Don't feel anything getting warm under there. I just don't get how I can remove either of those wires and get rid of the draw. I guess by removing the battery cable from the starter (and having the negative disconnected already) I've effectively disconnected the battery altogether. The other day I had the draw gone even after reconnecting the cables to the battery. It wasn't until I drove the car that the draw came back.

 

Sounds like '71BB's right, you've got an intermittent short between the fuse box feed and adjacent wires in the main harness. You found damaged wires, in my opinion, those need to be inspected and properly repaired, not just taped up. You had it fixed because you moved the wire just right to break contact with whatever it's shorting to, when you drove the car, it shifted back. I agree with '71BB, you need to remove the loom and repair what damage you find. I found that removing the inner fender makes that job a lot easier.

 

Thanks for the insight V8chvyguy. My apologies for not being more specific, I was merely stating what I had found when inspecting the fuse box lead wire from the starter to the fuse box. I agree completely with you regarding repair of the damaged wires that I located behind the master cylinder. The first thing I did when I saw them was to use connectors and heat shrink to repair them all. At this point in this process, I will not be leaving anything to chance. The loom has been removed and ALL the wires are being inspected. I had assumed that if there were wires touching together, they would be apart by now after handling the wires like I have the last couple of days? I've got to be getting close....

 

I spent several hours again yesterday trying to isolate this problem. I have removed all the wires from the main loom all the way to where they go through the firewall and into the fuse box (I can't see exactly where they enter the box) and still can't find the problem. When I cut the wire by the firewall going into the fusebox to repair it, the draw again went away...Until I repaired and reconnected the wire. I have checked every wire under the dash that I can see, pulled all the fuses again and the draw is still there. I'm way past frustrated at this point, and still don't get it. Is it just the two screws holding the fuse box in? I can only see two of them. I was going to try and remove the fuse panel to see if there's a problem with the wires behind it. Don't know what else to do.

 

It's probably to late for this to help. I took the inner fender out removed the one bolt in the center of the main plug and unplugged it from the back of the fuse panel. to inspect it. It was easier to get to and I could view it more closely.

 

Thanks for the tip Chvyguy, I'll have to try that. Haven't done much more lately, I'm getting really turned off by this car. I took my 5 year old daughter for a ride yesterday evening (we go daily because she loves it!) and to add to the frustration, there's a knocking noise coming from under one of the valve covers...Have no idea what to think, doesn't sound too deep in the motor, sounds like it's one of the rockers making noise but who knows. I never beat on the car because there's no reason to, it's all stock. The oil is clean and changed about 300 miles ago. Like I said, could be anything. Just adding it to the list of issues. Wishing I would have waited a little longer before buying an older car now, my real passion is a '68 - '72 Nova anyway. I'm trying not to get too frustrated with this otherwise it's gonna get sold and I'm gonna lose my rear.
Just can't believe a short would be so difficult to isolate as I've done so much to try and find the problem and over a month later, same spot... Please forgive my rants, you guys have been great trying to help me out and never once told me to take the car in to be fixed, which is what I DON'T want to do. I really appreciate it.

 

Well if you give up, then you might get a battery terminal disconnect. They clamp right on the battery pos. terminal, and you simply turn the **** to open them whenever you park the car. Not a "best choice" fix, but I've known friends who used them a long time until they found their issue. It will save the battery from being drained and eventually going bad.

 

I worked on the car a bit more today and am wondering if I should be contacting a preist and look into an exorcism? I realized that I had left the battery connected for 3 days and figured it would be stone cold dead when I tried to start it....It wasn't. Started right up. Draw is still there, 0.38ma. Why ask why I guess. Today I was more concerned about the noise under the valve cover. I removed the cover and the noise is coming from one of the rocker arms. It was not real loose, I removed the rocker, checked the pushrod (which is fine) and the rocker seems fine too. I reinstalled it, tigthened it slowly and noticed when I got it as tight as it should be that when I slowly tightened it, the noise would go away for a second or two and then come right back? I don't want to overtighten it and cause more problems but don't know what's going on. Any ideas?

 

It sounds to me that you're setting it running. while this works good enough, it's not as accurate. It's very easy to set it too loose or too tight. I have a friend that sets them like this. After doing the heads on my suburban, I had it running perfectly smooth with no ticks. he adjusted them, just to prove his point, and the motor ran like crap and the tick in the right bank was back. As long as you're setting it right, valve unloaded, zero lash, no more than half a turn, then I'd say you have a bad lifter. It's not pumping up properly. The motor will still run a long time like that. It all depends on how much it annoys you.

 

Yes, set the engine so the intake and exhaust on that cylinder are both closed, then crank it down to zero lash, plus 1/4 turn. If it still rattles you've got a lifter that's going bad. Make sure it's getting oil out the pushrod/rocker arm when running.