i just bought a 93 escort the guy told me it needed a alternator so i bought new and had them bench test it befor install.i also replaced the starter and selinoid along with the ignition switch.the problem ive been haveing is i replaced the alternator and drove it home,drove ok but radio went off and lights got dim for a minute then everything went back to normal.next day i took it about 1 mile to get gas and it died at gas station.when i tried to jump start it the starter would stay on.towed it home and replaced started and ignition.charged battery drove around for 2 hours no problems.parked it next day battery was dead changed battery drove for half hour and it died again.replaced battery with new bench tested battery now when i started car i put a multimeter on it ran for 3 minutes as i watched the battery volts go down to 7 in the 3 minutes.i have traced back all wires i see nothing wrong there.i can not find anything online that would explain why the battery would go dead that fast.please help i am at a loss.thanks

 

The first thing I would do is charge the battery. Depending on how much your charger can put out will determine how long to recharge.
Then, with everything in the vehicle off connect the battery. Watch the voltmeter for a while and see what it does (maybe 15 minutes). If no change, turn the key on only , make no attempt to start and watch what the voltmeter does.
Let us know what result you get up to this point.

 

i did what you asked and these are my results.with ignition off the volts were 13.13 twenty minutes later it was at 12.7 then i turned key to acc volts were at 12.35 and were dropping a full volt about every minute.there is a slight discrepancy when switch is off but that maybe from haveing the hood open what do you think?since it is draining on acc and the radio is the first thing to shut off every time(after market radio) i will pull that first and check the wireing? but after that what should i check?

 

We need to know what happens with the key in the ON position.

Is the radio wired to operate without the key on ?

 

on is what i ment when i said acc.the last spot before actually starting car and no the radio is not wired to be on with ignition off

 

ok did a little more investigateing on my own and it just keeps getting stranger heres what i found.radio is fine wired right.i turned on ignition,battery was still draining i pulled the door lock fuse(does not have elec.locks) and it quit dropping.started the car was holding 12.2 volts with nothing on turned on radio started dropping slowley.turned radio off and it stopped.turned on headlights,started dropping a little faster,shut off lights stopped,i pulled the sunroof fuse(no sun roof)volts started to drop more rapidley put fuse back in,and it stopped.reved motor a little to see if it would take charge,when i took foot off gas.it continued to rapidley drop till it hit 9 volts then i shut off car so i could recarge the battery.almost forgot when i shut off car the volts were at 9 as soon as i shut off car the volts jumped up to almost 13 witch is fully charged.

 

What you are seeing could be caused by a high resistance in the wiring someplace. It could be in the battery cables, the fuse panel or in a supply to one of the components.
As soon as you put any type load on the system the voltage drops because something(resistance) is preventing full voltage from getting to where you need it.
And as soon as you remove the load the voltage pops right up. Voltage drop testing would locate the problem also feel for any parts/wiring that is getting hot.

 

i will check tomarrow and let you no.i called the guy i bought the car from and asked him if he was haveing any problems other then the alternator he said no,but he did take out the old alternator for me (took in for core charge)he did say he didnt disconnect the batery when he pulled it and the main wire was sparking when it hit metal.could this have caused a resistence issue?also the wires would het hot with the ignition on but not running right?

 

You might want to check this out.
The battery positive cable supplies power to a main fuse. It's a large amp rated fuse and it protects the entire electrical system. It should be located near the main fuse panel under the hood.

 

i checked the main fuse,there wasnt one they just had a piece of metal folded over barley making connection.i put a new 100 amp fuse in it and unfortunitly is still doing the same thing.someone told me to keep a meter on the battery and pull fuses untill it stops but the more i pull the faster the battery drains