Well I haven't posted in awhile, but my 1997 Buick Regal GS finally rusted out to the point that I had to send her down the road. I picked up two 2000 Buick Century'* very cheaply when I'm fixing in the other I'm using as a parts car. I have an electrical issue where the car will drain the battery, I had heard that you can hook a meter up to it start pulling fuses and when the voltage drops you know where your short is. Is this the best way to figure out where the short is? And what are the most common problems that caused this? I have heard everything from the windows wiring to the radio wiring. Everybody has their opinion I just want a convenient way to find the problem and fix it

If you have a parasitic draw, you want to look at current, not voltage........

Before this, check to make sure the underhood light is not on, the glove box light is not on, no interior lights are on, and the trunk light is not on......

You will need a multimeter, with a minimum 10 Amp scale.....

WITH NOTHING ON(key out of ignition, doors open[use a screwdriver to insert in the latch to close it] to access the fuse panels), wait for interior lights to go out.....now disconnect the negative battery cable........

You will need a jumper wire, preferably one with alligator clips on the ends......remove the bolt from the negative battery cable, and insert it into the neg terminal of the battery, making it easy to attach the jumper wire to the battery......

First you will attach a jumper wire between the neg bat terminal and the neg bat cable......the reason you do this, is to put any modules, that may be "awake", to sleep.....wait a few minutes, preferably 10, and then attach the multimeter(on 10 Amp scale) in parallel with the jumper wire........now remove the jumper wire, leaving the multimeter in the circuit.......if you get a negative reading, don't worry if the reading is negative, it just means you hooked up the meter backwards...don't worry leave it like this....we are more concerned with magnitude.......

You should have a reading of 25-30 milliamps, or 0.025 -0.030 Amps......if this is the case there is no draw......anything appreciatively higher, is a draw....for example, if a glove box light was on, you would get a reading of around 2000 ma or 2.0 Amps.......

So, if the draw is high, start pulling fuses one at a time(put back in if there is no change), if you see the current drop to an acceptable range, the problem is the circuit that the fuse provides power for.....now you will need a schematic, because one fuse can sometimes feed more than one circuit, and each circuit will have to be checked out, to find the problem.....

There is usually more than one fuse box....if you pull all the fuses and there is no drop, there is one more possibility, though rare....disconnect the alternator, to see if the current drops.....

Another possibility, is if some aftermarket accessory was added to the car and is drawing current...make sure there is none.....