Hey all, I just found out that there's a really large draw coming from somewhere. The multimeter said 13 amps. Does anyone have any idea what it could be? The antenna is broken but supposedly it shouldn't draw that much. I can try the fuse box but I'm worried it won't show up there because a mechanic had years ago said something about how the car wasn't worth diagnosing.

I'm pretty sad because I was trying to revive this car not knowing there was this huge potentially expensive problem that I can't diagnose myself and might have to junk the car after spending so much time and money into it


***EDIT***
Things i've tried so far:

- doesn't seem to be door related (all doors activate/shut off related lights)
- most large fuses (some i could not remove)

 

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Since you can measure current, simply remove and replace fuses till you know which circuit is the culprit.

Just make sure the lights are off and brake pedal is not pressed and key removed from the ignition.

Salim

 

not sure, but i read that not all problems can be diagnosed from the fuses.

any idea how much a mechanic would charge to diagnose or how much to install a kill switch (if this is even a good idea)?

 

are some of these fuses screwed or fused down? like main and alternator?

 

Don't mess with the engine bay fuse box on the first go. Engine bay fuses and relays are typically upstream. I would start with cabin fuses first ... Near the left driver knee. If you don't find any that drops down the leakage then try the removable in the engine bay and even the relay cubes.

Just take one fuse at a time and place it back in the same spot.

Salim

 

High current fuses are usually to be secured by screws. A 13 amp drain is equal to about 160 watts. If you have such a large parasitic drain, there are 3 things that must have happened: excessive light, noise or heat. If it's light and noise, you should've seen or heard it, because an average fuel pump draw only about 10 amps or less. If it's heat, a thermal imaging camera can easily detect a high drawing circuit.

You must have a 10A unfused multimeter.

 

I agree that the hsmac's issue should not be termed as parasitic draw .. it is actually a fail condition due to something drawing excessive current while the vehicle is off.

Salim

 

i don't have a cam but will try a thermometer, thanks for the suggestion. the multimeter i'm using is the cheap harbor freight -- it seems to go well past 20 A.

pulled a lot of fuses and relays (not all) and nothing worked. losing hope.

 

The alternator diodes might be shorted, disconnect the positive cable from the alternator to see if the draw stops.

13 amps is a large draw, the radiator fan or all exterior lights could draw that much but you would notice something like that. A shorted alternator diode would not be so noticeable. If the alternator remains hot to the touch after the engine has cooled off, something is wrong.

 

i tried the large ones per chatgpt. already tried alternator (including bolted power) and doesn't seem the problem; i also had it newly remanufactured so i doubt it would be that. maybe i can call the alternator guy and see if he has any ideas.

originally chatgpt said it wouldn't be the antenna but now it's saying it could be. was a pain to get to the motor and have to figure out how to unmount and unclip the power tomorrow. hopefully will find out soon. it was making noises before after shutting off the vehicle but hadn't heard anything recently. and the related fuses didn't help (but now gpt saying i might have to physically disconnect it).

 

Please do not try to diagnose by zeroing on items. The approach we are on is checking each branch [circuit] by removing one fuse at a time. Member Nevada suggested removing a brach which has no fuse [alternator] , this is good advice.
Once you get the bleeding branch then based on what it feeds apply thinking.
Just to make my point of view clear ... a new alternator does not guarantee that it is indeed working properly. It might be a safe assumption but it muddies you process of elimination. So I would go back to clipping [not necessarily cut the wire] but removing fuse and removing connections.

Once in a while also check your test equipment [instrument and setup]. 15Amps is a large current and you should see sparks and hear arcing.

Salim

 

today i connected the battery and heard a humming/clicking sound every 30 seconds or so coming from the lcd screen area. i assume nothing should be making that type of noise without activating any feature. could be some sort of motor/actuator. any idea what this could be?

 

There are servo motors related to air flow [mode to be exact] that get activated. You can search on mode servo.

Before ordering parts you still need to check all fuses. It seems the big fuse is good [my assumption here as some portion is alive. You can disconnect the alternator [both the direct line and the plug] to eliminate it from the system]. The vehicle should be able to wake up or you should be able to trace.

Note: Do disconnect the battery before you touch the alternator as there is no protection fuse in there.

Salim

 

i have some (good?) news. i think i had the multimeter on the wrong setting. i don't quite understand how to use one completely, the tutorials i watched seemed to use them differently. anyhow, using the 10A port and 10A dial setting, it now reads ~1.2 (which seems more reasonable since the battery didn't seem to die after a couple hours like some people said)

so apparently it's still a large enough draw to be a problem. will try pulling fuses again which I'm not looking forward to as the included puller doesn't work very well.