Parasitic battery drain!

[firewalk]

So I’ve been having this parasitic battery drain for some time now. I’m geting tired (and broke) of replacing batteries all the time. When ever I install a brand new and fully charged battery, it will be flat after 5-6 days at most.

So I bought a “prioritystart battery protector” which goes between the battery and the positive cable. Whenever the battery goes bellow 11,7 volts for more than 1 minutte it will disconnect power totally, thus ensuring that there is always enough power to start the car.

This actually works. However, My batteries still keep dying! My battery which was brand new 2 months ago now won’t hold a charge. It will start the car, but a few hours after parking the car it will read only 11,87 volts.

So the question is:

1: Will a battery die from geting drained down to 11,7 volts? I know they will die from geting flat. But 11,7 is far from flat?..

I know that in order to search for the problem you are supposed to set up the multimeter between the negative terminal on the battery and the negative cable, measuring amps. Then you remove the fuses one by one. I’ve don this. The only problem is that in my case it seems like EVERY darn thing is phulling amps to some degree! Even hours after parking the car.

I will typically phull one fuse, and it will decrease the load by a few miliamps.. Then I phull another one and it goes down by a few more miliamps. Seems like I have to phull nearly every darn fuse to get it to go down to aceptable levels. So as you can imagine, problemsolving this isn’t easy :unsure: Nor can I just replace the entire wiring. And I can’t drive around with no fuses, as nothing would work!

Any Ideas? I was hoping the prioritystart would get me around the problem. Could it just be a bad battery from the dealer? Or are they simply not designed to widhstand beeing drained down to 11,7 volts, then started and charged up to 12,6 again.. ?

I need some advice! This is eating at me.. ::(

Topic

[firewalk]

Now I’ve disconnected the instrument cluster completely.
I’ve taken off the steering wheel and the airbag and disconnected the horn manually.
I even phulled the 7,5a fuse for the turn lights. And still no change!

I’ve checked everything that can be checked. I’ve gone trough everything that is in that circuit according the the wiring diagram. And the drain remains the same.
I just don’t get it. I’m about to give up.
The whole damn thing is just weird!

I disconnected the negative terminal to the battery and used my second multimeter to measure voltage. Seems the drain is about 0,36 volts, and about 50-80 miliamps (it’s fluctuating a bit)

I’ve phulled every relay in the circuit and I’ve disconnected everything thats hooked up and could drain power. No change.

At this point i’m considering just wiring in a relay so that I can have an operative horn and hazzard lights when the ignition is on, and eventually wiring in a switch so that I can enable it and use the hazzard lights with the ignition off if I must.

I guess that’s the second best thing at this point, as I really can’t find the fault 🙁

I’ve teared down the entire inside of the car and Nothing….

Measuring volgate drain:

Attachments:

• voltage.jpg

[twiggy]

Forget about the .36V measurement. Stick with measuring the current drain. There a couple of reasons you could be measuring that voltage that are not due to any issues.

You said you traced the leakage to the haz-horn fuse. Have you tried reconnecting the battery and then putting your ammeter accross the socket for the haz-horn fuse (with the fuse pulled). This will be a good double check to see if that stray current is in fact going down that path and not simply a different circuit responding to that fuse being pulled.

But honestly, I am not convinced that the leakage is responsible for your battery failures. I know you said you changed the alternator but there more to the charging system than the alternator. You really should measure battery voltage with your car running to make sure there’s enough voltage, over 13v, right at the terminals of the battery.

[twiggy]

Forget about the .36V measurement. Stick with measuring the current drain. There a couple of reasons you could be measuring that voltage that are not due to any issues.

You said you traced the leakage to the haz-horn fuse. Have you tried reconnecting the battery and then putting your ammeter accross the socket for the haz-horn fuse (with the fuse pulled). This will be a good double check to see if that stray current is in fact going down that path and not simply a different circuit responding to that fuse being pulled.

But honestly, I am not convinced that the leakage is responsible for your battery failures. I know you said you changed the alternator but there more to the charging system than the alternator. You really should measure battery voltage with your car running to make sure there’s enough voltage, over 13v, right at the terminals of the battery.

