Losing My mind, need electrical help fast

stang2b

Member
Sep 21, 2004
46
0
7
Mississippi
I have a 1992 Mustang GT, the windows, the radio, and the wipers all work without the key in the ignition or even in the car for that matter, I have went back over the harness back and forth, and tried another ignition switch and everything is still showing power for some reason, Is there anything I am over looking or any things I also need to check, cause its killing my battery, the car is all stock cept for an aftermarket radio and amp, wired correctly using the wiring harness adapter, and just finished a 5-speed swap, unplugged everything new and its still powering, any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
  • Sponsors (?)


Troubleshooting battery drains:

Typically it is something draining the battery. Small things like glove box or courtesy lights are often the culprits. If you have an aftermarket stereo or alarm system, it is also suspect.

The ideal method is to disconnect the negative terminal, and connect a Digital Multimeter (DVM) between the negative terminal on the battery and the negative cable. Set the DVM on a low current scale of 2-5 amps if it doesn't auto range. Watch the current draw, and then start pulling out fuses. When you see a sudden drop in the current, that circuit is the likely culprit. Note that the computer, radio & clock will draw less than 1/10 amp to keep the settings alive.

See http://assets.fluke.com/appnotes/automotive/beatbook.pdf. You will need the Adobe Acrobat viewer which is also a free download – Adobe - Adobe Reader download - All versions
 
Double check your radio harness wiring for a crossed memory and ignition wire connection. It sounds like you have a battery source backfeeding the circuit. All those circuits are powered by a blk/lt green wire at the ignition switch (there's the probable commonality).
 
Update:
I have tried the multimeter and pulled each fuse one by one, and the only change was when the dome light fuse was pulled, but the radio still stays on. and the wipers and windows still work without the keys, tried replacing the solenoid and the ignition switch but no changes even pulled out the steering column to look for any stripped wires, on the ignition switch harness I tested each wire one by one, and there are 2 thick yellow ones that are constantly powered and right under them is a double wire plug with blue/orange and what looks to be blue/tan, is still showing power, can't figure out what they are for, but they are hard connected to the black/green in the harness and with them being powered, they power the black/green. I tried to find a schematic of the ignition switch harness and the only one I found was on veryuseful.com and the two wires in question is not listed.
Any thoughts on these?
 
bit of a hijack here

I'm looking for key on power (about 2 amps or less for my radar detector) and don't have a wiring diagram handy I'd like to tap in from the fuse box (93 lx).

any suggestions on which circuit/color wire to tap into?
 
After all the testing and trial and errors finally found the real problem. my son helped with the swap and when he dropped the steering column the wires in question pulled out of a harness and he saw an opening that he thought was where they came from and put it in the ignition connector but as it was they actually go to a connector on the multiswitch and control the flash to pass. thanks to all for the help just finally glad to finish everything at last