Clock draining battery

[Tin Man]

The clock stays on and is draining the battery. I did the search and see that I am not alone.

I looked on Gnttype.org and the diagram shows the orange wire as the clock wire that stays hot all the time. My question is, can I disconect the orange wire and just not have the clock running? Would the stereo still work?

If no one knows, I'll give it a try and tell you what happens.

[mcss383]

The clock is not the cause of your battery draining, its current draw is most likely in the milliamp's range. The cause of the drain is elsewhere.

How is your starter? When mine went bad it would drain my battery within a day or so.

[HzEmall Regal]

Which clock are you refering to in the car ? The factory radio one ?

[Tin Man]

Factory radio. I pulled the fuse and the draw was gone. Put the fuse back in and it was there. Removed just the radio and it went away. It is the stereo. The clock stays on all the time and that is my guess as to what is draining the battery.

From the search feature, others have had the same problem. Something about if the battery was charged wrong, then a diode in the radio goes bad and the clock stays on even when the car is off.

[ELLISDALLASWE4]

Yes you are right if the dispaly light is on with the key off ...It draws around 350 milliamps and that will take out a battery..

[ELLISDALLASWE4]

The Display on the radio is the problem. If you want to try this to prove it. open glove box... empty glove box.. close glove box about 1/2 inch... hold in clip on the left side of the glove box ... open glove box all the way ... now stick your hand inside and feel behind the right lower side of the radio there is a plug that is pluged to female plug that goes to the radio. if you disconnect this the display will go out and the radio will have nothing on the stations but noise. This is not how you fix it ... do not put a switch on that wire.(you would have to reset all stations everytime you started it. The problem is inside the radio.. this just proves it

[TURBOV6]

What did the meter read showing a current drain? Every car will show so sort of battery drain now it depends on the amps it's drawing.

[ELLISDALLASWE4]

The amp drain depends on what voltage the battery is at but Radio display is about 300-350 milliamps.

[Chuck Leeper]

Aren't the radio and lite in console on the same circuit? The console wire may be shorted, and causing the "leak". A common problem.
I don't have a diagram, but I think the lighter is on that fuse, too. Shorted lighter is also common problem.

[ELLISDALLASWE4]

Well yes but there is lots of stuff on the CLK FUSE. Keep in mind that a blub amp drain is closer to 600 milliamps. If it is a short it will blow fuse and would not show a amp drain.

[1QWIK6]

Any solutions to this? I have the same issue. My radio is slowly draining my battery.

[ELLISDALLASWE4]

The Radio has to be repaired if the clock stays on with the key off. This is a known problem with radios of the 80's. I have have been told that this is a trim capacitor in the radio. I am not sure which one and there are several. If anyone has this fixed it would help to have a picture of which one and it's location.

Thanks
ELLIS

[ELLISDALLASWE4]

If your car will not start after it sits for a few days, then check and see if your "Radio Clock Display" stays on after you turn the key off. If it does stay on then you will need to get the radio repaired. I will repair your Buick Delco Radio Clock Display so it will go off when you turn the key off, ship back to you, and give you a 90 day warranty for $70. Please pack the radio carefully, insure it and ship it to David Ellis at 9560 Heatherdale Dallas TX 75243, then call me to let me know that you sent it.
972-849-8880

[87Regal3.8SFI]

This is also a problem with early 90's vehicles. My 93 S-10 had the same problem prior to my purchase. The previous owner ended up having a new radio installed prior to selling it to me.

Of course factory radios suck. They usually cost more than an aftermarket while having poor sound quality and poor reputation. If it's not important I'd just remove it and replace it with a MUCH better aftermarket radio.

[ELLISDALLASWE4]

To those out there with Battery Drain ... I have found the problem!!!



If the Radio Clock stays on with the key off then if your car sits for around 3 days or more it will not start. So what you end up doing is you jump start your car and then go driving around for fun and to charge your battery. To fix this problem you can just disconnect the battery each time you put the car up, but that is a pain. This battery drain drove me nuts and so I put lots of time into tracking this problem down. I knew that the drain was around 350 milliamps and it have to be something that happened due to age to the car to cause the problem OR when the car was new everyone would have just taken them back to the dealer to fix the problem. In other words the car did not come with this problem. I did pull fuses until I found the problem circuit and it was on the CLK fuse. The CLK has lots of circuits on it and is one of the two power sources to the Radio. This circuit powers the memory for the radio stations, time and the radio will not work with out it. I remembered that GM car radio’s that have a clock go off if you turn the key off, and you can push in the volume knob to get the time with the key off. So I went back to the Internet to search for problems with the GM radio clock. I found the there are tons of Turbo cars out there with this same problem and lots of guy with the wrong ideas as to what is wrong. I found that there is a circuit that controls the clock that some guys had this fixed by a radio shop but they really didn’t know what was fixed. I have had this problem for years and I wanted to know all about it. I then pulled my radio and replaced a shorted circuit and now the clock goes off when the key is off. I can let my car sit for weeks and it will still start, and it’s a healthy start. There is no battery drain period. I can fix your radio for $39.95 including shipping it back to you. Here is an added bonus to fixing the radio clock and if you think about it makes sense. There seems to be a lot of turbo cars that just die and or miss at idle. My car would do this, but does not seem to now, since I have fixed the clock. I believe that this is due to the battery having a full healthy charge. This puts the correct voltage to all sensors and the computer. I still need to have some more time to test this but I have noticed a difference just leaving a traffic light and at idle. So if you would like to have your radio clock light repaired then pack it good put your name and return address on the radio and then send it with $39.95 to David Ellis 9560 Heatherdale Dallas, TX 75243.



David Ellis



Ellis@davidellisrealestate.com

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