Intermittent Battery Drain

[BigGuySW]

Hello Ranger Station !

first post on forum, I am having a non consistent battery drain, the battery is less than 2 yrs old. The charging system appears normal, but twice now, in a 10 day period I went to start the truck only to find batt was 99% drained.


manual locks/ windows

Batt (static voltage - unplugged) 12.40-12.72 V
Batt (engine running) 13.23 - 14.42


I discnnctd the POS lead and checkd batt after 4 days and it has not gone down


a) removed batt
b) dealt with rust, cleaned painted batt box
c) cleaned checked batt levels



Curious if anyone has had this issue, or any suggestions on what to look for next ?



Thank you, Fordley in upper Midwest

I also have a battery drain on my `98. If you have an ammeter, measure the
current coming out of the battery when the key is out. Mine showed a drain
of about 4 amps.

From there, it's a matter of pulling fuses 1 by 1 and seeing which one makes
the battery drain current go down near zero. The drain I have is in the
instrument panel - fuse 15. I'm working on fixing it this weekend.

Seth in south central PA

 

[Fordley]

Thanks for advice, I haven't chimed in a while(been busy with move/working on a house).

I tested fuses directly(without removing), but it couldn't hurt to use the fuse pull method. One theory I have are those small door close levers/switches, or possibly a faulty light pinwheel or similar ?

Regards

 

[BigGuySW]

My purpose in pulling the fuse is to see if the battery drain current is affected.

I also suspected the door switch, but i can't find it. Could be inside the door.
I just pulled the bulb-didn't affect the battery drain.

I drive old cars, and find that the wiping action of pulling and replacing a fuse
helps to keep its connections clean. This is especially the case with the cone
fuses they used in european cars. Just an old habit.