Dispin

I have a parasitic battery drain. I think it must be the amp since this seems to be a common issue with sc430s. When I disconnect the negative battery and connect my voltmeter, negative to negative battery terminal and positive to the battery cord end, I hear the disc changer trying to change cds. The reading is around 1.60 to 1.40. BTW, Sometimes when the car is being used the cd gets stuck when trying to change and if you hit the head unit it goes fine.

Anyway, if I remove fuse 47 the reading starts at 0.90 and eventually goes to 0.40.

I connected the battery and tried to start the car WITHOUT the 47 fuse and it didn't work. It sounded like a blew a fuse when I tried to start it. I assume I've done something wrong here? Should I be able to start the car without fuse 47 in? It's currently empty. Previously I could get the car to start but obviously over time, like 5 hours, it'll drain the battery.

Bgw70

It is a common problem with all of them.

is the battery New or four years old? if old, it may need to be replaced.
the car should start without that fuse, if it is the radio fuse.
if the car sat for several days or more than a week, your battery is too weak and you need to charge or jump.

You did say that battery is too weak to start the car after five hours...again, what is the date code on the battery and does the battery have water covering the plates, unless it is maintenance free.

Harold57

Dispin, are you saying that with your car and accessories (including lights) turned off that your car is drawing 1.4 to 1.6 Amps and with the fuse removed it is 0.4 Amps (not milli-Amps)? That is huge. Yes, you definitely have a problem somewhere. It should be a factor of 10 to 100 lower than that.

Bgw, isn't there another fuse or two for the sound system (like a separate fuse(s) for the amp and NAV)?

Another parasitic drain source for the car is the headlight setting. I haven't tested this myself but from the sounds of some of the testimonials on the forum, if you leave the headlight switch in the automatic position, there is extra draw on the battery.

Bgw70

Yes, there are two fuses for the radio system but I don't have the book in front of me.

i agree with you, there is something seriously wrong with his car.

Dispin

Bgw70, the battery is new. A few months ago it wouldn't start so I took the battery in to Autozone and they charged it. It worked fine until the past week so I just bought a new one. I installed it and started the car, then turned it off. A few hours later the car wouldn't start again, so I disconnected the battery. When I test the battery now I get 12.47 so I assume it's okish.

Hmm, so I went and pulled Radio 2 fuse. I believe it was 10 fuse in the number 24 or 25 position in the passenger side fuse box. It's just above the cigarette fuse.

I might have made a mistake earlier when reading it. If I have both these fuses removed and wait about 20-30 seconds the reading goes to 0.03. I can't start the car though and the battery reading is 12.47. I get this weird noise coming from the brake area. I've attached two videos below.

Maybe it's the starter? It's a loud noise and it sounds like it's coming from the brake area. In the second video I did not try to start the car, as you can hear the noise was pretty loud so I moved the key back off, then back on to accessories.


Video 1
vidme link
https://*******/5jRJ
Direct video link
https://d1wst0behutosd.cloudfront.ne...6WELAPEP47UKWQ


Video 2
vidme link
https://*******/FSMd
Direct video link
https://d1wst0behutosd.cloudfront.ne...6WELAPEP47UKWQ

Coleroad

That noise is the abs pump running in video 1. That is normal. Never rule out a new part. You by far would not be the first to buy a battery with a bad cell.

Coleroad

The second video sounds like a relay to me, but I can't say for sure.

So does it crank and no start, or is it not cranking at all? I'm just a little confused

Dispin

This video shows what happens when I try to start it. When the lights on the cluster go out, I turned the key to try to start the engine. After this I turn the key to the off position (kinda hard since I'm outside the car) and then I turn it to the accessories position. That's when the clicking noise starts that I show. It also sounded like there was a loose electric connection which is why I ended the video quickly after.

videme url
https://*******/lZnS
Direct url to video
https://d1wst0behutosd.cloudfront.ne...6WELAPEP47UKWQ


Also, the battery read 12.47 just before doing this too.

Caflashbob

Battery bad, what date in the battery. My first battery was bad

GmanSC

I think you got bad battery, I had same problem last month. My battery got weak and weak, it had to be charged every night for the car to start next morning. I bought new Interstate battery from Costco, the car started for one day then the battery went dead again. I charged the battery up but it's only good for one day and went dead. At first, I thought some thing drained the battery but it's turned out that I just got a bad battery from Costco. I exchanged new battery and the problem went away.

Caflashbob

The rack at pep boys held four Bosch Agm style batteries. They slide down as sold. The front one was over a year old.

the rest were one to two months old on the tag on the battery.

east penn, the manufactirers date on the negative post was older than the tag by three months or more.

separate from a defective battery sitting on a shelf kills most batteries.

our size is a slow seller I think.

The pep boys bosch branded upgrade Agm style battery made by east penn tested as having much more cold cranking amps than the standard valve regulated flooded cell.

car cranks way faster.

std was supposed to be 780? The Bosch tested at 850?

lexus battery was a std flooded cell valve regulated design.

the Agm is a much superior design in my experience

Bgw70

I agree with Cole on the first video...it is the brake system and the pump is pressurizing the accumulator. Now does that noise only happen after the car has been sitting for several days or over night?

next, you need to get a flashlight and have a helper turn the key so you can see what is banging under your hood. It sounds like a gremlin is in there with a hammer. That sound is not good and for the life of me, I cannot think of what is banging...

How many miles are on your car and have you ever changed the timing belt, water pump etc?

can you get the car to start at all?

Bgw70

Dispin, can you provide answers to my questions above ^^ we would all like to come to a good conclusion and hopefully find an easy fix, to your problem.

Dispin

To sum up. I currently have a starting issue after addressing a parasitic drain which was radio fuse 1 and radio fuse 2. The battery is new, this is the second new battery in a few days to rule out the battery. There's one loud pop/click when I try to start/crank the car and all power dies. If I try to start/crank the car when it's in this dead power state there's a faint clicking noise (see video, it's very faint to hear). Also in the video you can see when I turn to the accessories position one of the relays starts clicking like crazy. It's the pink abs trac relay.
video: https://*******/TOR2

Yea, sorry. I'm still trying to figure it out. I hate asking for help so I've been researching different things and trying to see what it could be. I wrote in bold above so people skimming can easily catch up. At the bottom is what I'm currently doing.

I don't think that noise comes on often. I actually think I only really hear it that loud the first time I start it after disconnecting the battery, but this could be because the hood is open and I'm listening for things.

The original owner changed the timing belt about 10k miles ago. I called them to verify too. She had it done because she was selling the car and everyone was asking her if she had done it. I bought it from the second owner and I have the receipt for it. So I hope it's not that. The car has 120k miles and has a lot of service history. The banging seems to be one of the relays going crazy, which seems to be the pink abs trac one.


It wont start at all now. I get one loud click/pop noise and all power dies. I've removed the battery tray and cleaned the negative terminal. I bought new battery terminal connectors but they're too big so I'll probably have to buy others. I'm wondering if a relay is stopping it starting so I'm in the process of getting some tools to test those. After that, I really don't know what it could be.

edit: I was also wondering should my negative battery cable have two wires? One for ground? Mine only has one wire. Probably wishful thinking.

Caflashbob

Mine has two cables to one post, not sure which post