[college man]

first you need to be in series with the negative.
lets back up. if you hook up the meter in series
with the negative side.and pull the two suspected
fuses(horn and hazards) one at a time.the draw is still there?

[college man]

first you need to be in series with the negative.
lets back up. if you hook up the meter in series
with the negative side.and pull the two suspected
fuses(horn and hazards) one at a time.the draw is still there?

[firewalk]

[quote=”twiggy02919″ post=33017]Forget about the .36V measurement. Stick with measuring the current drain. There a couple of reasons you could be measuring that voltage that are not due to any issues.

You said you traced the leakage to the haz-horn fuse. Have you tried reconnecting the battery and then putting your ammeter accross the socket for the haz-horn fuse (with the fuse pulled). This will be a good double check to see if that stray current is in fact going down that path and not simply a different circuit responding to that fuse being pulled.

But honestly, I am not convinced that the leakage is responsible for your battery failures. I know you said you changed the alternator but there more to the charging system than the alternator. You really should measure battery voltage with your car running to make sure there’s enough voltage, over 13v, right at the terminals of the battery.[/quote]

Actually, that’s what I’ve been doing while searching for the drain. I eliminated the drain on the DOME fuse. After that, I knew that the drain was confined to the HAZ – HORN fuse, so I reconnected the battery and used the multimeter to measure amperage between the terminals in the fuse. I let it sit there and placed the multimeter on the windshield so that I could monitor the current while I searched for the fault. But it always stayed the same no matter what I did. Even after disconnecting everything.

I’ve started the car and used the multimeter in AC mode to see if there was any alternating current in the system, but there was none. So the diodes in the alternator seems to be OK.
The Charging voltage at idle was 14,2 volts.

I’ve had to replace 4 new batteries as they got drained down to nothing when the car was sitting for about a week not beeing used. And after a few times of that happening they never recovered.

Typically I would meassure the voltage to about 12,9 on the battery after driving for a while. The next day I would measure again and it would be drained down to 11,8v. A day more and it would be 10, and a few days more it would be completely empty. That’s why I installed the prioritystart battery protector.

Now I’ve found the source of the drain, so I removed the fuse and left the battery fully charged over night, and measured again, and the battery was still nearly full.

[firewalk]

[quote=”twiggy02919″ post=33017]Forget about the .36V measurement. Stick with measuring the current drain. There a couple of reasons you could be measuring that voltage that are not due to any issues.

You said you traced the leakage to the haz-horn fuse. Have you tried reconnecting the battery and then putting your ammeter accross the socket for the haz-horn fuse (with the fuse pulled). This will be a good double check to see if that stray current is in fact going down that path and not simply a different circuit responding to that fuse being pulled.

But honestly, I am not convinced that the leakage is responsible for your battery failures. I know you said you changed the alternator but there more to the charging system than the alternator. You really should measure battery voltage with your car running to make sure there’s enough voltage, over 13v, right at the terminals of the battery.[/quote]

Actually, that’s what I’ve been doing while searching for the drain. I eliminated the drain on the DOME fuse. After that, I knew that the drain was confined to the HAZ – HORN fuse, so I reconnected the battery and used the multimeter to measure amperage between the terminals in the fuse. I let it sit there and placed the multimeter on the windshield so that I could monitor the current while I searched for the fault. But it always stayed the same no matter what I did. Even after disconnecting everything.

I’ve started the car and used the multimeter in AC mode to see if there was any alternating current in the system, but there was none. So the diodes in the alternator seems to be OK.
The Charging voltage at idle was 14,2 volts.

I’ve had to replace 4 new batteries as they got drained down to nothing when the car was sitting for about a week not beeing used. And after a few times of that happening they never recovered.

Typically I would meassure the voltage to about 12,9 on the battery after driving for a while. The next day I would measure again and it would be drained down to 11,8v. A day more and it would be 10, and a few days more it would be completely empty. That’s why I installed the prioritystart battery protector.

Now I’ve found the source of the drain, so I removed the fuse and left the battery fully charged over night, and measured again, and the battery was still nearly full.

