[propest]

this is a tough one for me. I have a drain on my Batt. after trying to isolate it, this is what i have come up with so far; the stock '71 steering column was swapped with a '72 Monte tilt column, ever since then the key buzzer quit working & i have had this drain, not that big of a deal cuz i put one of those swap meet batt. disconect switches, its a pain when you dont remember to unscrew it to disconect the flow. after testing the fuse block, i have power to the wiper & radio fuses with the key off. they should be dead correct? all the others on that side of the block are dead with the key off. the 4 way has no juice in either key position. i am thinking the guy who installed the column got something wrong with the wiring when doing the swap. anybody familiar with what wires do what and go where at the connecter on the steering column? i have a feeling if i get it right, my batt. drain will be solved. appreiciate any help with this. thanks,

 

[Dean]

Track down the parasitic drain and you’ll probably find the culprit back feeding the wiper fuse.
http://flashoffroad.com/electrical/Batteries/BatteryDrain.html

Might try doing a google search on parasitic battery drain

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237542

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain

http://www.ehow.com/how_2249402_find-parasitic-battery-drain.html

http://flashoffroad.com/electrical/CurrentDrain/currentdrain.pdf

http://www.autoshop101.com/trainmodules/batservice/118.html

 

[propest]

dean, thank you very much for the links! when looking at the column wiring last night, it looks as if the guy who installed it busted off the plastic wiring plugin connectors and just used the spade connectors to what ever terminals would make things work for the most part. i am thinking i need to find out which color wires do what on the 71 chevelle vs. the 72 monte. i looked in the 72 assm. manual but it doesnt show wire colors etc. i think it might be a matter of switching wires/terminals. i dont want to guess and make things worse.

 

[Verle]

You should get the GM factory manuals for your car.
Among other things they have wiring diagrams with colors for the whole car.
Yes, they are not cheap but they can sure help solve a lot of problems without paying someone else to.

 

[propest]

i do have the factory assmbly man. but it doesnt show wire colors. a friend has a old column that is intact so i am headed to his place soon. i think it comes down to what wires the guy who did the column swap plugged into what. it looks to me that the wire colors from a 72 monte must be different than a 71 chevelle. the guy who did the swap must have guessed but did a pretty good job since most stuff works but not all.

 

[Dean]

I would think that the wire colors on a 72 Monte column would be the same as a 71 Chevelle but then I don't really know.

 

[Verle]

I was not referring to the assembly manual I was referring to the body service and chassis service manuals. They have wiring diagrams with wire size and colors along with a lot of other detail.

The assembly manual shows where things went. The service manuals show how.

 

[DaveP.]

Compare the colors coming out of the column [turn signal switch] with the colors in the cars' harness. They should be the same. The turn-sig switch wire colors haven't changed since 1966. They are the same in a 06 as they were 40 years ago. I don't remember the colors for the key-in-the-lock switch back then. On modern GM, its a tan and lt grn.

The issues you recite regarding wiper and radio fuses remaining hot are not associated with the T/S switch wiring. Maybe with the ignition switch, which is on the top of the column. If these are the ones you describe as being "put on with spade connectors", then there could very well be a mix-up here, causing your problem. Perhaps the brown and one of the red wires are on reversed positions.

 

[propest]

i'll will check that as soon as possible! thank you very much.