That damned ameter,73 Z-8 procharged

[Guest Anonymous]

OK I need some help from all of you z guru's. I believe the Stock ameter is constantly powered thus killing the battery in the car in about 2 days. I want to change this! Any ideas? Thank you,

Peter

[pparaska]

The Ammeter is ALWAYs working. It hooks to the output of the Alternator and then feeds the battery and some of the circuits of the car, the lower right three fuses I believe. To find out which ones for sure, pull the fuse box and see where the large White/Red wire connects to (10 gage). It hooks to about three sets of fuse prongs using a philips head screw.

 

If you have a drain, try putting a low current ammeter (5 amp max ought to work) across the lower right three fuse prongs, with the fuses out. You may need to change the scale to a lower range to be able to read the current draw. Anyway, this will help isolate the current drain. The clock uses a tiny bit, as well as most aftermarket radios. These both should draw very little, probably less than a 1/4 amp total.

 

Hope this helps,

 

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Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project

pparaska@home.com

Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages

[74_5.0L_Z]

I would suspect that you have a short elsewhere in the system. To test this, disconnect the wiring to the ammeter and clock, and then disconnect the negative battery cable. Then use a VOM between the cable and negative terminal of the battery. With everything off, key off, and clock disconnected the current should be zero. If the current is not zero then you have a short. A good way to isolate the short is to remove all the fuses, and put them back in one at a time while watching the VOM. When you see current then you have found the wiring leg containing the short.

 

Good Luck,

Dan