Body Feed Fuse

[Vyrl]

Hello, I have a 73 eldorado convertible that I finally got running after its been sitting since I purchased it during the pandemic, however, the battery keeps dying. I've narrowed the parasitic draw to the body feed fuse but before I start pulling the dash and what not apart I was wondering if any of the 7 circuits that make up that fuse are more likely to be the culprit compared to the others and/or what's the easiest and preferably quickest way to start narrowing it down to a single circuit. Thanks.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Parasitic draw from the battery has to be down to something being turned on, without you realising it.

There are a couple of constant power-sucking items in these cars.

One is the Electric Clock.

Another is an aftermarket radio with the power-sucking internal computer that keeps the storeage of stations ready for selection.   Remember, these have two drawing cycles, the Memory, and the radio itself.

Then there could be a light not turning off, like the trunk light, Glove Box light, etc.

Plus, the battery itself could be getting old and internally dying.

Bruce.

PS.   Welcome to the vagaries of Cadillac ownership.

[Vyrl]

Battery should be good, just replaced it and the starter while the mechanic replaced the alternator while they replaced the filters, put new fluids in and new tires. I personally believe the guy I bought it from probably butchered the aftermarket radio he installed into the glove box 🤦�♂️ since I don't think the clock was working when I bought it, especially since I looked and the radio fuse already blew

[TJ Hopland]

Clock circuit is a common place to tie in the memory for a digital radio.  How big of a draw are we talking about here?  Digital radio memory should take several months to draw down a battery.  Aftermarket radios usually have inline fuses so if you really suspect that it should not be too hard to disconnect it and see if that is the issue.

One feature these cars have that many people don't notice, remember, or expect is the front seat backs have an electric release.  They are triggered by their own switches in the doors.  To see if they are working you should be able to hear them click my manually pressing on the switches in the door jam.  One switch is for the lights and the other is the release.  You can also try rolling down the window and closing the door then reach in and see if the back is latched or unlatched.  If one of those is staying on I could see it killing a battery overnight.

Does the horn work?  If not it could be something like the horn relay is stuck on and that is the draw.  Most likely cause would be a issue in the steering wheel.             

[Cadman-iac]

  You can check for a draw by using a test light between the battery terminal and the cable. It doesn't matter which one, as long as the light is hooked between them. If you have a draw, the light will be on.
Then you can begin to pull fuses one at a time until the light goes out. This will get you to the right circuit. From there you will need to check out whatever is fed by that fuse for a switch that's on, or a short to ground somewhere.
Remember that with the door open, your courtesy light circuit is activated, so you might want to block the switch from operating while you check fuses.

Rick


Edit: Sorry, I read Bruce's post instead of yours.
What I've found on convertibles is that typically the top has leaked at some point and soaked the wiring under the carpet. There's a few junctions that branch off to each corner of the passenger compartment, and the connections tend to corrode, and even will separate, causing the power loss.
Unfortunately, to find these, you almost have to remove the seats for access. The good news is it's a convertible.
 Unfortunately, the splice,or connection is not always right where the taped harness branches off, but is often closer to the source and then run parallel until the point where it needs to branch off.
 So it may be necessary to strip the tape to locate the connection point.

[bcroe]

A couple of large drains I have had, were a trunk
light that does not turn off, and a brake light
switch badly adjusted to sometimes leave them on. 

Pulling fuses ought to narrow it down fast.  I would put
a brake light bulb in serious with the battery source, and
disconnect things till it went out. 
good luck, Bruce Roe