Not that i have much hair to pull out...but i have just about pulled what is left out.

I have a 97 5.2 SLT, and something is pulling voltage. I quick rundown of what i have done. I was first told to pull the negative cable off the battery and put my voltmeter on the cable, then to the post and measure the voltage. With this being done, it is pulling 11.35volts. First thing i did was disconnect the alternator totally and check that, no change in voltage. I then disconnected the starter, and again, no change in voltage. I was then told to pull every fuse 1 by 1 and checking the voltage each time to see if you find a change. I did this with every fuse in the engine bay, and then the ones on the side of the dash. There was no change. The only aftermarket items i have are an amp and some lighting, which i then disconnected from my positive battery post, reattached just the original positive cable, and still no change in voltage. I was then told it could be the voltage regulator built into the PCM. In theory, i am thinking that if i unplug the 3 cables to the PCM, there should be no power draw, therefore i should read 0 volts on the meter....after unplugging all 3, there was still 11.35 volts reading.

At this point, i have no idea what else it could be. Does anyone else have any ideas??

Once it is jump started, it runs fine after the alternator gets some juice to the battery....its just that as soon as it shuts off the battery starts draining once again.

any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks
Jeff

 

First off how old is the battery, has it been load tested?

 

make sure your battery is still good, have it load tested. also make sure your amp isnt drawing power even after the truck is shut off. I believe it's called a remote wire. Some people forget to connect the remote wire, so basically the amp is always on and drains the battery.

 

I have checked the amp, in which i had totally disconnected it from power, so it was completely out of the equation.

however, after some other discussions i have had with friends, they are also pointing back at the battery. I had previously removed it and took it to (forgive me for saying this....walmart) and they hooked it to a digital tester of somekind that said the battery was good, and that it just needed charged. So that is going to be my task is to remove the battery again and take it to Pep boys or somewhere that will actually bench test it.

Thanks guys!!

 

well....i pulled the batter again and took it to pep boys this time...got it bench tested..and i will be damned...it was bad. Go figure. I would sure like to know what the point of that stupid machine was that walmart had....This will be the last time i go to them for any help. I should have known better from the get go, but they are just so much closer than any parts store, and something as simple as a batter youd think they could handle. Anyway, the truck is up and running again. Thanks for the input guys.