Parasitic battery drain

[wyteboy314]

Battery was at 10.30 volts after 12 hours parked, it has been doing this for the past couple days.

I charged the battery by charge boosting the car running and letting it run for 30 minutes. Pulled the negative terminal, put the ammeter on 10A and saw a .45 amp draw, I waited 20 minutes and it went down to .20 but within that same minute it was at .45 again and came back down to .20... I'm pretty sure it is fluctuating all throughout though but with the .20 draw lasting longer.

I pulled all fuses from the I/P box & then went to the Junction Block, I did not pull the mega fuses or any relays though, also I'm not sure if there is a third fuse box somewhere hidden. The parasite was the JUNCTION BLOCK Fuse as it went to .001 after I pulled it.

The junction block is the fuse panel under the hood which I pulled the JUNCTION BLOCK fuse from, right?

What would be the next step in fixing this? Thanks

[wyteboy314]

Upon a little more research and a bit of guessing. I believe the Junction Block Fuse protects the I/P Fuse Box so perhaps that would mean the amp draw is coming from something the I/P Fuse Box protects. Maybe I should double check the I/P Fuses to make sure and also pull the relays...?

[behlinla]

Originally Posted by wyteboy314

Upon a little more research and a bit of guessing. I believe the Junction Block Fuse protects the I/P Fuse Box so perhaps that would mean the amp draw is coming from something the I/P Fuse Box protects. Maybe I should double check the I/P Fuses to make sure and also pull the relays...?

Yup, Junction box is the box under the dash. You can try pulling fuses from there to see if the current draw goes away. But first check the obvious stuff like the interior lights aren't on, the trunk light goes out, nothing plugged into the cig lighter, and make sure there isn't anything stuck in the tape/CD player.

[Jeff K]

^^^ +1 on the tape player with tape jammed in it.

[soundu]

Originally Posted by Jeff K

^^^ +1 on the tape player with tape jammed in it.

Simple test for that. get four solid small wires or screwdrivers to put in the
removal holes on the oval radio pod and pull it out. Then disconnect
just the wires going to the radio control pod (NOT the climate controls)
then see if the draw goes down.

My 98 had that issue after i loaned the car to my daughter and she
got a cassette tape ipod adapter stuck in the cassette slot and jammed
it up trying to get it out.

If you have the anti theft on the car, one other user had an issue where
the rear trunk/lift gate switch was out of alignment and causing the anti theft to draw too much current.

If you have trunk , ash try and glove box lights, pull the bulbs out
to confirm they cannot draw any power if the switch is sticking.

[wyteboy314]

Quick update -

It is coming from

Fuse 23 = GEM - Remote Anti-Theft Personality - Passive Anti-Theft System

I'll keep tracing but let me know if anyone knows anything about this...

[soundu]

Originally Posted by wyteboy314

Quick update -

It is coming from

Fuse 23 = GEM - Remote Anti-Theft Personality - Passive Anti-Theft System

I'll keep tracing but let me know if anyone knows anything about this...

Like i said before, if any of the door or lift gate switches are sticking or
out of alignment, you could have issues with the anti-theft system.

Your probably going to need electrical schematics to try to track it all
down.

[wyteboy314]

Originally Posted by soundu

Like i said before, if any of the door or lift gate switches are sticking or
out of alignment, you could have issues with the anti-theft system.

Your probably going to need electrical schematics to try to track it all
down.

I have all of them but this is the first time I have used electrical schematics. I have made a lot of progress understanding them just by flipping through them a hundred times.

I just learned that this fuse is just as generic as the junction block fuse because the GEM controls a whole bunch of crap. It is better than nothing though and definitely narrowed it down a lot more, I'll see what I can come up with.

I don't if I have the anti-theft system but I guess I'll find out as I continue to trace these wires, unless it is inside the GEM, then I wouldn't know.

[WJC]

A common problem on the early 3rd gens (I see yours is a 96) was the door switches breaking contact due to corrosion. This will lead to lots of wierd problems like interior lights coming on randomly. Also check your rubber plug in the hood where the fneder-mounted hood switch contacts (if you have PATS). Any of those will cause the GEM to constantly wake up while parked.

[behlinla]

Yes, make sure door ajar and trunk ajar lights work and you don't have any stuck or damaged door/trunk/hood switches. If you have a keypad make sure that's working too (no stuck buttons).