Alternator draining battery

CHEVROLET IMPALA
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CHOFFMAN41
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  • 11 POSTS
Battery goes dead overnight. Battery is new. Checked amp draw with everything off and get about 3.7 amp draw. Pulled fuses one by one and still get the same. Disconnected the single white/black wire on the alt and no more amp draw. Alternator charges at about 14.0 v with this wire on or off, but when off, the batt light comes on.Is this wire only for charge indicator? Any problem driving with it disconnected other than the light being on? Does this sound like a diode problem? Thanks for any info.......
Jan 7, 2006 at 4:07 PM
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TGULCH
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Dont pull the positive cable off...in the older cars this did work..however with newer cars you can cause more damage than good..with the computers and the diode controlled SCR's on the newer alternators you can cause major damage...best plan of action...take the alternator off and take it into a parts store and they can test it...and also test it on the vehicle and shoudl be able to find the problem that way
Jan 17, 2006 at 10:29 PM
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