i have been trying to find a short in my truck. over night when the truck is off, there is an ample power draw on the batteries. i put my meter on the batteries in the morning and both of them are in the 10 volt area. the batteries were new in sept of 2010. ant the alternator is fine. after it runs for a few minutes the voltage gauge flickers and it goes up to over 14v.any tips on where to find this draw, or what it might be??

 

If you are familiar with your multimeter, you can do a parasitic drain test. Disconnect both battery grounds, and put your meter in series with one ground on one of the batteries. If you are getting a amp reading there is a draw for sure. Start pulling fuses one by one to isolate the circuit where there is a draw. If the amps drop significantly when a fuse is removed, that may be the circuit that is pulling excessive amperage with the key off.

 

i always start with radio, many problems with installs. also if the alternator regulator is bad it will do that. start simple!

 

i already tried the fuse thing but i will have to check the radio for sure. would the intake heater be drawing power somehow or no?

 

I'd think if a realy was stuck closed powering the grid heaters, pulling 100 amps each, the batteries would be dead in less then an hour.

 

hmmmm alright. i might try the radio thing then...