[firewalk]

[quote=”college man” post=33021]first you need to be in series with the negative.
lets back up. if you hook up the meter in series
with the negative side.and pull the two suspected
fuses(horn and hazards) one at a time.the draw is still there?[/quote]

If I hook up the multimeter (measuring amps) between the negative battery terminal and negative cable I measure a drain of about 80 miliamps. If I phull the HAZ – HORN fuse the drain goes down to about 0. It will pulsate slightly between 0 and 10 miliamps.

After doing this I knew that the drain was confined to the HAZ – HORN circuit. So I inserted the multimeter in the terminals of the fuse instead, and measured exactly the same there, 70-80 miliamps going trough.

Now I’ve disconnected everything in that circuit acording to the wiring diagram. Every relay, The steering wheel, airbag, The horn itself, the turn lights, the turn light fuse, removed the combination meter, the theft deterent ecu…. every single thing listed on the diagram! And still the drain remains the same within that sircuit.

I even took out the seats, carpets and most of the dash to see if there was something aftermarked wired into that circuit, but I couldn’t find anything.

I have basically dismantled the entire interior of the car, spending 4 days doing so and still I’m no closer to an anwser!

My only comfort is that I managed to eliminate the drain on the DOME fuse. That took me about a days work. But The drain on the HAZ – HORN circuit still illudes me 🙁 And I can’t think of anything else to do, as I’ve tried everything! Following the diagram and disconnecting everything. That drain shouldn’t be there!

[firewalk]

[quote=”college man” post=33021]first you need to be in series with the negative.
lets back up. if you hook up the meter in series
with the negative side.and pull the two suspected
fuses(horn and hazards) one at a time.the draw is still there?[/quote]

If I hook up the multimeter (measuring amps) between the negative battery terminal and negative cable I measure a drain of about 80 miliamps. If I phull the HAZ – HORN fuse the drain goes down to about 0. It will pulsate slightly between 0 and 10 miliamps.

After doing this I knew that the drain was confined to the HAZ – HORN circuit. So I inserted the multimeter in the terminals of the fuse instead, and measured exactly the same there, 70-80 miliamps going trough.

Now I’ve disconnected everything in that circuit acording to the wiring diagram. Every relay, The steering wheel, airbag, The horn itself, the turn lights, the turn light fuse, removed the combination meter, the theft deterent ecu…. every single thing listed on the diagram! And still the drain remains the same within that sircuit.

I even took out the seats, carpets and most of the dash to see if there was something aftermarked wired into that circuit, but I couldn’t find anything.

I have basically dismantled the entire interior of the car, spending 4 days doing so and still I’m no closer to an anwser!

My only comfort is that I managed to eliminate the drain on the DOME fuse. That took me about a days work. But The drain on the HAZ – HORN circuit still illudes me 🙁 And I can’t think of anything else to do, as I’ve tried everything! Following the diagram and disconnecting everything. That drain shouldn’t be there!

[college man]

the white wire goes from the battery to the 15amp haz/horn fuse.
if you pull the horn relay does the draw die? if it does die then
we know its either the horns or the theft deter-ant.if it does not
go dead.then that green wire that feeds #82 on the hazard switch. I
know this is frustrating.

[college man]

the white wire goes from the battery to the 15amp haz/horn fuse.
if you pull the horn relay does the draw die? if it does die then
we know its either the horns or the theft deter-ant.if it does not
go dead.then that green wire that feeds #82 on the hazard switch. I
know this is frustrating.

[firewalk]

No, taking out the horn relay don’t make it go away. The connector going to the hazzard lights has been discconnected, along with the theft deterent ecu etc. But the drain is still there. 🙁

I would think disconnecting the connector to the hazzzard switch would make it a “dead end” so that power wouldn’t have anywhere to go? I’ll see if I can come up with a way to measure voltages/amps? at that connector going to the hazzard switch.

[firewalk]

No, taking out the horn relay don’t make it go away. The connector going to the hazzard lights has been discconnected, along with the theft deterent ecu etc. But the drain is still there. 🙁

I would think disconnecting the connector to the hazzzard switch would make it a “dead end” so that power wouldn’t have anywhere to go? I’ll see if I can come up with a way to measure voltages/amps? at that connector going to the hazzard switch.

[college man]

ok.can the green wire going to #82 be unplugged?
if so see if the draw dies.

[college man]

ok.can the green wire going to #82 be unplugged?
if so see if the draw dies.

[Author]

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