Hello all,

I was a member here for a long time, but let it slide and hadn't logged in for years, around when the sites formatting changed and everything expanded... Those same items are a bit of the reason that I have no clue where to post this. The electrical section focuses on stereos and more superficial sorts of things, it's not internal or external engine persay at all, so it's here because my car fits into this span of every Camaro ever made. Mine is a 1999 Camaro SS 6spd,with numerous goodies here and there, all of which I've had on for some time, and none of which really make any sense as per causing my current troubles.

My issue is that anymore, my battery is dead every morning. At first I thought it was just the battery, as the car has been stagnant for some spurts throughout the past couple years, and it could have been that simple. After replacing it I was good for about a week. Then another dead morning. I jumped it and got another week, but with an odd night mixed in where my voltage briefly went down to 9 volts while driving. I parked it, finished the evening in anothers car, and on the way home it charged back up. I thought that was enough proof for me that the diodes went in the alternator and I swapped it out. That was last night, this morning another dead battery. Now I'm doing load tests in every imaginable way, even maintaining power to the car while getting the meter inline, all of this boils down to the same consistent drain tests of 7 to 8 milliamps. Far below the industry threshold of 30-50. Leaving the meter on max mode had rendered me a sporadic hit of 1.xamp and once a 2.x amp, but it was instantaneous and immediately dropped back to 7ma,which is where is at now and I've been monitoring it for 3 hours. I think those may have been caused by modules powering on and off briefly due to odd electrical conditions caused by me. But I guarantee again tomorrow morning it'll be dead, even with a mere 7ma draw. It's something I'm not seeing, and I can't even fathom what could sneak past a test of the overall cars electrical systems. Nothing should be left out of this, it's theoretically impossible. All I can think is that at some point in a cold night, something else is clicking on and drawing a lot.

Any ideas? Because I'm completely out of them. There are zero other ailments to this vehicle, no check engine light, no issues running or driving, or starting for that matter. It starts clean and fast when it's got the juice. Every ground strap looks brand new and perfect, every electrical connection just the same. I got the car some 7 or 8 years ago with 18k on the clock, looked showroom new, and you can still see your face in the underbody as well as the body. It's clean, and in about as good of shape as one could imagine. No corroded connections, no rusted anything. What in the flying *** **** is going on?!

 

I'm actually going on the 4th hour of monitoring this meter, and it's still steady at 8ma. I'm lost. It reflects the door opening and lights coming on as expected as well as key fob presses, so it's reading correctly as well. Last interference was when I hooked it up though, so it hasn't been disturbed. So this has been a reproduction of every night so far, 4 hours in... And nothing, yet anymore every morning is a dead battery. Wtf.

 

And there's no under hood light, no trunk light as it's a hatch, as we all know. It's not a glove box light, there's no center console light existent, none on this model. There's nothing to explain this. I even have the alarm set, factory of course, just as it is every night. But nothing shows up.

 

Okay, I can say this, as I realized it once I switched to a different meter... My off brand was breaking and sucking for the most part... It wasn't a 7 or 8 milliamp draw, it was a 71ish milliamp draw, my fluke showed me the light. However I still went through both under hood fuse boxes, removing each and every fuse as well as relays, and nothing... Then of course on to the interior drivers fuse panel, same procedure, and still nothing. I was essentially doing the exact same thing, yielding the same results with the first meter, it was just off a decimal place and not as accurate... But I am actually 40ma above the lowest threshold and 20 above the highest, so I am a little over. Still though, 70ma shouldn't kill a damn battery over night, something else is popping up when I am not looking. This may be impossible to find without a tech 2 scan tool and its intricate voltage monitoring services. Which of course means a dealership and a hundred bucks an hour to find some bull ****** **** problem. This sucks.

 

Doesn't look like this thread is getting much attention here, but with such detailed information I think someone should be able to offer advice. I'm moving it to General Maintenance because I think someone there might be more likely to have ideas.

