jumpman83

I've got a problem that keeps getting more and more confusing. Some of you might remember me saying the fuse that sends power from the battery to the main relay was blowing. It stopped when I got a new fuel pump because the fuel pump's ohm rating was 1/3 of what it should have been on the old one. I made it about 200 miles before it started blowing that fuse again, but now with a new twist- whatevever it is can drain Optima battery in 11 minutes. I don't understand how, but an Optima 34m, blue top deepcycle with a 120minute reserve that I've gotten to play my stereo on 3/4 volume for almost 3 hours is going from an almost full charge (11.8V) to barely putting enough out to support the car's lights (low 9's) in 11 minutes. Sounds like a bad battery, except just a week ago it was putting out the voltage it's supposed to for the time it's supposed to, and I doubt it could go that sour that fast, and that doesn't make the blowing fuse make sense. A short makes sense for the fuse, but every wire is testing as high at it's origin as its end. Another odd thing, I had the stereo on very low when it drained the battery in that 11 minutes. When it got to it's lowest on power, the headunit started turning on and off like it would at any time on low power, but this time every light on the car dimmed dramatically, way more than it should have or ever has, and instead of turning off and back on for a while, then off and back on for a while like usual, it would go off and on and off again within seconds. There must be a short somewhere in a place where it effects EVERYTHING. But if you think too much about it, that'd be any component in the whole car. Despite being an indicator that there's a greater problem, I don't believe it's the stereo, it's all fresh wire well run and correctly wrapped. So all things considered, where do I start?

dubcac

Did you do any wiring or change anything right before it started happening? If so, trace all your wiring for the short.

civic401

Have you check your alternator fuse underneath your dash to see if it’s blown? If that fuse is blown then your battery won’t charge and if it keeps blowing then you have a open wire somewhere that you’ll have to track down.. That’s happen to me last time. If it’s not blown try checking your alternator to see if its charging correctly.. What you can do is start your car and go and unplug the neg. to the battery if the car shut off right away it’s the alternator..