Posted this on another thread but no help maybe here I can get help...more traffic here....

Just bought an 86 Suzuki Samurai, I believe it’s a JX. For what I understand it came from Arizona and it was used as an off road toy for the desert. It has the original 1.3 engine with a turbo on it and a Harley Carb. And GM alternator.

  I just bought a new battery because I thought the one was bad because it would not hold I had to charge it to turn the car on. Well that didn’t help the new battery doesn’t hold either.
 Where should I look first ? Alternator ? The other thing I could think of is the electric fuel pump. It’s loud and I think it needs replacing (was given a new one with the samurai) and maybe the electric fan but that has a on and off switch. Maybe the alternator is wired wrong ? Help will be appropriated !

*update- changed the alternator. Replaced it with one from the kit from low range off road. It’s the same one that was there. Used the wiring diagram they have. Next day the battery still lost its charge !!!

well you definetly have a draw that is killing your battery. have you put a volt meter on your battery to see if the alternator is charging. after market radio aux lights staying on?

After you check that the battery is actually charging, you need to find where the draw is.  Look for something that has been added like a new radio with amplifier that was wired incorrectly, if it goes directly to the battery I would check it first.  Then check your drawdown as it is drawing down at least 400 amps over night, that is a pretty good draw, so I would check each fuse instead of starting the check at battery post.  With a full charge disconnect a battery post and watch for a spark when it is reconnected after a few seconds.  The spark from reconnecting should be very minor,   Using a volt/amp meter (cheap ones from harbor freight work fine) set up for 10 Amp reading (you usually have to move the red wire to a different post).  If I remember correctly) there is a set of fuses next to the battery with a wire from the battery that goes to one side of the fuse box.  With key off pull one of the fuses and put the red lead of amp meter into the fuse opening fuse slot on same side of where the wire from positive battery post went.  Then put the black lead of amp meter into the other fuse slot.  Your amp meter should give a very low reading 0.0?.  If much larger that is the circuit that has a problem.  Check all the fuses one of them should have a reading larger than 4.0 amps (all should have a reading below 0.0 but you have something drawing on it).  The cover to the fuse box (if it is still there) will tell you what each fuse goes to.
Good luck, let us know what you find.

Yep, if you have any wires going directly to the battery that ARE NOT factory check those first. If you have time, go through disconnecting them one by one and wait over night. If you don't have time. Place an ammeter in series with each line and see which has a draw when the key is off. This is a bit tricky as you should have a short in parallel with the ammeter to turn things on and then after the in-rush is over, remove the short, and see what the ammeter reads.

Hope that helps, good luck!

-Eric

Yep, if you have any wires going directly to the battery that ARE NOT factory check those first. If you have time, go through disconnecting them one by one and wait over night. If you don't have time. Place an ammeter in series with each line and see which has a draw when the key is off. This is a bit tricky as you should have a short in parallel with the ammeter to turn things on and then after the in-rush is over, remove the short, and see what the ammeter reads.

Hope that helps, good luck!

-Eric

Thanks for all the replies! I will be trying all this today to see how it goes. The only wire going to the battery that’s not factory I believe is the wire for the volt gauge (after market) I think that’s it. But I gotta check if the hater is charging at all first.

So I turned on the Sami last night let in run for some time. I added a 6 gauge wire from the alternator back to the battery. Let it run yesterday. Got a multi meter and tested the battery. It was at 12.1 This morning. Put the key on and it started right up. While running it showed 14.85 so the alternator is working. Since then I turned it off and been coming back to check the charge. It down to 12.45 in a couple hours so far. So the battery is getting charged but there is something drawing power little by little

Amp draw is minimal (2.9M). Also there is no fuse box in the engine compartment it might of been taken off for modification. There is one under the steering wheel I’ll check there with the multimeter