Can the Air Ride system run the battery dead??
- Thread starter BigRock91
- Start date
whiplash15
Registered
I doubt it. If the air ride slammed with the car off, it would have to be within 45 minutes of when it was shut off, and even then if it was slammed and couldnt pump the system up, it would time itself out after 1 minute. However, there is a myriad of other electrical items that would kill it pretty quickly. First thing I would look at is alternator performance.
Roadboss
On Work Release
Yes it could kill your battery, especially if your new battery is not being fully charged because of a failing alternator. I would park your car on a level surface, start the car up so that it rises to drive height , then while the car is running exit the car and turn off the air ride switch in the trunk. Drive this way for a few days to see if you loose any air in the air ride (the leaky bag will show). It is not unusual for alternators to get wiped out by dead batteries.
Good idea. I'll give that a shot. Yes it is possible that something else is running the batt down but I havn't a clue as to what it would be. I am getting nothing on the message center or warning lights driving it around nor does anything seem wrong.
I'd disconnect the battery and connect an ammeter in series from the battery to the battery cable, and check the current draw. Set your meter to the highest amps possible, so you don't blow its fuse.
Turn the air ride switch off first, and don't open the door during the test. My 94's draw about 100 milliamps for the first hour or so, then drop to about 38 milliamps.
If your car draws much more than that, I'd start removing fuses one by one, and see which circuit is drawing the current.
Turn the air ride switch off first, and don't open the door during the test. My 94's draw about 100 milliamps for the first hour or so, then drop to about 38 milliamps.
If your car draws much more than that, I'd start removing fuses one by one, and see which circuit is drawing the current.
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AnthraxBird
Registered
Did you ever get this fixed?? Take off the negative battery cable with the car off, then use a multi meter and put one lead to the negative on the battery then the other lead on the negative cable and it will show you how many volts are being used while the car sits
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The only thing that measurement will tell you is your battery voltage.
If you want to measure the current draw, the meter must be switched to read Amps as I said above.
You measure current through a circiut, you measure volts across a device or battery.
With the battery disconnected, and the very high internal resistance of the meter, in the Volts position, you are just measuring the battery voltage, because there will be very little current going through the cable.
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AnthraxBird
Registered
If you finish the connection at the negative, with the multimeter, it will give you a current draw you can measure. The multimeter wont be anywhere near the positive =)