I posted this once and it never showed up. I have a 93 sonoma 4.3 liter 2 wheel drive. The battery drains very quickly. I hooked a test light between the neg cable and the neg post on battery. The light came on pretty bright. So the first thing i did was take wires to alternator loose. the light went out. Then i noticed if i touched the two leads that came off of the same terminal on the alt. the light would shine bright again. What i need to know is where the two wires that come from the same lead go to. The one wire goes to the positive lead. If i touch just this wire to the battery the light stays out so i think that means the alt. is not grounded out. If i hook the other set of wires on there with the wire from pos battery post light is back on. touching the two wires that came off the same post on alt. together light comes back on. What i need to know is where the other two wires from alt go to. If you need more info let me know. Thanks for any help.
Battery drains quick
- Thread starter gm4sure
- Start date
ok I found out if I take the horn/dm fuse out it makes the test light go out. I need something showing me the fuse block and what all is on this circuit. I know what horn is. What does DM stand for? Any help would be great. Thanks
happy 2011
New member
you can buy all data online for your tk It's like 35 bucks or so. Then you can have all the info on your tk you want including wiring diragrams.
Well I am doing this for my parents. My dad is 91 and my mom is 82. I am doing it for free. So I really do not want to put a bunch of money into it that I don't have to. I am also changing the heater core. Have heater core almost done, need no help on that. Oh yeah all the books in the world would not help with the problem I have with this truck. It is a short somewhere in the horn/dome light system and a book will not tell you where to find it. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. Thanks
happy 2011
New member
well gm4sure this is where you are wrong. A wiring diragram is exactly what you need to fix a battery draw or a short.
you see the diragram will show you every thing on the circuit and were it is and what color wires they are. now you know every thing on the circuit you can unplug 1 thing at a time to see if the problem goes away.
There is more than one thing on any circuit. also if it's a short in a wire the diragram will tell you what is to have power ( and how much power)and at what time it has power (if you know how to read a wiring diragram).
So you say a wiring diragram will not tell you how to fix it when in fact most problems like this can only be fixed with a wiring diragram.
good luck
you see the diragram will show you every thing on the circuit and were it is and what color wires they are. now you know every thing on the circuit you can unplug 1 thing at a time to see if the problem goes away.
There is more than one thing on any circuit. also if it's a short in a wire the diragram will tell you what is to have power ( and how much power)and at what time it has power (if you know how to read a wiring diragram).
So you say a wiring diragram will not tell you how to fix it when in fact most problems like this can only be fixed with a wiring diragram.
good luck
Well Happy2011 I already have the wiring diagrams (FREE). AS said in ealier post. AUTOZONE. A book is not going to find the short for me is what I am saying. I am doing these jobs free. If I where getting paid $600.00 for heater core like local shop would charge and 200.00 to find short I would buy the books.
happy 2011
New member
Ok i'm not saying the book will tell you where the problem is.
The diragram will show you what you need to test. you said that there is a short in the " horn/dome light system" the diragram will let you know whats on that circuit so you know what you have to test. It won't tell you whats wrong you have to figure it out on your own but knowing what you have to test will make it easyer.. How will you know what you have to test with out a Wiring diragram.
Now look i'm not busting your balls here this is what i do for a living and with a diragram i would find the problem in a hour or less. with out a diragram weeks or months becaues i won't know what to test.
The diragram will show you what you need to test. you said that there is a short in the " horn/dome light system" the diragram will let you know whats on that circuit so you know what you have to test. It won't tell you whats wrong you have to figure it out on your own but knowing what you have to test will make it easyer.. How will you know what you have to test with out a Wiring diragram.
Now look i'm not busting your balls here this is what i do for a living and with a diragram i would find the problem in a hour or less. with out a diragram weeks or months becaues i won't know what to test.
OK I have not used a test meter very much. Here is what I did. I had the meter leads on com and the other on 10amp DC. I put the meter on the setting of 20 and the reading I got was 1.5 Does this sound right?
OK Happy 2011 where is the best place and best item to purchase to get the wiring diagrams. Will they have all wires color coded and item locations. I really don't need to spend the money but it is about to drive me crazy. I have the heater core done but don't want to put the dash back together untill I figure out what is going on with this drain issue. Thanks
OK Happy 2011 where is the best place and best item to purchase to get the wiring diagrams. Will they have all wires color coded and item locations. I really don't need to spend the money but it is about to drive me crazy. I have the heater core done but don't want to put the dash back together untill I figure out what is going on with this drain issue. Thanks
The 1.5 amp draw is way high. Maybe I missed it, but I'm not sure which location you're taking the current reading. And I want to go over some things to help everyone with a diagnosis. Your multimeter and wire diagram will at least give you a fighting chance.
I had a similar problem. I removed the under hood light bulb. I disconnected the neg battery terminal, set the multimeter to amps, and connected it between the battery neg terminal and chassis. I read the meter and then started pulling fuses, read the meter, then replace the fuse and move on to next one. I was able to determine the electrical drain was in the 4 wheel drive circuit. The bad news was that I still couldn't fix it. $1200 later, the dealer found that the computer (or whatever it's called), was feeding power to the 4 wheel system. "I've never seen anything like it" he says.
The reason I suggest the fuse pull method is because it's very thorough. I did home and light commercial a/c and am not the auto tech as happy is. But I'm thinking happy also uses this technique in his diagnostics.
I had a similar problem. I removed the under hood light bulb. I disconnected the neg battery terminal, set the multimeter to amps, and connected it between the battery neg terminal and chassis. I read the meter and then started pulling fuses, read the meter, then replace the fuse and move on to next one. I was able to determine the electrical drain was in the 4 wheel drive circuit. The bad news was that I still couldn't fix it. $1200 later, the dealer found that the computer (or whatever it's called), was feeding power to the 4 wheel system. "I've never seen anything like it" he says.
The reason I suggest the fuse pull method is because it's very thorough. I did home and light commercial a/c and am not the auto tech as happy is. But I'm thinking happy also uses this technique in his diagnostics.
happy 2011
New member
yes pulling fuses one at a time is how it's done but he said he knows what circuit it's on all ready.
I would buy alldata on line i belive it's 35 dollars or so and you get it for a year or so. that way you can use it again and again if you need too.
By the way nice job doing the heater core most people hate doing those. My self thats one of my fraviote jobs becaues i love beating book time by 4 to 5 hours
I would buy alldata on line i belive it's 35 dollars or so and you get it for a year or so. that way you can use it again and again if you need too.
By the way nice job doing the heater core most people hate doing those. My self thats one of my fraviote jobs becaues i love beating book time by 4 to 5 hours
Well happy 2011 you were right. I bought alldata and looked at diagrams for about 15 minutes. Went out to the truck and had it figured out in 15 minutes. well I know what the problem is. Both map light switches will not turn off. The lights are on if the switch is in the on or off position. I can put the switches right in the middle and they will turn off but if you shut a door a couple of times they will jar back to off or on position. Does anyone know if these switches can be repaird or replaced. Its like the switches dont work right anymore. How do you take the rear view mirror apart? I will go to alldata and see if they have any info. If it comes down to it I will take the bulbs out for now.Thanks everyone for the help.
happy 2011
New member
nice job glad you found it