Milliken

Hi, battery has been causing problem several times a year, replacing several already. Now found out the parasitic current is about 135mA when parked, pulling the D/C Cut fuse will stop the current. Without this fuse the car starts quite normally except no dome lights, unable to lock unlock doors, no lights on driver panels. I couldn't find any tips to fix this as most people say it should be 50mA. on 135mA drawn the battery will be dead parking for several days or in very cold weather such as this past Christmas. Any help is appreciated.

jr4div2

First, this probably shouldn't be in the performance section, but who cares.

I suspect a stuck relay somewhere. I had the same exact issue on my Honda Ridgeline. Damn battery would die after sitting for 3 or 4 days. I finally did what you did and put an amp meter on the the battery and had about 150mA draw. I spent hours trying to find out what it was. Just so happened, I left my truck running one morning with the A/C on and came out to see my truck in a cloud of white mist. I opened the door and it was filled with strange smelling mist. Turns out the A/C clutch relay was stuck causing the compressor to over compress the system and the pressure valve let loose some freon. $3.50 for a new relay later, and I never had a problem again.

I would get me some long wires on your current meter so you can monitor it and start pulling fuses one by one until you see it drop into the normal region. Once it does, you found your problem.

Good luck

Milliken

Thanks jr4div2. You were right on the problem I am having.
What you said makes a lot of sense. Actually I knew which fuse is taking the 150mA parasitic current but it goes to another fuse panel supplying three other down stream fuses. However, this second fuse box was right above the passenger side, above the feet area. I am in Toronto and now the weather has been so damn cold it is impossible to do this outside and everywhere is either ice and dirt. Once the passenger door is opened the current shoots up to 2 plus amps probably due to the light bulb on the bottom side of the door but that current is fluctuating more than 0.15A making it meaningless to pull fuses. I tried with the door closed and I just could not do it. For now, I have made a tiny voltmeter inserted into cigarette lighter to monitor the voltage before starting the engine, it pretty much stays at around 12.2V if I drive the car everyday. Makes sense. So, as soon as the weather gets a bit better I will try to pull the rest fuses. What you said a stuck relay and an extended current meter are very innovative I never thought of, thanks again for helping. Will report back once I have a finding.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Thats like 3.25 Amps a day. That'll do it.
Perhaps wedge or tape something over the door switch to keep it depressed?

What exactly do you mean by no light's on drivers panels?? Are you saying door or instrument cluster?

If I were you I would pay the $15 for a 2 day subscription to the TIS site and trace through the schematic. Granted you have narrowed it down a good bit, but thats still a lot of circuitry. Hopefully you can nail it down by pulling fuses.

The question I've had is how much do vehicles with Nav draw when off? I read something to the effect of in 15 days of off time the circuits begin shutting down in stages, 15, then 30 and 45 days it turns off more stuff to minimize current draw.

You know there was service bulletin for the gateway computer killing the battery and it was a free repair for impacted cars. Do a search for gateway computer killing battery. This impacted a lot of Lexus makes. Not just the IS.

Keep us posted.