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3 Posts
Hey there,
I have a parasitic draw on my battery and I narrowed down what circuits are drawing the current. I discovered the draw because my Walmart brand car battery would discharge to 10 Volts in two days. I know Walmart batteries are garbage but I just picked this one up a year and a half ago so I doubt it was failing. I charged it up 100% and then drove to an Autozone where I had it tested. Battery checked up to be good with 75% of its life left. This hard truth reassured my suspicions so I hooked up my DMM and started measuring. Once all of the systems go to sleep the overall draw was 91mA. This is 41mA over the well known threshold of 50mA. I've even seen from posts in other places that I should be down near 35mA, for Commanders at least...
I started pulling fuses and here is what I found: When I pull the IOD fuses out of circuit, the draw drops down to 74mA. KEEPING THE IOD FUSES OUT, when I pull either the JB fuse or the REAR WIPER/IGN R.O. fuse, the draw drops to 0 or ~1mA. This is in the fuse box under the hood.
So now I'm in the interior fuse box or JB: WITH THE IOD FUSES STILL OUT, I'm getting a response similar to the one I get when pulling the fuses from the box underneath the hood. When either fuse #12 (Mem.Sw, Courtesy Lamp (B+)) or fuse #16 (SCM, Cluster OBD (B+)) is removed, the draw again drops to 0 or ~1mA
I have no literature or manuals that can provide the circuit diagrams I need to find out what's part of these circuits so I'm pretty lost. Hopefully someone on here has the knowledge of these circuits that I don't to piece together and suggest a troubleshooting idea... I'd really appreciate that.
Notes: I have not replaced the faulty ignition switch from the factory and it has caused my dash to light up like a Christmas Tree multiple times before. The module in the passenger door is also unresponsive and has been ever since I've owned the car (owned Commander for 4 years so far and haven't had this issue before). Courtesy lights are not triggered when the door is open. There is also no "PASSENGER DOOR OPEN" message on the EVIC, so it is definitely not communicating. There is also a short in the multi-function switch that controls the blinkers, high-low beams, etc. Sometimes the courtesy lights turn on randomly and start to flicker from the intermittent short in the switch. I give the switch a good jiggle and the lights go back to their normal operation. My sunroof drain also clogged up before and started causing my driver side carpet to start soaking up with water. Keep in mind all of these issues existed up to years before I started having this issue, so I have my doubts if these malfunctions could be the cause.
I have a parasitic draw on my battery and I narrowed down what circuits are drawing the current. I discovered the draw because my Walmart brand car battery would discharge to 10 Volts in two days. I know Walmart batteries are garbage but I just picked this one up a year and a half ago so I doubt it was failing. I charged it up 100% and then drove to an Autozone where I had it tested. Battery checked up to be good with 75% of its life left. This hard truth reassured my suspicions so I hooked up my DMM and started measuring. Once all of the systems go to sleep the overall draw was 91mA. This is 41mA over the well known threshold of 50mA. I've even seen from posts in other places that I should be down near 35mA, for Commanders at least...
I started pulling fuses and here is what I found: When I pull the IOD fuses out of circuit, the draw drops down to 74mA. KEEPING THE IOD FUSES OUT, when I pull either the JB fuse or the REAR WIPER/IGN R.O. fuse, the draw drops to 0 or ~1mA. This is in the fuse box under the hood.
So now I'm in the interior fuse box or JB: WITH THE IOD FUSES STILL OUT, I'm getting a response similar to the one I get when pulling the fuses from the box underneath the hood. When either fuse #12 (Mem.Sw, Courtesy Lamp (B+)) or fuse #16 (SCM, Cluster OBD (B+)) is removed, the draw again drops to 0 or ~1mA
I have no literature or manuals that can provide the circuit diagrams I need to find out what's part of these circuits so I'm pretty lost. Hopefully someone on here has the knowledge of these circuits that I don't to piece together and suggest a troubleshooting idea... I'd really appreciate that.
Notes: I have not replaced the faulty ignition switch from the factory and it has caused my dash to light up like a Christmas Tree multiple times before. The module in the passenger door is also unresponsive and has been ever since I've owned the car (owned Commander for 4 years so far and haven't had this issue before). Courtesy lights are not triggered when the door is open. There is also no "PASSENGER DOOR OPEN" message on the EVIC, so it is definitely not communicating. There is also a short in the multi-function switch that controls the blinkers, high-low beams, etc. Sometimes the courtesy lights turn on randomly and start to flicker from the intermittent short in the switch. I give the switch a good jiggle and the lights go back to their normal operation. My sunroof drain also clogged up before and started causing my driver side carpet to start soaking up with water. Keep in mind all of these issues existed up to years before I started having this issue, so I have my doubts if these malfunctions could be the cause.