Sup.. i got a 70 with a 454.. i just bought the car about a month ago and the dude gave me 2 batteries with the car.. i got a battery charger and i charge the batteries.. they appear to be fine.. if i disconnect the battery from the car it will be fine and i can hook it up the next day and turn it on.. but if i leave the battery hooked up something is drainging it.. i dont have the money to take it in to get it checked out so i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what the problem was.. thanks

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Thanks, Greg and Rob.

You can hook up a DC current meter between the ground and battery negative terminal (all other ground removed from the battery) and check the draw when the Elky is "off" and see if you are loosing current. Then start pulling fuses until the draw goes away (assuming there is one). Once you find the circuit, you should just trace out everything that on it to find the culprit.

Sometimes one or more of the diodes in the alternator's bridge rectifier go bad. When they do, it'll let current run through the unit backwards when off, discharging the battery in short order.

Suggest pulling the alternator and having it tested at Auto Zone/NAPA etc.

"You can hook up a DC current meter between the ground and battery negative terminal (all other ground removed from the battery) and check the draw when the Elky is "off" and see if you are loosing current. Then start pulling fuses until the draw goes away (assuming there is one). Once you find the circuit, you should just trace out everything that on it to find the culprit."

In regard to the DC meter: neg probe to battery neg terminal and pos probe to ground?

Sorry for my ignorance but the ground that you mention is that the ground coming off of the neg battery terminal?

If I do as you say above and there is no draw, then I open a door should the meter show draw from the light?

I seem to have an intermittent problem.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Here is the method I use, but I am a little different...

You need to make the car have zero battery draw (disconnect any clocks, amps, stereo stuff). Pull every fuse keeping in mind which goes where. Disconnect a battery cables and place a ohm meter between the battery cables you disconnected, it should show open circuit, if not its probably the alternator. Start replacing fuses, once you see the ohm meter show less than infinity you have found a problem circuit. Note which circuit that is and remove that fuse again and continue on with the rest in case you have more than 1 bad circuit. Once you have the bad circuits you will have to start tracing individual wires. This is never fun. Good luck!

Took me a year to figure out my 1982 problem. The glove box light stayed on and the battery went dead in two days when not in use. The swing gate that made/broke the ground was not adjusted correctly from the factory. Put your EC in complete darkness and look for a light.
Good Luck