[pa.legendman]

What is Resistance Between Battery Cables (with Battery removed)?

Greetings:

I'm trying to troubleshoot a problem with my car's (1991 Legend L Sedan) electrical system.

For some reason, something appears to be discharging my car's battery when the car sits overnight outside. I'm wondering whether a short circuit somewhere within the car is causing the battery to discharge.

Today I took the battery out of the car and measured the resistance between the positive and negative battery cables. The resistance was negligible (somewhere between 0 and 100 ohms). Is this state of affairs normal? I would expect to find an open circuit (viz., infinite resistance) between the cables provided the ignition switch has been turned off.

Does anyone out there know how much resistance there should be between the positive and negative battery cables (with the battery removed from the vehicle)?

Thanks for the info and for your help.

 

[pa.legendman]

Bump. Doesn't anyone out there know the answer to my question?

Thanks.

 

[pa.legendman]

Problem Solved: Shorted Rear Power Antenna

Greetings:

Having received considerable assistance from the members of this Forum, I'm writing to report that I successfully identified the part responsible for my battery drain. About three weeks ago, my car's rear power antenna (a three-year-old aftermarket unit manufactured by Hirschmann) stopped working. I didn't think much of it at the time, reasoning that the antenna's motor had burned out. The car's battery didn't go dead until a week or two later. At the time, I did not connect these seemingly unrelated events.

When I performed a battery drain test on my Acura yesterday, I discovered that Fuse 56 in the underhood fuse box was drawing a tremendous amount of current (with the car turned off). (The current was strong enough to blow a 1-Amp fuse on my voltmeter.) Fuse 56, I learned from the Service Manual, controlled, among other electronic devices, the rear power antenna motor. A light-bulb went off in my head at that point--for the first time linking the earlier dead power antenna with my car's dead battery. I removed the antenna from the car's circuitry and, lo and behold, no battery drain.

Problem solved--thanks to the helpful folks of this Forum. Had I not learned from the Forum how to perform a battery drain test, I would never have solved this problem--and would probably have had to pay a mechanic lots of $$ to reach a solution.

My thanks to everyone who helped.