I am buying my grandparents 1992 SE tonight. However, the battery keeps dying. They have had the battery replaced, and I believe the alternator checked out.

Is there a common problem on these cars that can cause this? The local GM dealer is baffled. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Greg

Does the car have electronic level control? If so, the airbags in the rear could be leaking causing the compressor to keep pumping.

Also, make sure the glove box light goes out when the door is shut.

Is there a CD stuck in the CD player (if it has one)? That drained my battery a few weeks ago.

Do a search for this problem. There are many threads on this. And welcome to the club!

how long is it between start ups? If a long time, the security system just might be draining it.....

It'* an SE. It doesn't have ELC or the Security system. Only SSE'* and SSEi'* have those two systems.

It is a SE...how do you know if it has the air bags?

They rarely use it, sometimes 2 weeks at least.

I dont think it even has an issue. They did find the glove box wasn't shutting off.

$1300 (maybe $1100) for a 92 with 80k grandpa miles on it? Fair? The paint is faded, but its solid.

Hi Greg,

Welcome to the club. A neat way to help locate a constant drain on a battery is to modify a push -in fuse by blowing the element with a direct short (or start with an old burned out fuse) cut the plastic corners off to expose the blade on each side and solder on a couple of wires. hook these up to a 12V tail-light bulb - 1157 or similar. Then just go through the fuse block and pull each fuse, one at a time, replacing it with your homemade load tester. If any significant current is being drawn through that circuit, your bulb will light up. If you get no circuit to light the bulb, check for other loads at the battery by disconnecting the negative battery cable and putting a 12V test light between the cable and the battery. If it lights up, current is being drawn somewhere. You can pull the fuse for circuits that are a constant tiny drain like the clock, but these are so small, they usually won't light up a tail light bulb.

I think the auto parts stores even sell some kind of plug in tap for the fuse block so you wouldn't have to fabricate your own.

If I can find mine, I'll post a picture.

welcome .... dont leave your lights on!!!! lol j/k but make sure alitnator is good

if you have a volt meter or the like you can check the drain on the battery when the car is off

I have a multi-meter I can use to test the fuse blocks. What setting should I use? I'm assuming the Amperage section, but I'm not sure whether to use 200 mic, 2000 mic, 20m, 200m, etc.

Also, on an SE, what would be the most likely culprit, since it doesn't have ELC or the security system?

i dotn mean to get off topic. but willen u said only sse and ssei have security systems? my sle has one or are they different?