Granger968

Been struggling with my battery discharging. I thought my trickle charger or my battery was busted, but no. Something was draining it quicker than my trickle charger could charge...

Found some time to put my amp meter on it today. It draws... Wait for it... 4.3amps! No wonder it's killing the battery. This is with all lights off, doors shut and locked. Something wrong there...

I pulled every fuse in the panel, no change.

​​​​​​Lots of threads online, most of them useless.

Anybody knows what could draw that much current?

J. P.

Gregster

Seat motor, failing window motor, bad alternator diode etc, trunk/frunk latch, drivers side door latch. Alternator is an easy one to disconnect

9964runner

I had a large draw a few years back, turned out it was the alternator. on a cold car (sat overnight) the alternator was quite warm to the touch.

Granger968

Thanks for the suggestions!

Granger968

Decided the most likely part to fail was my alternator and took that out tonight. Not the easiest part to remove, but managed. Disconnected the small connector, no change. Disconnected the larger wire (13mm nut), and voila, back to 30 milliamp or so.

Now to determine if I can get away with just a voltage regulator, or if I have to do the alternator itself...

Gregster

I might have a used voltage regulator I can send to you

However a new or rebuilt alternator is the best choice for peace of mind

993GT

inspect the contacts on the shaft for wear, typically if little/no wear then the V.R. replacement is successful longterm

theiceman

Its likely a shorted diode pack so vr will not fix it

993GT

could certainly be, and a whole replacement alt is probably a smart move anyhow

theiceman

I agree, that far in and id be firing in a new alternator and calling it a day.

993GT

fortunately, a watercooler's alternator is very quick and easy to replace

Granger968

Are you saying 17 years is good useful life? LOL...

I'm gonna get a new alt simply because I don't want to install and remove it 3 times to troubleshoot it. However I will take this one apart to figure out what broke...

Thanks for the help boys.

NOTE: As a side benefit of this exercise, I think I found my suspension problem while troubleshooting for this current leakage issue? "how are those related ?" you might say.. Well, stay tuned. On e the car is back on the road, I will confirm the problem is gone and share...

Granger968

Yeah... In my Bentley book they were recommending taking a bunch of stuff, including the air manifold, but managee to wiggle it out of the way essentially by only taking the airbox and serpentine belt off. Probably a 20 minute job the second time, but 60 minutes the first time...

petee_c

Granger,

How did you measure amp draw? With a multi meter or one of those clamps that goes around the battery cable...

Just wondering if I have ever have to diagnose a parasitic draw...

theiceman

standard multimeter is usually fine for this. JP's was unusually high but even at that, most meters will handle around 10amps. Just remember to start at the highest setting if it is not an autoranging meter and adjust the meter down for better resolution. If not you can blow the fuse in the meter.