1994 Other Saturn Models Starting Question

Tiny
TDSMITHER
  • MEMBER
  • 1994 SATURN
  • 4 CYL
  • FWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 225,000 MILES
This car has 200K + miles and it was running extremely rough. Took it to a shop and they said it needed plugs, wires, and a coil pack. Since they wanted $400 I decided to do it myself. So I changed both coil packs the plugs and wires.

When I first started it after the repair it immediately died. But I restarted and it ran fine. I let it idle for about 5 minutes and drove it around the block. It ran perfectly. After that it sat for almost two days and when I tried to start it the battery seemed dead. So I tried to jump it(the battery periodically dies and needs a jump) and it wouldn't jump. The battery is only about 3 months old.

When I changed the plugs and wires I made note of which wire went to which location, so I'm pretty sure that is correct. The only part I didn't diagram were the wires that connect to plate behind the coil packs(ignition control module?), But they seemed to only fit one way. I think those are correct.

Is there anything I could have done wrong that would allow it to run fine driving around the block but then proceed to kill the battery?
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 AT 9:49 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
2CARPRO JACK
  • MECHANIC
  • 11,533 POSTS
You mention that you already knew the battery periodically dies and needs a jump, so I dont think you could have done anything to cause that. You need to find a shop that does electrical to see what is drawing the battery down
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Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 AT 7:40 AM
Tiny
TDSMITHER
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  • 2 POSTS
No offense, but shops seem to always charge an arm and a leg(my parents use to own a bunch of Precision Tunes, I know how expense they are to run, but I figure most work I can do myself). What about hooking an ammeter to the car with the engine off and then after about an hour just pulling fuses to find out what's drawing from the battery.
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Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 AT 10:04 AM
Tiny
2CARPRO JACK
  • MECHANIC
  • 11,533 POSTS
Non taken. A test light will work too. The only thing is that the way you describe it, this is an intermittent draw, so it may be hard to find.
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Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 AT 1:10 PM

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