I definitely did not correct the parastic draw mentioned in Dealing With a Dead Battery. I also discovered I have no external voltage regulator. Finally, I’ve investigated why the interior lights don’t work but early attempts to correct have been unsuccessful.
Firstly, I was researching the electrical system and realized there was no voltage regulator mounted where it should be next to the battery.
I was scratching my head, but upon further research it would appear the aftermarket alternator has a built-in voltage regulator, so a PO has done the necessary wiring work there. The alternator is an ACDelco with part numbers on the sticker 19135672 334-2114 19163. It looks like it is one of these https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ado-334-2114 with a built-in regulator.
On the interior lights issue
Upon pulling out the fuse box, there was a missing fuse for the space labelled “CSY-GLV CLK 5A”.
I replaced the fuse with a Littelfuse 5A AGC Fuse.
When opening the car door, the rear courtesy light came on… some success. With the door switched closed, the rear courtesy light could be operated by its switch. However, after a few minutes, the light went out. After disconnecting the battery and pulling the fuse, I could see it was blown. I tried again but with similar luck, the fuse blew after a couple of minutes.
I will try replacing all the bulbs on the courtesy light circuit. Reviewing the wiring diagram, that includes:
- Clock Light – Bulb 1816, 3 candlepower x1 – Actually this isn’t on the courtesy circuit; only the clock power is
- Courtesy Lights – Bulb 90, 6 candlepower x2
- Glove box light – bulb 1893, 2 candlepower x1
- Map Light – Bulb 90 x1
- Rear Courtesy Light – Bulb 68, 4 candlepower x1
- Sail Panel Lights – These are on a different fuse; Bulb 90
Note: Buy bulbs at Rock Auto. Super cheap.
After replacing the courtesy light bulbs which had complete the wrong bulb installed, all lights appear to work with no blown fuses, including sail panel lights.
On the parasitic draw issue
I found similar behavior as before – when checking the current draw with my multimeter, I clicking noise could be observed with a draw of around 0.425 amps.
Again, eventually the clicking and the current draw stopped. However, sometime later, the draw returned and same behavior was observed. I tried to narrow it down further and it appears to be coming from either of a couple of relays in the front near the battery.
I unplugged the Aux relay connector and left the car for a few days – no battery drain.
I checked all the wiring for Aux and Main relay – seems to be sound, Aux is correctly powered off the Key ON.
Headlamp covers work fine. They are designed to open when the lights are turned on regardless of key position. They only close when Key is in ON position (to prevent motor burnout).
Its possible the Aux relay is bad, or the connectors are corroded / loose.
Update
I ordered a new relay for $7 https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=930660&jsn=114
I also bought a single-port plastic connector housing and inserted the black/orange connector from the 3 port plug in there to connect to the single prong on the relay. Had to get a bit creative on the orientation of the relay to avoid drilling more holes… the spacing of the holes on the 4-prong relay bracket differed to bracket from the original relay and the broken replacement but was able orient it in a way to make use of 2 of the 4 holes I had and still make everything stretch (the wire from the main relay to the connector for the aux was pretty short).
The new relay works great and no battery drain.