Electrical draw

allen410 said:

My instrument panel has 2 gages that don't work, the gas and batt gage, and batt light is usually dimly lit. I imagine it's bad step motors in the instrument panel. Could that be causing the draw?
If I don't start it everyday, in 2 days I'll have to jump it, so I know there's something up.

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If this were in MY driveway, I'd pull the instrument cluster to replace ALL the stepper motors. Replace the soldered-in light bulbs at the same time.

The "Batt" light is dimly lit. Probably means the alternator is not charging properly. Perhaps failed diodes limiting output current. I'm tempted to say that's where your parasitic draw is...except your meter is telling you there is no parasitic draw after about thirty seconds.

Have the battery load tested. I put a Mexican Optima in my '03 Trailblazer, and had a dead battery every month. Charge it overnight, good for another month. Changed alternator, changed starter (preventative maintenance at that mileage, they had no indication of failure) cleaned the battery cable ends, and the battery went dead the next month. Replaced battery...haven't had a problem since.

allen410 said:

Just got my battery tested today and it's junk, so I'll be bringing that back to Walmart. I got it last August. Still pulling alternator and getting it tested as well, got that from advance auto parts last winter.

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tinmanwpk said:

I just changed my less than one year old battery this weekend. It was toast... ...She now runs great! Moral of the story is that 'new' batteries do go bad, sometimes quickly.

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Yes, batteries "can" go bad quickly.

I would be wondering what caused the battery failure--how did the alternator and starter test? The charge light was glowing dimly; is that fixed? Problems with the wire harness that connects battery, starter, and alternator?