I have had my battery checked by schucks, they say its ok. I leave my truck for a week and its so dead not even the clock works. How can i trace this, also what is a common draw that affects our trucks? Its a 1987. Nothing special. Its really driving me nuts,, when it does run my alternator is working fine.

Use an ammeter and see what draw is getting pulled from your battery. It should be somewhere around .4 or so I think from the clock or radio or whatever. . If it's more than that, pull a fuse and see if it drops. If not move to the next fuse and see if thats the one drawing the current. Repeat until you find it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cyclops.gif" alt="" />

So just plug put it on the positive and see if it makes any effect? How do fix when i find it? Thank you for the help!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Yeah just put the ammeter on the positive side of the battery (all the + cables).
As far as fixing it, it's going to be different depending on what you find so when you find it, post up!

You put the ammeter in series with the battery. So pull the + cable off then connect the ammeter between the battery + post and the + battery cable.

It doesn't matter if they say that it checks good. I had a battery in my truck that would discharge completely, every day.. about 24 hours time. Well, I would get it charged at Checkers, and they would check it after the charge and say it was good. Well, I did that for about a week. I was getting a little angry, because my battery was under warranty, so one day, I took the battery in to get charged.. I called them about an hour later and told them to hold my battery for a day, because I had to go to work. Well, I went in the next day to pick it up.. they said it was good to go, and I told them to check it (since it was sitting for a day) And sure enough, it was bad... I got a free new battery! Ha, they weren't happy!

Do the ammeter test as described in here, that way you *know* your rig is or is not the problem. You can also just leave the battery disconnected for a week, check the voltage daily & see what happens.

BTW, a shorted diode in your alternator can produce your symptom.

Dave

Where can i get an ammeter? i have a voltage tester, and an ohm meter.

I mainly use one of Harbor Freight's inexpensive meters (great buy when they hit $2.99):
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90899

It has a 10 amp (DC) current range and works fine for this sort of stuff. A 1-2 amp drain will kill a good battery in a day. I recently found a ~200mA drain in my '85, the on-board welder control box had been switched on accidentally and the indicator light on it was on, killing the battery in a few days.

I have one of those, what do i set it to to measure current? I have only used it to measure my battery and alternator output.