Beretta.net

hi guys
ÂÂÂ ÂÂÂ ÂÂÂ My Beretta, a 94 3100 automatic, has problems with battery drain. ÂÂÂ The battery light comes on at start then on idle will flicker and go out sometimes, and then on acceleration it will go out and come back on at higher speed---checked ÂÂÂ fuses, ReplacedÂÂÂ oldÂÂÂ battery, alternator, checked wires, belt is old but nice and tight. ÂÂÂ I haven't replaced spark plugs or spark plug wires as it gets great milage and idles great. ÂÂÂ The car does give me some trouble at times on starting it up.  This problem does drain the battery completely. ÂÂÂ Any ideas on where to go from here?

~Edited for readability.

Check to make sure the wire coming from the starter going to the alt is not cut or broke in the line somewhere.  Sounds like the alt is not connected to the battery.

Another couple things:  I noted that with a .5 farad capacitor for stereo, my battery would be stone dead after 50days if I don't drive it.  I can''t rememeber the drain when the cap is hooked up, but without this on my 89GT [stock as it can get], there is a 30ma drain constantly and the stock radio/clock is sucking that 30ma, or probably 27ma of it...

so if my car serves as a barometer, 30ma drain may be normal [stock 89gt].

other thing, I agree with the alternator wire being finicky.  I once forgot to plug in my alternator harness connector after doing something underhood.  

check ~14 volts or somewhere near with car idling, this could be weaker if the alternator is failing, and sometimes they do fail slowly.  my last alt. died slowly.  ...kept charging the car and it wasn't until I volt checked it that I found it to be 12.5v when running - enough to run it, yet not enough to start it next time!

You can try disconnecting the battery with car running [94 should be okay, can someone tell me if this is bad on obdII?] and nothing should be different.  This probably should be skipped if you have a voltmeter and can check voltage.

could it be a drain in the sensor system?

Andy

Just unhooking the battery with the engine running could always be a potential problem.  In some instances the alternator will over-compensate for the change and will cause a voltage spike which could potentially damage the ECM.