
a carbed rig should have 0 pull with everything off and that CD player unhooked.

[Thomas P [OP]]

i messed around with everything, pulled the fuses, cheacked all lights and electrical equiptment, replaced both brake lights that were out (thought it may be the shorted circuit) to make sure it all worked, and now the drain is gone........