Questions and Answers

Pontiac Firebird Battery Draining Q. Vincent, I have a 1992 Pontiac Firebird V-6. It has 23,000 miles on it. The battery will not stay charged. I only drive the car on the weekends. If I let it sit a couple of days, the battery goes dead. I can charge it up and the car starts fine. The battery and alternator are new. Could it have anything to do with the flip up lights?

When you shut the car off it sounds like the light motor runs for about 10 to 15 seconds. What do you think?

Thank you,
John

A. You need to have a parasitic load test done on this car. Something is staying powered up and drawing the battery down. You need to disconnect the negative battery cable and install an ammeter in series with battery and cable. Should be under 30mA.

If it's higher than that, pull fuses out, one at a time, until the draw goes away. The last fuse pulled will be the circuit that has the draw. Don't forget to disable the interior lights or you will read the draw from them.