rpeastep

I think I have a short in the electrical system but can't locate it. I have removed each fuse, one at a time, and I still get some spark when I touch the positive cable to the positive post on the battery. It is very weak. With computers on these vehicles now, is there always a current draw just keeping the computer going? Any other suggestions on how to trace a short if there is one?

MDTAHOE

What is the actual problem? Does the battery keep dying? Does something not work?

EvansBlue

There is always a milliamp drain on a car with a clock, computer system, and/or alarm system.
It will cause your battery to go dead over the course of about 2-4 months depending on how many constant drains are on the vehicle.

shawnvw

Touching the cable to the terminal and watching for a spark is not the way to tell if there is a draw on a vehicle. There is always going to be a spark. All of the modules wake up and communicate with each other when you put the power back on, and they don't go to sleep for 30 - 180seconds. Some newer vehicles take up to 10 mins.

To test for a parasitic draw your going to need a multimeter, and a way to disconnect power while leaving your meter attached. I suggest something similar to the one found below



If you have a sidepost battery you can get creative with this piece or you can get specific adaptors for sidepost batteries.

Remove your battery cable and install the adaptor. attach your meter leads to either side of the green ****. Set the meter to DC AMPS(10 amp setting), and move your lead on the meter to the 10 amp position. Turn the meter on and remove the green cap from the draw tester.

watch the display of the meter. Usually with all modules awake before they go to sleep, you'll get a reading of about 3amps or so. Wait anywhere from 30seconds to 3 mins and you'll notice a significant drop in your reading. If it drops to less then 50 mAmps(0.050) then you're ok...nothing to worry about. between 50mAmps(0.050) and 100mAmps(0.100) you might go dead if you let the car sit for a week. Anything above that and it is way too much.

To find the draw, start pulling fuses untill the draw falls within specified range. when you find the fuse, find out what the fuse controls and trace it back from there.
When re & re-ing the fuses, remember that when you put a fuse back in for certain modules in the vehicle, you may wake the module uo and have to wait for it to go back to sleep before you can proceed and get accurate readings.

hope this helps man