I recently had the ignition cylinder replaced in my 1979 vette. After several weeks the battery was dead. Since it was old I had a new battery installed. The following week this battery had also drained. Could the the replaced ignition cylinder be doing this? Thanks for any input.

 

Maybe a miss placed wire. Have you told this to the person who did the work?

 

KDR.. YOU CAN CHECK AND SEE IF YOU HAVE A DRAW OR DRAIN.DISCONNECT THE BATTERY TERMINAL.PUT A VOLT MEATER BETWEEN THE BATTERY AND THE CABLE YOU REMOVED.IF YOU VOLTAGE 12 VOLT THEN YOU HAVE A DRAW IN THE CAR SOMEWHERE YOU MUST HAVE EVERY THING OFF IN THE CAR NO POWER GOING TO ANYTHING. HOPE THIS HELPS.

 

The cylinder moves an arm which slides up/down in the contacts of the ignition switch so an easier test is this: Put a test light in-between the neg. cable and the neg. battery post, completing the circuit through the test light. If it lights up, there is a draw. If you suspect the switch, make sure it is in the "off" position. Disconnect the switch from under the dash. If the light goes out, you found your problem-bad cylinder or switch. If it does not go out, you need to trace it. Do this by pulling every fuse out one at a time until you get the light to go out-and make sure the domelight is not tripping it by leaving the door open, too. If you have eliminated everything inside the car and out in the engine bay, it could be a faulty diode in the alternator. Contrary to popular opinion, parts store testers do not always catch it. Do an AC Ripple test to determine if the diode circuitry is indeed bad. Do this by placing a voltmeter set on AC voltage between the alternator charge post and the positive lead on the battery-if your reading is any higher than 1.5V, the alternator is faulty. A simpler way is to dis-connect the alternator plug-in (not the charge post wire) and if the light goes out, there is your problem. Good luck. -Jabin