davidcrevenston

Hello to all I have a 90 accord coupe ex 2.2 automatic. I have a serious issue with something on the car draining power from somewhere. I had my battery die rather quickly so I got a new one and had the car diagnosed with a new alternator, battery, starter, and system check machine. Everything was fine on the test except the (DRAIN) section on the test it clearly showed that something was making a serious drain on the system. A mechanic told me it was probably a ground from a positive cable somewhere on the car and that he would not help me or work on the car. He said it could be too many things and to sell the f... car.... I don't like that negative attitude surely someone one this forum has had a similar problem and can help me. The query is what/where and how would a drain in the electrical flow going to the battery happen? Again 2 people looked at the problem and results from test and concluded that it was probably a faulty ground (can't remember if they said faulty positive or negative ground). So I am perplexed here what could cause this and where to start looking at the positive or negative cables and which ones. Please advise me to help narrow down the hunt/search thanks.
Dave

b00gers

Is the car modded at all? Do you have an aftermarket stereo system?

davidcrevenston

Hello,
Yes I do have aftermarket radio unit but highly unlikely that is not the problem. I say this because I got it a long time ago and it has not drained the battery in the past so if that were the problem it would have drained the battery in the past. Come to think of it I forgot to mention that I saw a small spark when the key is turned to start the car but only saw it 2 times not again after that. Whatever is causing that spark problem has got to be connected to the drainage problem. So I will check the connections on the starter tomorrow I will start there. Today I checked the positive and negative cables they look good/okay. Also another thing I should mention and tell me if you think this might make a difference or not. I changed the positive and negative clamps that connect on the battery. When I did the job I am sure I did it sloppy and used black electrical tape to hide any loose wires that I could not squeeze into clamp. I did copy and do what was already there from the factory were they had the 2 wires connecting together and touching/ on top of one another. So I don't think that could be messed up or have anything to do with the problem but let me know what you think thanks.
Dave

b00gers

It is very hard to diagnose online...like the mechanic said...it can be a ton of different things.

How sloppy is that clamp job? Are the wires that are not inside the clamp negative or positive? Either way, I think you should clean that up. Can you take a picture of the terminals?

davidcrevenston

Hello there,
Okay the spark was me looking under the hood while someone else started car and the spark was from the starter or that area. I did not see it again though I only saw a small spark 2 times then not after that. I think it was from the starter near positive cable because it did not do it again I am not worried there.

So I went back to advance had them run their full system check and to my surprise everything came back okay including the amp/drain test (it came back bad before) so that is great news. Being that I am thorough I took it to another advance got same results then I took it to auto zone to get different machine test done for 2nd opinion and same thing everything okay.

So I am concluding the following and you tell me what you think please. FACTS the car sat a long time without being started at all 2 or possibly 3 months. Most of the time the car was under a lot of snow almost 2 feet for over a month 1/2. The battery was already almost 1 year 1/2 old so I am thinking that cold snow on top of car and it sitting without me starting it killed the battery. When I got the new battery from advance auto they did not let the car run a while after installing new battery. This is the culprit of this whole mess I believe because....... Right after they installed the new battery they immediately did test not even letting the car start and run for a bit. So OFCOURSE their testing equipment is going to show a high DRAIN of amps as the car just got started up with a new battery when before it had a weak almost dead battery. So after I drove the car a day or 2 then the test results showed everything is okay. This is what I think tell me if you concur and your insight on this matter thanks.
Dave