Hey guys, sorry that I haven't been on in a while. Its been a rough summer. Its been so long I don't hardly remember how to do this, so please bare with me. I still have my F250 6.0 power stroke and still love it but its been quite a while i've done anything to it other than fuel and oil changes. My problem is I have almost new batteries (one year old) and they are dieing on me. Back when I was on this site every day i was also driving my truck every day so I didn't notice the problem. Now I have another truck I work in so my baby doesn't get driven as much. at times it may sit a week. Thats how I noticed the dead batteries. Before I get started, Ive charged them up and checked both of them separately with my meter and both had around 13.5 volts when fully charged. Now if anyone remembers when I was on this site every day and asking a lot of questions, I added a few things to the truck. I got the edge monitor, not a programer, just basically gauges, with the EGT, EOT. etc, etc. I cannot imagine that draining any current. Also, I added a fuel pressure gauge and Oil pressure gauge. All these are on, only when the switch key is on. Also, the 4 aux switches that come on the truck, I use 3 and 4 for the high idle mode and added some fog lights where the tow hooks were in front. So since I have no idea what is draining my current, I thought I"d unhook the lights in front since the drain seems pretty big. 3 days and they were dead batteries. I found the wire I believe I hooked too. On my truck I think it was orange. If I just cut that (for now) is that all I have to do to kill that switch,, or is there a ground or something. I"m sorry but its been so long I just don't remember what I did. If anyone has any idea, please help. My big problem is I just don't remember where and what I connected to to make this stuff work. Thanks a bunch guys. I hope all of yall have been doing good. Herb

 

Herb, nice to see you again.

I think you should start by pulling those batteries and getting them load tested. The fact that you said you had 13.5 volts tells me that you were not properly testing the batteries. That had to be directly off the charger, and the voltage will drop as the batteries rest. A fully charged 12 volt battery will be 12.6 - 12.7, or near there. They don't stay at 13.5 for long. A load test will tell you the truth about the batteries.

Also, don't assume that the parasitic draw is your added mods. There are failures in stock trucks that can cause high parasitic draws too. Once you have tested the batteries and if they are good, then pulling fuses systematically is how one usually finds a parasitic load.

 

If you go to the tech folder and type in hi idle mod the directions should come up. If not do a search. It is in here.