hello i have a post in engin section its really long tho im sorry lol anyway i have an electrical problem that is draining my battery and burning up my starters makes my tach dance for a few secs when i turn it off and now is making my dvd screen not go back in when i turn the key off and the screen goes in and out last night i out a new starter on cuz it left me hanging at the store i out it on worked fine got it home left the battery hooked up for about 2 hours went to start it and it just grinded it would mesh in the flywheel but wouldnt turn it this happened to all 4 yes 4 starters i had in the past 2 months and ive never been able to leave the battery hooked up for more than an hour or it would die i want to do the multimeter test with the battery cable but idk what to set it on i hooked one wire to the positive term and one to the negative on the dc 200ma setting and it blew the fuse in it the battery was hooked up when this happened was that my fault or the batterys i have an analog multimeter and am not too familiar with it honestly and i really need help i have an 84 monte with a 383 stroker th4oo trans

 

Whatever is staying on that is drawing enough current to drain the batt that fast must be something you added recently. I would start by disconnecting the radio/amps, checking the wiring at the starter and alternator, and making sure your grounds are all attached to bare metal, mainly the ones around the engine and radio equipment.

 

I had to put a new battery in my car last week. It gave me ALL kinds of problems before it finally just went dead. I'd have your battery checked 1st, then check the cables to see if they're corroded. If they are replace them with larger cables.

But honestly, if it's not the battery, then you're stereo is hooked up so it's pulling some power all the time, at least is my guess.

 

i disconnected the radio completely still the same thing the battery is brand new i bought it 5 days ago to rule out the old one lol i have a new digital multimeter i need to know what amperage setting to put it on to put it between the negative battery terminal and cable do i set to 20m or 200m? im getting better with this thing ive only used them to test voltage when i change it thru the settings it moves the decimal to measure bigger or smaller amounts of amperage ohms etc. am i correct?

 

To prevent damage to the multimeter, always start at the higher setting and work your way down. If you start low and have too much current/voltage going through, you could fry the multimeter.

Hook the multimeter in series with the negative battery terminal & cable. Disconnect the negative battery cable; hook one multimeter lead to it. Connect the other multimeter lead to the negative battery terminal.

For most cars, somewhere in the 15-30 milliamp range is normal to run clocks, etc. when the engine is not running. If you have significantly more, start pulling fuses, one at a time, to try isolating the circuit that's got a problem. If you pull a fuse and the current drain goes away, you've found the circuit that is giving you problems.

 

i did that...found out i had a 4.86 amp draw i had to set it to dc10a cuz i knew it was going to be high to kill my batt so fast i had a 4.86 amp draw with no radio hooked up clock broken and doors closed i checked the clock fuse it never worked but the courtesy lites and cig lighter worked i thought it was broken well i noticed i 30 amp fuse in the fuse box pulled it out checked the voltemeter and it was teetering from 0.01 to 0 so im shooting for the clock lol i left it unplugged untill i have my car took apart enough to access the wires for all the circuits but my starter and battery dont die but now my alternator isnt charging if anyone can help me its a 2 wire the number one wire runs to my firewall and clips into a orange wire with a black clip on it its in the main harness it looks like and the nymber 2 runs strait to the output pin of the alternator ive never seen this before so i guess that other wire could have possibly een wired into the circuit i unplugged??? im making progress alot faster than i thought thank u guys for the info ive earned all the dc functions of my multimeter just about and know alot of my cars wiring now lol info on where i should run these wires would be awesome of mabye an online diagram link u may know of thanks again guys my monte is almost back in action

 

ok problem was the #1 alternator wire was wired to the clock thick is always on and why the draw stopped when i popped the fuse out and then the charging stopped there is a brown wire (idiot light) which is the correct wire i tested it hooked up and ran the number 2 to the output pin for now im going to run it to the starter so it recieves a better system strength signal rather that battery/output strength and i did the big 3 while i had it all took apart the end result was 14.5 volts at lide or driving with the heat dvd player and turn signal on with it in deive and brakes on it never once went under 13 and now i can leave my battery hooked up and no more problems thank you so much to everyone who helped me get my monte back in action i wanted to fry up my tires in celebration but they had enough of that lol thanks again guys