Car had been sitting for about 2 yrs or so. Finally got it up and running. Put a new battery in it and came out the next morning and it was dead. Charged it up, can drive it around with no problems. Battery light comes on for a second or two once started, but then goes out as soon as I put it into first gear.

Hooked up a multimeter to the battery and started it up. It was reading 14 + volts while running, so I am assuming the alternator is still good.

So I then disconnected the negative battery terminal and hooked up the mulitmeter between the battery and terminal in series. Kept it on volts(which maybe I shouldn't have), and it was reading around 12 volts. Went under the dash and starting pulling fuses, but none of them caused the voltage to drop.

After doing some reading, maybe the seat belts are causing problems???

Any ideas out there from the resident experts?

 

Do you have door mounted seatbelts? You can use your voltmeter to check the drop when you unplug the two wires that go to the door latch mechanism inside the door. It worked for me....check both sides, and based on the test results, you should be able to figure out which side is bad....just unplug it and you should be good to go.....good luck

 

i will try that out. should the multimeter be reading 12 volts with the car turned off though?

 

Measure the current draw when the door opens and closes for each side, this might tell you which side is bad (always on?). Search online for "parasitic draw" test for more info on this procedure...good luck