I have an electrical draw somewhere that I can't track down. My car has NO mods on it. The air filter is not even a K & N type, just standard media. I've gone through 3 brand new higher end batteries that were 100% charged, & 2 new (not rebuilt/refurbished) alts & still the draw persists. I installed a NEW battery & alt at the same time, & had the car sitting for 2 days never started once in that time & went to go to work with it & the key fab (New bat in it too) didn't work to unlock it, so I knew it was dead b/4 opening the door. I tried the ignition anyway to see if the key fab was having problems & the car was stone cold dead. :( I'm at a complete loss. Cables are all in good shape, no corrosion leading from the battery or alt, can't see down at the starter though. The radio is a stock radio w/cd player that the display (time/station/track) has been screwy since I bought it, but never had the draw issues until just over a yr ago. I changed out the plugs with the stock AC's, & stock wires too. There are no performance mod of any kind. My front head now leaks since it's been sitting, so I know I need to do that too, however, I need to figure this draw out first. OH! I don't know that this would matter, however, the closest thing to a mod is I have the Sylvania Silver Star Ultra headlight bulbs, & I installed those 2 months after buying the car.
Thanks for any & all help with this.

You'll need a multi-meter with a 10 amp range to narrow this down. Set the meter to measure DC current using the 10 amp range. Now you just need to remove the negative battery cable & connect one of the meter leads to the battery & the other to the cable end. Do this with the keys out of the ignition & all the doors closed. Wait about a minute in case the PCM needs to go into power saving mode. The meter will now be showing the current draw. The draw should be less than .05 amps.

If the draw is too high then you need to find out which circuit is at fault. You can do this in one of two ways.

#1 Leave the meter connected as stated above & remove one fuse at at time. When the draw drops below .05 then you found the faulty circuit. Check the under hood (2000+) & under dash fuses. The diffucult part is checking the under dash fuses with the door closed.

#2 Is to reconnect the battery & simply remove a fuse & connect the meter leads to each side of the fuse socket. Keep checking fuses until you find the circuit with a reading close to what you found at the battery. If you need to leave the driver door open then ignore the high reading on the interior lighting circuit.

Let us know what you find.

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2006 Chevy Monte Carlo SS

GREAT!! Thank you very much! I will try that tomorrow since it's currently raining.

A common culprit on cars is power seats... just an FYI.

Let us know how it goes.

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Pics | Custom Front Lip Mod | Tint | 55w HID Hi+Lo

That could easily be tested by simply unplugging the seats at the connectors to see if the problem goes away, no?

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462 cubic inches of REAL Pontiac power.

I don't know if it fits your year, but a couple of common problems for that generation are a broken power antenna (motor keeps running) and leaky rear air struts that the compressor keeps trying to keep filled. Someone more familiar with your year should be able to say whether those are still active on your car when the ignition is off.

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*Gone, but not forgotten* - Black 2000 SSEi, HIR Headlights, Angel Eyes fogs, 3rd brake light overlay, hi-flo cat, 180 degree thermostat, HS 1.9 rockers, LSx yellow springs, Intense FWI, PCM, shift kit, push rods, and 3.4 Pulley. ZZP Power Log.

if he has elc, it is not active with ignition off

Thanks Travis.

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*Gone, but not forgotten* - Black 2000 SSEi, HIR Headlights, Angel Eyes fogs, 3rd brake light overlay, hi-flo cat, 180 degree thermostat, HS 1.9 rockers, LSx yellow springs, Intense FWI, PCM, shift kit, push rods, and 3.4 Pulley. ZZP Power Log.

pretty much. you'll do the same thing when you check the load after you pull the fuses one by one

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Pics | Custom Front Lip Mod | Tint | 55w HID Hi+Lo

I have a 2000 SSEi, with a draw issue. I know i have a leaky air strut, when the car ia running i hear the compressor kick on quite often. Does the compressor run when the car is off, as well?

No. It doesn't.

I've added my comments to the instructions that Mechanical Mike had posted back in 2010.

To find the cause, you need to do this:

You'll need a multi-meter with a 10 amp range to narrow this down. Set the meter to measure DC current using the 10 amp range. Now you just need to remove the negative battery cable & connect one of the meter leads to the battery & the other to the cable end.
Do this with the keys out of the ignition & all the doors closed.
Wait about a minute in case the PCM needs to go into power saving mode. The meter will now be showing the current draw. The draw should be less than .05 amps.

If the draw is too high then you need to find out which circuit is at fault. You can do this in one of two ways.

#1 Leave the meter connected as stated above & remove one fuse at at time.
When the draw drops below .05 then you found the faulty circuit.
Check the under hood (2000+) & under dash fuses. The difficult part is checking the under dash fuses with the door closed.
From at least 1992 through 2005 ALL Bonnevilles have 2 fuse boxes.
On 2000+ cars, you shouldn't need to leave a door open to check fuses, since the fuse box inside the car is under the back seat, not beneath the dash board. 2000+ have a second fuse box under the hood on the passenger side.
1992-99 cars have 2 fuse boxes beneath the dash--1 on the driver's side and 1 on the passenger's side, so it's likely you will need to leave a door open to check fuses on these model years.

#2 Is to reconnect the battery & simply remove a fuse & connect the meter leads to each side of the fuse socket. Keep checking fuses until you find the circuit with a reading close to what you found at the battery. If you need to leave the driver door open then ignore the high reading on the interior lighting circuit.


Using this method, you will be able to isolate the cause.
Just so you know, a bad diode in your alternator can cause a drain. It's not the most frequent cause, just another possibility to be aware of.