Pontiac Repair: 02 Sufire drags on start and clock resets!!!, carrier area, radio clock

Question
QUESTION: I have a 02 Sunfire and my wife noticed it dragging on start up then it set for a few days and the battery died. So I replaced the starter and battery now it still seems to drag on start up and the factory radio clock resets to 12:00 on each start up but radio stations stay locked in memory...any ideas?
02 Sunfire
2.2l

Thanks Kevin

ANSWER: Hi Kevin:
I would suspect a bad battery cabl;e or bad connection on one of the battery cables. Especially the gound cable or the ground wires under the battery tray area on that car. if you have a loose or corroded connection it limits the amount of amperage that can from from the batterty and the volatge level will dropthat low volatge can cause the slow crank (draging) and the low voltage is cauing the clock to reset. The radio presets are "burned" into the radio memory so that is why you don't loose the presest but the clock resets. good luck :)


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QUESTION: I have seemed to trace a short in the wiring back to the BCM now my next question is should I just replace this or where can I find the grounds on the bcm to make sure they are good I cannot locate any diagrams

Thanks for the help
Kevin

ANSWER: How do you know it's the BCM? how did you trace the issue there? The BCM grounds are usually inside the car and the base of the steering column attached to the meatl part of the dash carrier area. I would invest in a manual just stay away from haynes. either motor or chilton are good to use.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Here is the whole story i got now...Thanks

I have an 02 Sunfire and recently the battery loses charge after 2 days of sitting here is what i have done recently to the vehicle.
First it seemed to be dragging a little on start so i replaced the starter with the same effect, then i noticed the low battery charge so i replaced the battery and it still lost charge but with full charge car starter seemed ok. so next i checked the cables and grounds and shined everything up still no change.  Next i grabbed my test light and tested for a draw through the battery cable and i do have one and lose it if i take out the cluster fuse. While doing the light test the instruments in the dash ie,.gas gauge and speedometer keep jumping and make my light blink also which also makes a ticking noise in the BCM i believe it is...so i take the car to my local mech and he does the same test and when he sees this he says bad BCM or ground to the BCM...my qusetion i guess is could it be the bcm or its ground and where is its ground?

Thanks Kevin

Answer
That is not a valid test for a draw. It may not be the BCM it could be something controlled by the BCM or a bad input to the BCM keeping it on. you need a digital volt ohm meter to check for a draw a test light will not do the job Maybe on a 1978 car but not a modern car. a volt ohm meter will give you an exact draw amount and you can go from there if the draw after sitting for 20-30 minutes is more then 25 milliamps you have an issue and you need to start pulling fuses 1 at a time untill you find where the draw is. It could be in the BCM fuse but then you need to see what the BCM is cuaing the draw. it could be getting a bad input and keeping it from shutting down.