Need suggestions on my bad parasitic battery draw

I went to get something out of my car friday morning and noticed my door ajar indicator light on the dash was not lit up. I tried to lock and unlock my doors and nothing happens at all. Well found out the battery was drained completely...only registering a mere 9 volts. I did some diagnosing and came to conclusing its the battery since I jumped the car and disconnected the battery and the car still idled.

I have a Odyssey PC680 battery and it has a 3 year warranty, so I took it back to where I bought it. They tested it and concluded it had a bad cell and replaced it with a brand new one. Before they gave it to me they checked the voltage and it registered a healthy 12.64v. I get home and hook the new battery up and everything is normal. I was doing random things around the house for a few hours and decided to make sure everything was still normal in the car. Well...nothing, no door ajar indicator light lit up and power door locks barely have enough power to lock. Disconnected the battery and tested and, it was down to 11.4 volts. :confused:

I trickled charged the battery and did some research to diag battery drain and parasitic draw. I let the battery charge for awhile which worked out fine since I had to go to my future sister in laws house to help do some stuff for their wedding next weekend. I let it charge overnight and got up early this morning and it was fully charged. I started diagnosing where I was getting my battery draw from.

These are the sites I got my diagnosing steps from:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2249402_find...paign=yssp_art

http://flashoffroad.com/electrical/B...teryDrain.html

http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm

First step is to see if I was actually getting a bad parasitic draw. I was registering a constant 9 volt draw.:smt105 That is alot compared to the average normal parasitic draw of .35.

I did the pulling of the fuses from the motor bay and my 9 volt draw didn't not go down. I rechecked wiring in the motor bay etc etc and didn't see anything. I recently replaced my alternator a month ago and Wednesday I replaced my alternator belt. I bad alternator diode is usually the cause of a bad voltage draw so I disconnected the wire from the alternator that I believe runs to the positive battery cable. I did this to see if the alternator was the problem of my 9 volt draw. I disconnected the wires to the alternator and I am still getting the 9 volt draw.

I checked my radio for its connections and just disconnected totally and I am still getting the same 9 volt draw.

I checked all the fuses in the motor bay..but haven't done the fuse box in under the dash yet.

Does anyone here have a idea or suggestion what the hell is causing a constant 9 volt draw?:smt105

Just because the wires have been disconnected does it mean the draw will go away. You will have to follow the trouble wires through the car to see where they could be grounding out, or allowing for the current draw. Have you looked to the A/C (if it is still on the car)?

I figured that...I just tried that to see if that would of provided a solution. I still plan to trace things and diag, just posted here to see if anyone would have suggestions or a solution.

The A/C is still in the car...just no belt to the compressor.

i bet its those damn love bugs. summer season is coming and they need to charge up before they hook up with each other. lolz.

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Originally Posted by 9G

i bet its those damn love bugs. summer season is coming and they need to charge up before they hook up with each other. lolz.

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I wish that was the case..then I would just leave the car in the garage all summer long.


I just tried this diag method:

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Disconnect your negative battery cable. Take a regular test light, and put it in between the connection of the battery, and the car's negative cable. Make sure EVERYTHING is turned off, and the doors are shut. See if the light lights more than a TINY glow. If it does, and I bet it will, you have a DRAW. A draw will drain your battery when your car is at rest, and you must locate the source of this draw. Pull out each fuse 1 by 1 until the test light goes almost dark. Make sure the domelight is not lit, because that will show as a draw too, of course.
Once you have found th fuse that is guilty of drawing, look in your manual to see everything that that fuse is responsible for, and eliminate them 1 by 1.

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Well figured that my test light lit up like bombs over bagdad. Now to start yanking more fuses.:(

I really hate electrical issues!

yea, make sure your doors are closed when testing or that door ajar will also register as a draw.

not sure if this would cause a 9v draw but on my 2g, my door switch relay was stuck open and that cause my battery to die every morning. I guess that wouldnt be your problem since your door locks still work. But maybe its a different relay somewhere?

Will do qnz...I may go as far as disconnecting the dome light, and door ajar switches when I start pulling the fuses under the dash in a bit.

Either or..this will be my version of a easter egg hunt today.

You should hide some easter eggs in the car, seriously. And leave it in the sun for a few days.

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Originally Posted by RedGalant2k1

You should hide some easter eggs in the car, seriously. And leave it in the sun for a few days.

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I love my 7g too much to do that.

Ok....I narrowed it down where the draw is coming from, its from my stop lights. I don't know why I didn't notice it, but they are staying on.:confused:

When I pulled the 15amp fuse for the stoplights from the fuse box under the dash I had zero draw on the voltmeter. I installed the 15a fuse back and got my 9 volt draw again.

I started disconnecting each connector for the stoplights 1 by one to see if the draw was coming from one of the bulb sockets.

I disconnected:
RH rear panel lamp
RH rear trunk lid lamp
LH rear panel lamp
LH rear trunk lid lamp
LED 3rd brake light for VR4 wing
Center stock 3rd brake light connector

As I removed each one the voltage pull decreased eventually once they were all disconnected there was no voltage pull.

I then suspected that maybe the brake switch my be the culprit or maybe the rubber bumper on the brake pedal base came off. The rubber brake bumper was still intact so I disconnected the brake switch and proceeded to connect the brake lamps and they all stay on still.

Does anyone here have a electrical diagram of the cabin wiring harness to see if the stop light are associated with any other wiring. Does anyone know if there is a relay or module for the stop lights?

My draw is coming from the stop light wiring/circuit...just need a map.

how does the driverside window switch look? sometimes they short out too and draw current

i believe the brake pedal switch brakes the ground, and there is a constant 12V to the stop lights. so, if the lights are on then youre getting a ground to the stop lights

I would think it would be the brake switch. That is the only thing that would send power to the brake lights no matter if the car is on or not...

Have you tried just disconnecting the brake switch to see if they turn off?

TGC..please smack me upside the head please!:(

I found my voltage draw...it was coming from the brake switch. I know I posted earlier that I checked my brake switch..but I mistaken the clutch base as the brake pedal.:smt120

Apparently the rubber bumper on my brake pedal broke off, but couldn't find the pieces of it anywhere, so I took the one off my clutch pedal since I bypassed the clutch pedal switch anyways. Reconnected everything and checked for voltage draw and it was a normal .35mA.


I will take a NooB slap for this one.:smt075

Manual sucks. if you had an auto, you would not have missed it. lolz

5 speed FTW!!!!!

No, we won't smack you upside the head. Just 9G.