electrical short? Options

[CAcelica29]

heyy guys, i drive a 95 ST that has a new battery and alternator, new grounds as well as new ends on the battery cables. for some odd reason the battery died this morning (hasnt been driven in maybe a week). lights arent on or anything. what could be the cause??????

[tto010]

If it sparks when the battery is charged and you put the + pole on, something is leeching from the battery (when ignition is off ofc...).

[rave2n]

If it sparks when the battery is charged and you put the + pole on, something is leeching from the battery (when ignition is off ofc...).

Every car I've had sparks when you finish the circuit that is attaching the battery.

Never had a dead battery because of such.

But, something is leeching your battery. Those new grounds you have I would look into first.

Also use a multimeter to test your battery.

[CAcelica29]

ill check the grounds the ones i replaced were the one from trans to core support and one from the head to near the passenger strut....

If it sparks when the battery is charged and you put the + pole on, something is leeching from the battery (when ignition is off ofc...).

Every car I've had sparks when you finish the circuit that is attaching the battery.

Never had a dead battery because of such.

But, something is leeching your battery. Those new grounds you have I would look into first.

Also use a multimeter to test your battery.

[tto010]

If it sparks when the battery is charged and you put the + pole on, something is leeching from the battery (when ignition is off ofc...).

Every car I've had sparks when you finish the circuit that is attaching the battery.

Never had a dead battery because of such.

But, something is leeching your battery. Those new grounds you have I would look into first.

Also use a multimeter to test your battery.

Mine doesnt spark...
my battery is fine.

Edit: And i ment like a big spark.... Not a small bzzdt when you put it on, but something a bit bigger then that...

This post has been edited by tto010: Jan 29, 2013 - 2:27 PM

[CAcelica29]

why would the battery spark though, if its new (from october)

[tto010]

why would the battery spark though, if its new (from october)

It is when you connect the pole to the battery... It will spark because you will have a "bad connection" Momentarialy and it will make a spark if its drawing any current.

You can hear the sparking if you balance a lightswitch between on and off. Because there isnt enough contact between the two sides of the switch, it will come a spark....

[CAcelica29]

why would the battery spark though, if its new (from october)

It is when you connect the pole to the battery... It will spark because you will have a "bad connection" Momentarialy and it will make a spark if its drawing any current.

You can hear the sparking if you balance a lightswitch between on and off. Because there isnt enough contact between the two sides of the switch, it will come a spark....

so if something is drawing off the battery it will spark momentarily?

[tto010]

so if something is drawing off the battery it will spark momentarily?

when you connect it to the circular clamp thing.

[Special_Edy]

Lol its called parasitic battery drain.
To test for it-
Remove the negative battery cable from the battery
make sure everything is turned off and the doors are shut. You do not want to open the doors or turn the ignition on during this test, the fuse in your multimeter will only handle 3-10amps of current.
Use a hose clamp, tape or your spare hand to secure the negetive probe of your multimeter to the negative terminal of the battery.
Set your multimeter to measure milliamps in DC(the dotted line not the wavy one).
Connect the positive probe of the multimeter to the negative battery cable/clamp to complete the car's circuit. You can usually wedge it into a crevice on the clamp.
The normal reading shouldn't be much more than 10milliamps, .01 amps.
You can remove the fuses 1 at a time until you find the one that is pulling the majority of the amperage. This is your problem circuit, its normal for the ECU, clock, stereo and amplifyers to draw a slight amount when powered down.
Be wary of opening the doors to check the interior fusebox, you don't want to exceed the fuse rating on the multimeter.

Good luck and be sure to post your results or any questions.