Jersey Joe

Just came back from vacation. Car was left without the alarm set and the battery is dead. Has done this before when left alarmed for a week. The barrery is fairly new. Have not done any testing for draw ect.... yet. Is there something common that does this? My other vehicles had no problem.

Lizard928

time to put a meter between the battery and the positive cable then start pulling fuses and measure how much it drops when you pull a fuse to find where your drain is.

MikeN

How long were you gone? Are there any non-stock electrical items on the car.......stereo, 3rd party alarm, etc.?

Marc Schwager

Current drains can come from all over the place. The first one I found was where a stereo installer put a screw through the power feed to the rear wiper. The second was a short in the cruise control setting mechanism. Interior lights can short easily too. Lizard931 is right - work through each circuit and you will find it. Keep in mind there may be more than one problem, so even if you find one, keep going and check them all. If you use a ammeter, make sure it is rated at 10A. Don't ask me how I know.

I'm current-drain free now for 8 months! :-)

Thom1

Hi Joe,

Here are some notes from earlier discussions:

How can I make this quick and dirty?

Look into doors for rear red lights always on,… check door on off pins at front for corrosion,… easy to not drop wires in doors,… rear hatch can also be culprit.

Go to Autozone for free quick battery and alternator check,… could just be bad battery.

To locate an electrical "leak", you can fab a quick-and-dirty tester by soldering a pair of wires between an old fuse (blown) and a small 12V light bulb. The smaller the bulb the better I guess, so choose a 211 or something similar.

Plug the fuse into each fuseholder and see which circuit is drawing current. You'll want to tape the door switch closed while you test each position with your new "tester". The light illuminates when there's current flowing, plain and simple. Small leaks will not be very bright, larger will go to full bright.
Similarly, you can install the bulb in series with the battery ground strap as you are hunting. Add leads long enough to reach to where you can see the bulb. Pull and replace fuses one by one until the light goes out, plain and simple.

See these links for clarification on above:
http://forums.rennlist.com/forums/ul...;f=14;t=007418
http://forums.rennlist.com/cgi-bin/r...;f=14;t=000650
http://forums.rennlist.com/cgi-bin/r...;f=14;t=002966

Another method: Pull the positive and put a volt meter between the battery pole and the battery cable, then pull a fuse and see if it drops, if yes then there is a draw from that circuit, if no then put the fuse back in, and you can tell how many amps are being drawn, when you pull a fuse and notice a huge difference, then you can find out what electrical system is causing the draw.

Steve Cattaneo

. Do a parasitic loads test. Remove ignition key from ignition switch. Open rear hatch and disconnect the two-pin connector for rear hatch switch, you’ll need a DVOM, set it to read amps. Disconnect the battery’s negative cable. Then connect the positive lead of the DVOM to the negative battery cable. Connect the negative lead of the DVOM to the negative battery terminal. Parasitic drain should not exceed 30MA. If there is excessive drain remove the fuses and relays one at a time until the drain is found. Check that circuit for shorts or corroded connectors. Several components such as temperature sensors continue to draw current after engine is shut off. Therefore, this test should only be performed after engine is turned off for at least 45 minutes.

Also a bad alternator diode can drain your battery, to ck. disconnect the alt. Cable at the alt. Let the car sit over nite, if the car starts, bad diode.

aaron3

Someone already mentioned it but the little red lights in the doors will often stay on all the time. Most of the time, it's due to the rear hatch not being closed all the way. Happened to me, I disconnected the rear hatch contact. Problem solved.

Jersey Joe

This is all great information!!! I will try over the weekend the parasitic draw test. Was gone only 10 days. Went on a 1300 mile snowmobile tour of Western Quebec

UKKid35

Heated rear window relay sometimes sticks on. Also, although I find this hard to understand others swear it's the case - the seat memory can drain the battery more than is healthy.