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Battery drain on 04

E

enstar

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Apr 1, 2018
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Newbie here.  Hopefully someone can help me figure out this battery drain issue.  I own an 04 avy for 10 years and this is the first real issue i have had.  First of all the battery and alternator are new.  The problem first started as a very random battery draw,  maybe once a month or more i would  would come out to a dead battery.  Eventually it became an issue where its almost a daily occurrence.  So i decided to check for parasitic draw.  All i had to use first was just a 12 volt test light.  After about 45 minutes after shutting off truck I unhooked neg cable and hooked up test  light and she shined bright.  Started pulling fuses.  The two fuses that dimmed the light but light still glowed was the info fuse and the ipc/dic fuse.  I decided then to get a multimeter to get a more accurate reading.  So same scenario,  let truck go to  sleep,  unhook neg cables,  multimeter set to 20 amp.  Go to hook up one probe to battety cable,  one to post.  First thing that happens is a spark from battery cable to probe and then once contact was made a sound from the cab which sounded similar to when you adjust the mirrors.  The motorized sound it makes. Lasted a couple seconds and stopped.  Then i unhooked probes and decided to try again.  Touched neg cable and neg post.  Same spark again and same motorized noise from inside cab.  Stopped there and decidef to seek some advice on next steps.  So where should direct my troubleshooting at??  Thanks
 
Check in this section and maybe Problems SYSTEMS.

I have read what you described before.
I think might be radio or something inside staying on.
 
The sound you hear in cab could be a music or navigation disc spinning up to work when power goes to the radio. Without constant power it will shut down in 10 minutes and come back on if power is restored to radio.
 
Cant be the stereo since its not hooked up and i dont have navigation system.  Why wouldnt i get that noise when i have 12 volt test light hook up?  Only does it with multimeter hooked up?  Am i safe to continue? Since i now have 2 multimeters now i am going use the one to check amperage draw and the other to check the draw on each fuse.. 
 
aNy aftermarket electronics?
Alarm?
Charger?
Blue tooth thingys?

What you do is put amp meter on battery and start pulling fuses until you see a big drop.

What is amp draw before pulling fuses everything normal?
 
This is when you need  a helper so you can sit inside and listen for the noise. But it looks like you have good method to your troubleshooting.

Good Luck. I'll be watching out for the resolution, so please share once you find the problem.
 
Try pulling the radio fuse in the box under the hood. This what was causing my parasitic drain. If that is what is causing the drain, rather than spending $200+ for a new radio, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhvXr0jpfms. Guy had same issue and shows how to wire a relay to shut power off to radio when key is off. Quirky thing is nearly all of the guages are on same circuit. So when you turn the key on, almost all of them go crazy for about a second then settle down and operate fine.
 
That sound could be your radio, but it also could be your abs pump. Is your abs light on? If a short occurs in the abs control module it can cause it to drain your battery because it's not shutting off when it goes into sleep because of the short
 
enstar said:
Newbie here. Hopefully someone can help me figure out this battery drain issue. I own an 04 avy for 10 years and this is the first real issue i have had. First of all the battery and alternator are new. The problem first started as a very random battery draw, maybe once a month or more i would would come out to a dead battery. Eventually it became an issue where its almost a daily occurrence. So i decided to check for parasitic draw. All i had to use first was just a 12 volt test light. After about 45 minutes after shutting off truck I unhooked neg cable and hooked up test light and she shined bright. Started pulling fuses. The two fuses that dimmed the light but light still glowed was the info fuse and the ipc/dic fuse. I decided then to get a multimeter to get a more accurate reading. So same scenario, let truck go to sleep, unhook neg cables, multimeter set to 20 amp. Go to hook up one probe to battety cable, one to post. First thing that happens is a spark from battery cable to probe and then once contact was made a sound from the cab which sounded similar to when you adjust the mirrors. The motorized sound it makes. Lasted a couple seconds and stopped. Then i unhooked probes and decided to try again. Touched neg cable and neg post. Same spark again and same motorized noise from inside cab. Stopped there and decidef to seek some advice on next steps. So where should direct my troubleshooting at?? Thanks
Click to expand...
Hey did you ever figure this out?
 
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