Got a 1985 yota pickup 22r with a confirmed case of parasitic drain. Well just followed advice given by others here a yotatech and performed a Amperage test at the battery while pulling fuses. Funny thing is none of the fuses dropped the amps but what did was a wire harness in the underhood fuse box. Anyone got an idea what is feeding these wires. It is the wire harness with black clip closest to the 30A and 60A fuses. The following wires are connected in this clip: red w/ green stripe, red w/ yellow stripe, black w/ yellow stripe, and plain white. All i know is the amps are near 464 with every thing off, when i unplug this it drops to the teens. So this is really a huge draw on my battery. Any ideas? Really want to fix this thing right but it looks like im headed to the auto parts to get a battery kill switch if i can't.

 

How fast does it drain down, like overnight or over a few days! that .474amps right? And are you checking it after the truck sits for about 10 minutes while keeping the cable connected to the battery and the ammeter. You know dont disconnect the battery then put the ammeter on it, disconnect it while the ammeter is connected.

 

Drains down overnight and sometimes even less. Checked it about 15 mins after the truck was cut off. Didn't know i had to connect the ammeter before a took the cable loose. Thanks, i'll try that. Still anyone know about those wires?

 

Might dig into the wiring diagram from the '85 Factory Service Manual. Sounds like it could be the main alternator wire. If so, could be a shorted diode in the alternator itself, you could pull it and have it tested.

 

large plain white wire is probably the alternator B+ (main) wire. If it is, then remove the alternator for testing. Er, what 4crawler said.

To connect the ammeter to the car, wait 2 minutes before unplugging stuff because the car's systems will draw more current when the battery is hooked up. Once everything settles down, do your tests.

 

I had a similar prob , ina diff type car for about 3 years; couldn't figure it out, but if I didn't start the car at least a couple of times a week, car would die.
finally took it to my mech's to figure it out; one morning, while still dark, they had worked on if for a few days allready and could not figure it out- one early morning one of his mechs' walks in, my car is inside the garage, and it is very dark in there still. He walks over to the car, and notices, " something looks like it is on in there!" He turns off every available light in the garage and office, and looks back in the car.
Opens the passenger door, looks inside the glove compartment; The glove compartment light is on!!!! how sick is that??? He disconnects the light bulb-
problem solved! Switch on door of glove compartment had gone bad...

 

Having a similar problem if i drive in the wet and don't start again for a few days...
Batt. shop thinks it might be shorting through the damp on top of the batt.
But i'm going to try the alt cable too... these wires are getting old now...

 

If it is the white wire {that's causing the draw} then remove the alternator for testing.

 

I have the same problem on my 85 toyota p/u the big white wire is causing the drain ive replaced the alternator and the darin is still there with the white wire hooked up any ideas?

 

I dunno but this sounds like my issue as well

 

Just finished up dealing with mine about a week ago. I have the 3.0 VZE and know next to nothing about the 22re but I assume its similar. I would take my battery in to get it charged all the time because I thought it was dead. then it would run fine for anywhere from an hour to 2 days and then I would try and turn it over and hear a click and everything would go off. Is this happening to you? I had autozone test the battery and the alternator twice and both times got weird results. Turns out it wasn't a bad alternator or a parasitic drain, it was just a little bit of corrosion on the positive battery terminal! I cleaned the terminals on the battery and picked up a new terminal for like $3 at Autozone and she runs fine now. Try that and see if it helps! let me know!