When i leave my positive terminal connected my battery dies. I have a new ignition, battery, electronic ignition, distributer, voltage regulator and starter. when putting on my headers i burnt the wire connected to the ignition and the only way to start it was ro bypass that circuit by touching the positive terminal to the starter on the regulator. I just put in a new wire harness that is in the steering culumn that connects from the horn button and signal lights. I noticed by trying to trace the electricity that the harness must have a bad ground somewhere because where the wires all connect to the connector there are some burnt wires. Yesterday my battery had a charge of around 4 volts. When i finally charged it enough to jump my car i read that in order to test the altinator to pull the positive terminal. When i did that i was reading the battery (right after the jump start) and i had a reading of around 12 volts but it was declining slowly. i didnt think at the time to see if i could drain the battery. But i did notice before i jumped it i tried to start it twice and heard a loud noise after it would turn over and immediately stop turning over. I wanted to see where the noise (bang) was coming from but by the time i got someone else to try to start it, it started immediately. While it was running i checked around the vehicle to see if any lights were on that were not supposed to be to look for the additional short but didnt see anything out of the norm. I waited about 10 minutes to get a full charge on the dying battery. Once i turned the vehicle off i wante to see if it would start again but it didnt. i didnt even hear the starter click. I dont get it. Why would the starter not turn over? Why can i only start the vehicle when jumped? Do i need to have the positive terminal disconnected for a longer period of time to see if the battery drains completly which would mean a bad altinator? What are your thouhts?