Question 1997 C5 Bty Leak To Ground, Advice Needed

Gummiente

Gummiente

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The battery will drop to 12.2V overnight unless I put a battery charger on it. The battery was load tested and the alternator out put checked and both were fine, which leaves a current leak to ground as the likely culprit. I disconnected the ground cable and hooked up an ammeter; as soon as the connection was made a servo or relay somewhere near the right headlight whirred for a second and the meter showed a draw of 1.4A. It gradually decreased until levelling off at .3A.

I'm new to Corvettes, have only had this car for a few days. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where and what systems and components to check to find the problem?
 
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Gummiente said:
Got that yesterday, too!
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Definitely on the right track. Enjoy your baby just like I did mine!
DSCF7269.JPG
 
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Update: Did some troubleshooting using the tips supplied by you fine folk. New AGM battery was installed and a couple of ground terminals were cleaned, the power draw was reduced to .09A which was still too much. So I pulled fuses 3 and 4 in the passenger footwell fuse box for the power seats and holy crap, power draw has now dropped to .02A! I will leave the battery hooked up tomorrow night to see if the battery is still good the next day. If the problem is solved I will leave the fuses out and correct the issue in the Spring next year.
 
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Update to the updated update: Yep, the power seats were definitely the culprit. Everything was fine until yesterday when I installed a wireless backup cam, the kind where the monitor plugs into the cigarette lighter. It worked great, so I unplugged the monitor when I was finished and put the bty charger on because I'd had the doors open and the ignition on for an hour. But the bty charger kept kicking out and flashing the red LED warning light. Did a current leak test and it was dropping .5A to ground. Jeezus wept. Then I remembered that a cigarette lighter fault is a common electrical issue, so I pulled its 20A fuse and the current draw dropped to .07A and everything is fine once again.
 
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Gummiente said:
Update to the updated update: Yep, the power seats were definitely the culprit. Everything was fine until yesterday when I installed a wireless backup cam, the kind where the monitor plugs into the cigarette lighter. It worked great, so I unplugged the monitor when I was finished and put the bty charger on because I'd had the doors open and the ignition on for an hour. But the bty charger kept kicking out and flashing the red LED warning light. Did a current leak test and it was dropping .5A to ground. Jeezus wept. Then I remembered that a cigarette lighter fault is a common electrical issue, so I pulled its 20A fuse and the current draw dropped to .07A and everything is fine once again.
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Your getting there, slowly but surely, ye shall overcome. :thumbs:
 
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OL Yeller said:
Your getting there, slowly but surely, ye shall overcome. :thumbs:
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It's bringing back memories of my 71 BSA 650 Thunderbolt, the first thing I had to do to it was undo everything that previous ham fisted owners had done.

So far on this C5 I've had to correct an improperly placed rubber cover over the wiper motor, WD-40 the wet connector on it, clean out all the drain udders, replace the crappy Wal Mart battery with a proper AC Delco AGM unit, correctly install the roof panel and fix the popped out inner trim piece that was dislodged by it, vinyl wrap said roof panel because of a cracked and scratched surface, silicone lube and unpinch all the weatherstripping in the roof, window, trunk and hood, replace the bty and reprogram the key fobs that the previous owner said were not working, replace a broken trim plug in the dvr side door, clean and lube the hood and hatch hinges so they close without repeated attempts and much swearing, pull the fuses on the pwr seats and now the cig lighter to stop bty drain (to be properly fixed in the Spring) and have my trusted local garage change the oil and replace the serpentine belt. Oh, and when taking a close look at the cig lighter I noticed the entire ashtray area is broken because somebody likely yanked on the centre console without removing the tiny T10 Torx screws in there first. Tomorrow it goes in to replace a LR TPMS sensor that has ceased all communications and to have the transmission serviced to cure the 2sec time delay going into reverse and a hard 1-2 shift, but DOG HELP ME I STILL LOVE THIS CAR!!!
 
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In my 3 years of ownership I have driven about 17,000 pleasurable and smile filled kilometers, right out of the gate I replaced the belts, tensioners pulleys, and wiper blades, at 17 yr old I figured it was time. Since then, did the skip shift eliminator (best $20 I have spent), throttle body coolant bypass, and changed the tranny fluid, coolant, brake fluid (twice) clutch fluid, new set of rubber, wheel alignment and all 4 TPMS. Last month, the major PITA, bank 2 air induction tube (created a bunch of new swear words during that episode, but that's story for another time).

Most of that should have been regular maintenance items, but not done by the previous owners. Took my time with each task and enjoyed the car while slowly crossing them off the list.

Its time now to put it to bed for the winter and next year I will continue to enjoy it and cross a few more items off my list.
 
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Gummiente said:
The battery will drop to 12.2V overnight unless I put a battery charger on it. The battery was load tested and the alternator out put checked and both were fine, which leaves a current leak to ground as the likely culprit. I disconnected the ground cable and hooked up an ammeter; as soon as the connection was made a servo or relay somewhere near the right headlight whirred for a second and the meter showed a draw of 1.4A. It gradually decreased until levelling off at .3A.

I'm new to Corvettes, have only had this car for a few days. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where and what systems and components to check to find the problem?
Click to expand...
Battery Charger vs Battery Tender
Get AMA to check the condition of the battery. How old is the battery?
 
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Gummiente said:
It's bringing back memories of my 71 BSA 650 Thunderbolt, the first thing I had to do to it was undo everything that previous ham fisted owners had done.

So far on this C5 I've had to correct an improperly placed rubber cover over the wiper motor, WD-40 the wet connector on it, clean out all the drain udders, replace the crappy Wal Mart battery with a proper AC Delco AGM unit, correctly install the roof panel and fix the popped out inner trim piece that was dislodged by it, vinyl wrap said roof panel because of a cracked and scratched surface, silicone lube and unpinch all the weatherstripping in the roof, window, trunk and hood, replace the bty and reprogram the key fobs that the previous owner said were not working, replace a broken trim plug in the dvr side door, clean and lube the hood and hatch hinges so they close without repeated attempts and much swearing, pull the fuses on the pwr seats and now the cig lighter to stop bty drain (to be properly fixed in the Spring) and have my trusted local garage change the oil and replace the serpentine belt. Oh, and when taking a close look at the cig lighter I noticed the entire ashtray area is broken because somebody likely yanked on the centre console without removing the tiny T10 Torx screws in there first. Tomorrow it goes in to replace a LR TPMS sensor that has ceased all communications and to have the transmission serviced to cure the 2sec time delay going into reverse and a hard 1-2 shift, but DOG HELP ME I STILL LOVE THIS CAR!!!
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Yes she’s a beauty. While the car is at level might as well replace the differential fluid.
 
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Gummiente said:
The battery will drop to 12.2V overnight unless I put a battery charger on it. The battery was load tested and the alternator out put checked and both were fine, which leaves a current leak to ground as the likely culprit. I disconnected the ground cable and hooked up an ammeter; as soon as the connection was made a servo or relay somewhere near the right headlight whirred for a second and the meter showed a draw of 1.4A. It gradually decreased until levelling off at .3A.

I'm new to Corvettes, have only had this car for a few days. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where and what systems and components to check to find the problem?
Click to expand...
Get your battery checked (AMA is FREE) . If it has to be replaced, invest on an AGM. Too many electrical wiring under the battery and if for some reason you get a leak with an acid battery big $$$$$$. Use a battery Tender instead please. You're set to go.
 
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