fasteddi

Ok after I got a 1962 olds 98 up and running after 10 years of sitting, i went to start it today and the battery was completly dead!! Now I had absolutly no accesorys on and the key wasent in it and yes the doors were closed. The only thing that was drawing juice was the clock. The battery is a brand new die hard and i drove the car for like 2 weeks before i let it sit for about one week. One thing i did notice is that when i disconnect the battery and then re-connect it i can hear a relay or something engaging in the dash near the steering colum. Any ideas of what caused the battery to die?? Thanks!!

Lady72nRob71

With battery connected, pull fuses one by one to see if you hear the click of the relay or whatever turning off. We can then isolate the problem from there...
Make sure there are no previous owner hacks, like alarm addons and such.

citcapp

Not sure if this can happen on a 62, but on my 57 you can take the key out in any position and if I don't leave the key straight up in the off position bu cocked a little to the right or left it will drain the battery in less then a week.

Just a thought

fasteddi

Well i knwo that there was never and alarm system or anything like that in the car. It hasent seen the road since 1984.... It basically sat that long but was ran every now and then. But ive got everything working great on the car since i gave the car live again. but anyways. I will go out and take each fuse out and see which relay is opening. I did have the key in the complete off position. When i let it sit.

69442C

The only problem with tracking down a relay is that it may not receive its power through a fused source. You may need to start unplugging some things if the fuse removal doesn't work.

With the doors closed and everything off, you should not see any spark when you connect one of the battery cables to the battery. If you get a small spark when you touch the cable to the battery, it's telling you there is an electrical load of some sort that is drawing power. You may need to disconnect things until you find what is drawing power.

Does it have a trunk light? If so, is it really off? Same with the glove box. Does the horn work? If not, could the clicking be the horn contact in the column is shorted? Easy way to check would be to throw a test light on the plug at the horn to see if you have power.

fasteddi

no luck finding the problem with unpluging fuses.. The trunk light is actually off and so is the glove box. When i attatch the power to the car it lightly sparks and i hear a click somewhere arround the stearing collum. the horn does work but the wipers dont at all. and i havent looked to see if the 12vdc is getting there so im going to go look to see if something in there is shorted out or if the motor is bad. I already cleaned the connections and the switch for the wipers but mabey there is a short somewhere??

navvet

Ok Try this. My 64 88 drained the battery twice. I heard a click also. I diconnected the horn relay.I left the car alone for a week reconnected the horn relay and it started fine..
I replaced the horn relay. I know you have a horn relay. You should find it on the drivers side inner fender. I had a charger on the car one time and could see over a few hours the battery charger clicking on to charge the draw on the battery is quicker then you imagine

Lady72nRob71

Does the car have power windows, locks, defogger, cruise, etc??
Not too many relays on these cars but we will find the source of the click!
If it was the horn relay clicking, then i would assume the horn would be blowing as well since you said it worked...

The clock has me wondering, but pulling the cigar/courtesy fuse should have disabled that.

radioburningchrome

Get a battery disconnect switch or just remove the ground cable to the battery.

If you car has the spring ring terminal, it will be a breeze.

fasteddi

Since I noticed the drained batt. i have been just taking the ground wire off just to be safe
The car does have power windows and seats. But no A/C, deffoger or cruse control. I have to go detail some cars today but will work on the Olds later tonight.
Thanks for the helps so far... i know we'll find the problem.

Rickman48

If you can hear the relay clicking, have another set of ears determine where t's coming from, or let them engage the battery cable!

Lady72nRob71

Do the power windows work with the key off? The later 60's and early 70s use a relay connected to switched 12V (a plug in the fuse box) so they only work with key on. Not sure if your year has this but if so, the previous owner could have wired that into constant 12V.

jon69olds

Could be your voltage regulator. I had a similar problem until I changed the voltage regulator, but when it went bad it fried my alternator and my battery too.

Lady72nRob71

The mechanical regs have relays in them that click, too - listen there or disconnect it and see if the fault disappears.

WHIPOLDS

I had a similar problem in my truck. Finally found the problem was the power seat switch was stuck.

Rick

LoganMiller68

like citcapp said, I once had a similar problem in my 68, and it ended up being that on my car if the key isn't straight up and down the battery will drain. On new cars the key turns "all the way" off, but on my car, and I think a lot of old cars for that matter, if you turn the key "all the way" off it goes into Accessory mode and drains your battery down. In my car at least, there is accessory mode which is all the way to the left, the middle is "off" and to the right is ignition.
This was a problem that irritated me for a long time until I finally realized it and now kick my self for. haha

Gixxere

Any update on this issue. I have ahaving the same problem with my 72 cutlass.

75cutty455

x2

I have the same click noise and small sparks on my 75 cutlass supreme as I connect my battery. As I read through the thread I remember I did disconnected my horn because it wouldnt stop blowing. Could it still drain even though I disconnected it from the actual horns near the radiator and not the relay?

oldcutlass

Yes, it will drain due to the relay.

75cutty455

Eureka!!! That was it. When I investigated the horn issue it turned out one of the horn wires inside the steering wheel was broken lose and touching the metal causing the drain. Problem fixed, no drain, and Im happy.

Good thread, help me a ton. Keep it up guys and thanks for all the input throughout the thread.