1997 pete 379 battery draw

They are new batteries. They truck was dead on a construction site, and I put new ones in so I could get it to our shop.

 

Allright , well rules that out then.

 

Disconnect the starter and alternator, one at a time. It's possible the starter could be shorted out inside. I know at a starter shop, I believe they put a positive on the positive end of the starter then tapped the body of the starter with the ground and if it sparked it was bad. I don't recall for certain, but if you had wires rubbing together you'd probably have melting wires or burning wires, worse a fire.

 

Thanks for all your help. I have the alternator disconnected now, and the draw is still present. I'll try the starter next.

 

you could also have a dead short in an ECM.

 

Petes have fuses hidden inside the dash too. Does this unit have an a/c inverter, fridge or apu?

 

I have also seen water leak into the dash through the wiper pivots and corrode relay and fuse sockets. Pull the dash panels out to have a look.

 

It just rained last night, and I noticed water inside on the carpet on drivers side. I removed the positive cables off the starter and bolted them all together, and the draw still remains...

 

Would a dead short in the ECM have a draw this size ? Also the truck runs like a top.
Could a short in the ECM not affect the performance of the engine ?

 

26 amp draw not likely. It has to be a large wire if it were a small guage wire it would be smoking. You need to find that big of a draw its a fire hazzard!!!!
Try using the amp clamp on 1 wire at a time to see if you can locate which circut has the draw.