Tracking down a parasitic drain

I've been having battery drain issues for over 2 years now. I'm just now getting around to it. Yeah I know

In the winter, the battery is dead in 3 or 4 days depending on temperature and how much I drive it. If I don't drive it for 24 hours, I'm lucky if it starts the next day.

I've had multiple battery replacements and alternator tests performed, the last battery replacement and alt test was about an hour ago.

I hooked up my multimeter (2 days ago) and found I have a 140mA draw.

I pulled all of the fuses in the cabin fuse panel by the driver's left knee and all of the fuses and relays in the engine compartment fuse box one by one. I've even manually disconnected the radio, dashboard clock, cigarette lighter, and alternator. No drop in draw.

I considered the possibility of a bad alternator diode, but the alternator checked out good AND there was no drop when I unplugged the alternator fuse or the alt cables.

Am I missing any other relays or fuses? I must have overlooked something.

parking lights

I almost wish it were!

The obvious questions I'm sure you've answered.

Any changes to the car when it started happening? Have you inspected all grounds? Any other funny behavior?

How did you measure the draw?

If you STILL see a draw after pulling fuses, you need to start sniffing around wiring.

I'd probably pull the bulkhead connectors and see if that changes anything.

140mA is not a small draw. SOMETHING big is sucking down juice. I'd start with all of the "always hot" circuits and measure drop across those circuits.

Obviously, uninstall any wiring you've done (gauges or whatever). It's not uncommon for gauges and things to leak.

Originally Posted by BAC5.2

The obvious questions I'm sure you've answered.

Any changes to the car when it started happening? Have you inspected all grounds? Any other funny behavior?

The car is same as it always has been. I have not checked the grounds. I thought about it, but didn't really think it was a viable solution. Is it? lol

How did you measure the draw?

Pulled the neg battery cable and connected the positive lead of the mm to that and the negative lead to the neg battery post. Started on amps and then went to milliamps. Had the door switch clamped.

If you STILL see a draw after pulling fuses, you need to start sniffing around wiring.

I'd probably pull the bulkhead connectors and see if that changes anything.

Not looking forward to that.

140mA is not a small draw. SOMETHING big is sucking down juice. I'd start with all of the "always hot" circuits and measure drop across those circuits.Obviously, uninstall any wiring you've done (gauges or whatever). It's not uncommon for gauges and things to leak.

I disconnected the gauges last year since I thought they might be the culprit and they stopped working long ago anyways. I took all the wiring out yesterday. I checked the clock wiring harness that I spliced into and it appeared fine. I retaped it just to be sure. I also thought it could be the aux in, but there was no change with the radio completely disconnected.

Well I guess the next thing is to check the grounds and see if there's any change there. I replaced my HIDs last month with a new set. I didn't check it with both the harness and the fuse pulled though. I'll have to do that.

try un hooking the alternator i ahve seen a issue with the diodes being powered up and drawing a battery down

Jay

already did

Originally Posted by Jay12Legacy

try un hooking the alternator i ahve seen a issue with the diodes being powered up and drawing a battery down

Jay

Originally Posted by StoplightAssassin

I've even manually disconnected the radio, dashboard clock, cigarette lighter, and alternator. No drop in draw.

I vote for an HID problem. Is the HID ballast always hot? An internal ballast failure could cause your problem.

Originally Posted by robinlsb

I vote for an HID problem. Is the HID ballast always hot? An internal ballast failure could cause your problem.

I just replaced my HIDs with a new set. The only thing I have not tried b/c I didn't think of it at the time is disconnecting the HID battery harness and pulling the fuse simultaneously.

Originally Posted by StoplightAssassin

I just replaced my HIDs with a new set. The only thing I have not tried b/c I didn't think of it at the time is disconnecting the HID battery harness and pulling the fuse simultaneously.

Yeah, the ballast (I presume) in connected directly to the battery as per typical instructions.

And gosh knows what kind of other things (IE programs) are in that specialized ballast.

Disconnect a lead from the ballast to the battery. Worth a try

Originally Posted by robinlsb

Yeah, the ballast (I presume) in connected directly to the battery as per typical instructions.

And gosh knows what kind of other things (IE programs) are in that specialized ballast.

Disconnect a lead from the ballast to the battery. Worth a try

Depends on how you have it set up. With a harness, you have it set up that way. Running the ballast on OE wiring does not.

Pull the HID harness fuse and measure draw across the socket.

Ballasts are similar to switching power supplies. A sneak in a ballast would probably manifest itself in flickering or ignite failures, or even output fluctuations.

Have you disconnected the main harness from the engine on the passenger shock tower ?

It's easy to do.

I hope you can find the answer. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the HID's.

But I'm far from an electrical expert.

I haven't disconnected any of the engine bay harnesses yet, other than the HIDs.

I would love to do it today but the weather is awful.

You're probably wondering where I stand with this.

Well, it's been brutally cold and I actually haven't needed to charge the car once since I got the new battery. The car sat all day Sunday in 20 degree daytime weather and 15 degree temps at night. It fired right up Monday morning, so that's a great sign.

The best I figure is the old HIDs drained the battery. This caused the battery to go bad and was never able to hold a good charge. Now that I have a brand new set of HIDs that I installed prior to getting a new battery, it seems like it's been fixed.

As far as the 140mA on my multimeter...I reason the car's electronics were still awake and drawing some power. I think the most I ever waited was 20 minutes after opening the door and clamping the door switch due to running out of daylight.

The car did start a little sluggish today, but then again it was 15F. So I'll just have to keep an eye on it.