Mystery Power Drain
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Joined: Dec 2006
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Mystery Power Drain
'06 F250 PSD. About four months after I bought it, found the batteries stone dead. Towed to dealer and had one OE battery replaced. Same problem about four months after that. Towed to dealer and other battery was replaced. Last month, after leaving the doors open for about 2 hours, dead again. Towed to dealer, charged batteries, sat in lot for 5 days and started fine. Monday, after loading luggage with doors open for about 10 minutes, dead again. Jump started and drove to dealer.
Service department has no ideas or plans to diagnose. I'm not a mechanic, but it seems like they could put a meter on the electrical system, open the doors and see if they're getting an unusual load - enough to pull down two batteries.
Any thoughts or similar experiences?
Service department has no ideas or plans to diagnose. I'm not a mechanic, but it seems like they could put a meter on the electrical system, open the doors and see if they're getting an unusual load - enough to pull down two batteries.
Any thoughts or similar experiences?
Post Fiend
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 10,007
Likes: 4
From: Central Florida
That's really odd. I have had batteries short internally that act that way, but they replaced both of them.
The diag for draw is pull all of the fuses and disconnect the postive cable. Normally you see a little spark jump from the terminal to the post, with the fuses out you shouldn't. Put one fuse in at a time and reconnect the postive cable. If you notice the spark after you put in a fuse, that curcuit is drawing power. I would think you will find 2-3 that will draw constantly, but it should be very low mili amps. For those you can put your multimeter between the cable and the terminal to see the draw.
The diag for draw is pull all of the fuses and disconnect the postive cable. Normally you see a little spark jump from the terminal to the post, with the fuses out you shouldn't. Put one fuse in at a time and reconnect the postive cable. If you notice the spark after you put in a fuse, that curcuit is drawing power. I would think you will find 2-3 that will draw constantly, but it should be very low mili amps. For those you can put your multimeter between the cable and the terminal to see the draw.
Posting Guru
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,060
Likes: 7
From: Burnsville, MN
Sears has a digital multimeter for about $10 - $15 with a 10 amp scale on it. Remove one of the cable clamps and insert the multimeter (with the correct polarity) and measure the draw on the battery while EVERYTHING is off. If the reading is less than about 300 milliamps then there's no problem.
If its more, like an amp or two, then you have a problem which can be isolated by pulling fuses.
If its more, like an amp or two, then you have a problem which can be isolated by pulling fuses.
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mallman
1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
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Dec 14, 2004 03:45 PM
