Last effort before mechanic

[jcannon4]

Ive posted before on this and have researched the hell out of this topic. My car is a 95 non-se with a s13 blacktop Sr. The battery dies within a couple of days of sitting, I have some type of drain. My only suspicion is when i used a test light and pulled all the fuses, the light goes very dim when i pull the interior dome light fuse. I tried a milliamp reader but got no reading at all. Something else notable is when i turn on my windshield wipers, the battery light goes on and off with each swing of the blades. I unplugged the wiper fuse for a long time and battery drain still occurs. Also, the fuse marked FL75A under the hood fuse box makes the test bulb go out completely when pulled, but Im thinking thats just a main power fuse for the entire fusebox or something. The alternator is good,(been checked), the battery is good (cell) so I'm basically at the mercy of going to a mechanic at this point. I pull all fuses and keep them out yet the test light stays on- until i pull that last FL75A fuse(this fuse is on the left side of the diagram on the fusebox next to ABS, which i do not have). WHAT GIVES??:cry: Im sure i missed some crucial detail in this post but I think Ive typed alot for this one post.

[rican_nick]

interestingly enough i was troubleshooting an issue on my car this past weekend the same way that you are. My symptom (not the same as yours) was a diode on the ecu heating up/melting.. it ended up being due to some crossed up wiring. The fl75a fuse would do the same thing on my car.. once it was unplugged the light turned off.. but as u suspect its because most of the ignition/alternator circuit feeds out of it if i am not mistaken.

the way i narrowed it down was by pretty much unplugging my entire engine harness and plugging one thing up at a time and testing at the battery.. ultimately got down to the last plug (funny how that happens).. when i plugged it in the light turned back on and i had found my culprit.

not really a fix.. but a method to use if you havent yet.

good luck bro.

[CarloSR]

Alternator.

MSG lgnt...

[njd07]

get an amp meter and see if it draws current when the car is off, no lights on, make sure everything is off. its normal to have like .003 or soemthing very small but if the number is big it means something is drawing current when your car is off. might be a short.

[jcannon4]

Dont know if its possible, but could I have a bad relay somewhere thats keeping something from turning off? if so im going to start pulling them even though i have pulled every singe fuse out of the entire car and the test lamp bulb is still glowing faintly

[jcannon4]

by the way im going to try the engine harness next, we tried many plugs but not all of them. Also, i figured out that when my windshield wiper controller is on any setting except the bottom one, my battery light glows dimly on the dash and the test light is on. when i set the wipers on the lowest setting the battery light on the dash goes off but the test light just gets dimmer. bah....

[KiLLeR2001]

Is the alternator grounded? I made the mistake of connecting the ground wire that goes to my alternator to my chassis instead and my battery drained out while driving.

Also, check your engine harness on the passenger side from the redish brown plug on up, look for melted wiring.

[jcannon4]

Well I started pulling plugs under the hood and checking the test light, it went off completely when i pulled a white wire that attaches on the first plug in under the fuse box and goes to the alternator. The wire has some of the insulation pulled back right where it attaches at the alternator and it looks like heavy braided silver wiring. Is this the ground for the alternator or is this the power? Ive heard of this before but I don't know which is is, all i know is that when i disconnect it from the plug under the fuse box, my test lamp goes off completely. I was also reading that if you have a bad alternator your e-brake light and your battery light will come on, and mine ARE. Im going to get the alternator tested tomorrow morning, i guess for the diodes being good. If this is the case, can I get a Ka replacement alternator and make the minor modifications to make it work? if so, do i buy the s13 or s14 Ka alternator? I have a 95 s14 but have a s13 blacktop SR. thanks for putting up with my rambling........

[KiLLeR2001]

Well I started pulling plugs under the hood and checking the test light, it went off completely when i pulled a white wire that attaches on the first plug in under the fuse box and goes to the alternator. The wire has some of the insulation pulled back right where it attaches at the alternator and it looks like heavy braided silver wiring. Is this the ground for the alternator or is this the power? Ive heard of this before but I don't know which is is, all i know is that when i disconnect it from the plug under the fuse box, my test lamp goes off completely. I was also reading that if you have a bad alternator your e-brake light and your battery light will come on, and mine ARE. Im going to get the alternator tested tomorrow morning, i guess for the diodes being good. If this is the case, can I get a Ka replacement alternator and make the minor modifications to make it work? if so, do i buy the s13 or s14 Ka alternator? I have a 95 s14 but have a s13 blacktop SR. thanks for putting up with my rambling........

The ground for the alternator is a 14 or 16 gauge black wire with a loop end. theres two spots on the alternator to where you can bolt it in at, bottom or the top (on the backside of the alternator), make sure the bolt is the right thread pitch and its short, it doesn't go that far back so u need a really short bolt.

So on the alternator you should have the big power wire which you discussed above, the harness plugged in, and the black ground wire.