Sorry I can't help much, phantom electrical drains are not my area of expertise. My only thought is if somehow the PCM is sending field voltage to the alternator even when the key is off, but I imagine you must've already covered this with the complete fuse/relay removal.

Is there any sort of aftermarket electronics anywhere on the car that might not have been wired via a stock fused source? Perhaps if that device is now failing, it might be causing a draw that it wasn't before.

 

I would vote to get the new battery load tested, just because it's new doesn't make it good, sometimes they go out sitting on the parts store shelf.

 

The only aftermarket electronics are the headlights with their cold cathode "halos", and the stereo, amp, and sub. All of which have been present for many years now, with the amp on its own fused circuit, which was checked as well for any draw, say if the remote wasn't turning it off or something... And the lights are on with the parking lights, and work fine... All wiring looks to be in tact, and operation of them hasn't been impaired. The new battery has since been load tested, as I was curious about the new alternator and did an overall test on both. Charging system is charging, battery is accepting and storing fine, has enough voltage and CCA on tap when charged and left alone. It's got to be something kicking on and sucking an amp or more constant till it dies overnight. I couldn't replicate it yet though, and even if I can, I bet once I start pulling fuses or opening doors, I could upset it and make it dissappear. I've never looked, but I realized through this endeavor that the doors on these cars have no plunger button for the cabin lights. Its got to be a circuit through the door to the striker or something, because there is nothing at all there. And the doors are fiberglass, so the circuit would be nice and isolated, and reliable... Also probabloy why they didn't want buttons pushing in one spot for the vehicles lifetime as well. But that means I can't fool it into thinking the doors are closed, well, unless I jumper whatever is in the door to whatever it is supposed to touch.

But I got a tad off topic there... This just all very recently came out of nowhere as well. I very recently did a Rockland Standard T-56 Tranzilla swap, rebuilt my rear end for the fourth time, and its been on the road kicking *** for a while... Then this. And theres really nothing around either of those two items that I could have done anything to that would cause this... I dunno.

 

to rule some things out, consider doing this:
disconnect both the + and - cables from battery but leave in car. put a good charger on it to bring battery to 100% charge, by good charger i mean one that knows when to go from charge to float and not cook the battery; then let the battery sit overnight or for 2-3 days if possible unused and use a digital multimeter and measure DC voltage across battery terminals. after being fully charged when you initially take the charger off battery the voltage across battery terminals will be around 13.0 to 13.5 volts. after it sits for 6 or so hours it should fall down around 12.65 volts depending on outside ambient temperature, and after 2-3 days sitting disconnected unused should still hold around 12.65 volts. i would do this to rule out battery being the cause and chasing your tail with things in the car. also a smart charger should charge the battery within 6-12 hours, if it stays on charge mode and doesn't go to float that might be a sign of a bad battery. and those volt numbers are for regular lead acid wet cell batteries, not AGM.

when battery is hooked up in car and you use the car, consider disconnecting all your aftermarket stereo stuff and amp to see if that's the cause.

i;ve measured draw on my 2002 and it is 0.008 amp or 8 milliamp once the bcm goes to sleep after a minute or so. the most common causes of excessive draw are from aftermarket stereo equipment and oem stereo, then a bad BCM and alternator.
other thought that comes to mind after family member had a transmission replaced in a ford the shop pinched a wire/wired between the bellhousing and motor which caused all sort of PCM codes when key turned on, so i would double check to be sure you don't have any chaffed or pinched wires since it sounds like you've done significant drive train work. with the t56 i've heard some negatives about rockland, i would also consider electrically disconnecting your skip shift solenoid, reverse lockout, and see if that has an impact on draw if you really get desperate. best of luck.

 

No tring to be a *** man but how are you doing the draw test ??
If I have a problem vehicle ...

I install a battery quick disconnect in
Line of the neg battery cable ...
Test drive it around the block ... Running all accesories .. Heat mirrors seats radio etc..
Then I shut it off throw the keys on the roof ...
Open both doors and the trunk and trip the latches .... .
Hook up by meter the unscrew the disconnect ...
And then wait ...