I have a 1978 Silver Anniversary, L-82 and I have a
short somewhere that runs the battery down. The car can
sit for about a week and a half and the battery will go
dead.After the battery runs down 3 or 4 times, it won't
take charge and I have to replace it. I've gone through 3
batteries within the past year. I've taken the fuse out
of the clock to see if that helps, but with no results.
That's the only thing that runs when the car is turned
off. I've also had the alternator re-built. I now leave
the positive battery cable disconnected and the battery
stays up.
Has anyone else experienced this or does anyone have
any suggestions as how to locate the problem?

Don't overlook the interior lights. I had a light in one of my storage compartments that was on (the switch was stuck), but it wasn't visible in the day. I just happened to notice one night that there was a soft glow around one of the lids when I was in the garage without any lights on.

If that's not the problem, give this a try....remove the positive battery cable and connect an amp meter between the battery and the cable. It should show you the current draw....

Then, start removing fuses one at a time and recheck your gauge...look for a change. Once you find the circuit that is drawing power, you can repair.

Good luck....

Just a shot in the dark,check your blower motor it may be running on very low maybe a short in the switch and it wont shut off.or any accessories added to the car like radios,pre amps,cd players,stuff like that ,then check your fuse box.whoever installed them may be pulling power from the hot side of the fuse panel,so the power is going to them all the time ,even when the ignition switch is turned off.It doesn,t take much to kill a battery ,check your courtisy lights,my 78 has 5 of them,the door jam switch stuck open 1 night the next morning the battery was stone dead. Vette upkeep is expensive enough,without having to buy 3 batterys,let us know what you find. Ron 78

I had a similar problem on my '78. It turned out the delay switch for the interior courtesy lights would either not turn the lights off after the appropriate delay, or would turn the lights on for no reason when the car was just sitting. I would check the car at night and occasionally find the courtesy lights on for no reason.

Gunslinger
Frederick, MD

we had the same problem with Ian and it turned out to be the Clifford Alarm system. We had it totally removed and it stopped the shorting out and running the battery down. till we had it figured it out I installed a killswitch on the battery terminal (got it at NAPA)so it could be disconnected easily when it sat for hours. Anytime we forgot to disconnect we had to be started up with a charger jumper.