Car kills battteries

[Jet Black]

Hey guys, I hope this is the right section...I couldnt find an actual Technical section.

My parent's have a 2001 Protege Lx (2.0 engine). I know sqwat about mazdas but I'm hoping there are shop manuals out there just like for Hondas.

The car has killed 2 batteries in 2 nights by sitting. I've run some tests and there is a load of 3 amps on the battery while the car is sitting with everything off. By pulling fuses I narrowed down the problem to the low guage black with a white stripe cable gooing from the main fuse to the alternator. I'm pretty sure thats the alternator output.

The short is atleast at the alternator cause the cable sparked when I pulled it from the alternator.

Any previous experience with this problem or a shop manual would really help.

Thanks.

[chaosProtege]

sounds like you have a parasitic drain somewhere. is the car stock? radio and everything?

[TampaSport20]

sounds like an issue with the ignition switch....

[Jet Black]

sounds like an issue with the ignition switch....


Really?


The parasitic drain is the alternator, once its unplugged I dont register on my multimeter.

[deaconfan34]

has anything AT ALL been done to the car? it a short somewhere, so if you have done anything to the car you should check in that area. I dont know anything about that color wire but you can go to ALLDATA and get wiring diagrams for our cars. I think you have to pay but if you can get access thats good. If not then i might be able to pull it up for you and email you the diagram.

[Jet Black]

has anything AT ALL been done to the car? it a short somewhere, so if you have done anything to the car you should check in that area. I dont know anything about that color wire but you can go to ALLDATA and get wiring diagrams for our cars. I think you have to pay but if you can get access thats good. If not then i might be able to pull it up for you and email you the diagram.


Its all good, thanks for the info man; car is stock btw.

I pulled it yesterday and brought it to Parts Source (~ Autoparts extra) and they "couldn't test it" cause it wasnt in their database. Found some old guy around town to test it, he didnt even turn it on and told me it was toast...you should have seen the spark when he went to connect it. The diode pack blew and was causing the battery to backflow into rotor.

Currently charging the battery to go and have it load tested to make sure its not the cause of the blown alternator...this car has gone through 2 in 4 years (boom06)



So there are no factory shop manuals for proteges online eh? That sucks....its THE most important tool for my hondas.

[TampaSport20]

So there are no factory shop manuals for proteges online eh? That sucks....its THE most important tool for my hondas.

protege5.ugly.net

[Jet Black]

protege5.ugly.net

Thanks!