Something killing battery

[big corndong]

Hey guys, on Thursday, I replaced some plugs for my choke and alternator, while putting it back on realized my choke was never even grounded, grounded that and then had to leave for the weekend, went to start it up yesterday and it just clicked. My battery was dead, charged it up and drove it home with no problem, about 45 minutes later went outside to start it and it tried to start but ultimately started clicking again pretty fast. Something it draining my battery all of a sudden and not sure what it is. I didnt change anything in my wiring except for grounding my choke, so that’s the only thing I can imagine is draining my battery? I believe it’s tapped into my ignition somewhere, should I get power elsewhere? Should I unplug it completely? I’m very new to the Squarebody life so I appreciate any help I can get. I’m not by my truck so some follow up questions for me might not have an answer till later today when I can get back under the hood

 

[Grit dog]

Unhook the choke wire(s) and confirm.
First rule of diagnosing a problem. If it wasn’t a problem until you changed something, whatever you changed likely is the problem.

 

[Snoots]

Not a lot of meaningful info here. Electric Choke I suppose? Have you disconnected the ground you put on the choke, charged the battery and tried again?

 

[big corndong]

Not a lot of meaningful info here. Electric Choke I suppose? Have you disconnected the ground you put on the choke, charged the battery and tried again?

Electric choke, yes. Today after work I’m going to disconnect it and charge the battery and see what happens

 

[gmbellew]

it might be hooked to constant power instead of ignition power....

 

[Matt69olds]

I’d suspect the battery has a bad cell or is just junk. I don’t see how the choke heater could drain a battery in 45 minutes.

Test the battery, make sure the charging system is good.

 

[Ricko1966]

Unhook your negative battery cable and hook a test light to it connect the other end of the test light to battery negative. Is the light on? Unhook your choke ground,did the light go out? Problem verified. No? Unhook the alternator including the wiring mod you made did your light go out? The problem is in that circuit. If one of those isn't the solution post back,we'll dive deeper.

 

[big corndong]

Unhook your negative battery cable and hook a test light to it connect the other end of the test light to battery negative. Is the light on? Unhook your choke ground,did the light go out? Problem verified. No? Unhook the alternator including the wiring mod you made did your light go out? The problem is in that circuit. If one of those isn't the solution post back,we'll dive deeper.

Okay so little update. Realized I had wired the alternator incorrectly and had constant power going to the wrong spot, so switched that over, as well as got a new battery because my battery was shot. Ran great for a few days, battery didn’t die overnight, started easy everytime. Go to my truck this morning, it made a fast noise like it was going to crank over, but then stopped. Battery completed dead again. Go to jump it and nothing. No power, no lights no nothing. Not sure what to do

 

[Ricko1966]

First check cables,clean and tight if they have repair ends make sure they are clean and tight where the wires go in

 

[Long Rider]

I recently bought a C20 that had been in a storage shed since May of 2012. One of the problems was the same as yours. I put a new battery in it and then Had my wife start it while I watched with the hood up. Sparks were shooting from my exhaust manifold. The heat shield had rubbed a small hole in the batt cable and was shorting to it. Heck of a light show. A rerouted new batt cable solved my problem..