HELP with battery drain

ol'stupidcoupe

Registered User
I have a '90 SC with auto trans. This vehicle does not have auto headlights but is equipped with fog lights. It has a parasitic draw on the battery, with the key off, of .30 amps. This draw is coming from the headlight circuit - if I remove the 60 amp fuse for the headlight circuit from the power distribution block by the battery the draw goes away. I have disconnected each headlight bulb (HI & low) individually, headlight switch, fog light siwtch, multi-function switch (1 connector at a time), trunk light, glove box light & console light - no change. I have removed each of the other fuses (power dist. box & fuse box under dash) individually - no change. Of course I am checking with the doors closed. The power supply to the 60 amp fuse is from a hot wire from the starter solenoid. This wire uses 1 eyelet with 2 wires coming off going to seperate circuits in the power dist. box. I have seperated these 2 wires with no change. I am tired of banging my head against this wall. Any assistance will be greatly appeciated.
 
I wish it was so easy, although I would kill myself for doing everything else. Unfortunately that bulb has been removed for years.
 
Do you mean by autoheadlights is what we call daytime running lights like we have up here in the north, or the auto on feature when it gets dark the lights come on?

There is a small module that sits down behind the bumper on the drivers side. For us its a module that controls the daytime running light, but on cars without that, that plug would have a small bypass module plugged in. Might want to see if you can unplug it and see if that gets rid of the problem.
 
I would also check the vanity lamps, which are the lamps for the mirrors in yhe sunvisors. If you can not figure this out, I will help you all that I can. I have the service manuals to go by.
 
I have a '90 SC with auto trans. This vehicle does not have auto headlights but is equipped with fog lights. It has a parasitic draw on the battery, with the key off, of .30 amps. This draw is coming from the headlight circuit - if I remove the 60 amp fuse for the headlight circuit from the power distribution block by the battery the draw goes away. I have disconnected each headlight bulb (HI & low) individually, headlight switch, fog light siwtch, multi-function switch (1 connector at a time), trunk light, glove box light & console light - no change. I have removed each of the other fuses (power dist. box & fuse box under dash) individually - no change. Of course I am checking with the doors closed. The power supply to the 60 amp fuse is from a hot wire from the starter solenoid. This wire uses 1 eyelet with 2 wires coming off going to seperate circuits in the power dist. box. I have seperated these 2 wires with no change. I am tired of banging my head against this wall. Any assistance will be greatly appeciated.
Plug the fuse back in. Unplug the connector at the top of the alternator and see if the drain goes away. :cool:

My Red car has this problem, in fact it has a number of problems. When I get the major ones under control, I intend to wire in a relay to stop the current drain. In my case, 0.25 A.
 
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check the center console ,the bottom ,thats were i found mine
the light would stay on - i just removed the light
 
I did remove the bulb for the center console already - no change. I did disconnect both wires to the alternator - no change. I have not tried the vanity mirrors but I did disconnect the power supply for the map lights in the rearview mirror - no change.
 
I did remove the bulb for the center console already - no change. I did disconnect both wires to the alternator - no change. I have not tried the vanity mirrors but I did disconnect the power supply for the map lights in the rearview mirror - no change.
Oh well.. it was an idea. The symptoms sounded just like what I had with the red car. I had a constant .25A that I couldn't seem to isolate.
You might, and this is just something to try, unplug the stop lamp switch on the brake pedal. Also, try the alarm module in the trunk. Do you have keyless entry? Try that one too. Both of these are in the trunk behind the cover on the driver side.
 
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My car had a battery drain too...I had to chase it down to a few wires. Here is where mine was. Good luck:

before

miller1.jpg


after

1wires.jpg
 
I am not sure what connector that is in the picture above, but if mine was like that I would use it as a fuse & light it up. I got home early enough to have some day light to try some of the ideas posted. Removed the bulbs from the vanity lights on the visors - no change. Next I disconnected the power supply to the map lights on the rearview mirror & FINALLY the draw disappeared. Aboved I posted that I had already disconnected this but I must have been mistaken as it was connected. I reconnected the mirror & now there is still no draw. I found out now that if I turn on 1 side the draw is 0.28-0.30 & the draw goes to 0.56 with both on. I will be leaving the mirror disconnected for now. The mirror glass had discoloring vertically across the center so I planned to replace it anyway. Now the fun continues as it all has to be reassembled.

Thanks again to all that took the time to respond.
 
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