Good evening,

I have a '96 F150 that has a current draw when parked. I rarely drive the truck...but I would say that it will drain the battery in about 2-3 weeks. (The last battery was 8 months old and it drained it to the point it could not be recharged.)

Today I hooked up a test light in series with the ground battery terminal and post. I unplugged the underhood light and made sure everything else was off. The test light glowed fairly bright. (It was sunny and I had no trouble seeing it under the hood from inside the truck.) Then I proceeded to pull fuses. The fuse panel on the dashboard was fine. So then I proceeded to the Power Distribution Block. When I pulled the fuse labeled "Audio" the test light went out. So I thought "Aha"...the radio. I pulled the radio and disconnected the harness....light went out. I went into the shop and got another Ford radio (same type) and the test light still glows when it is connected.

I can't imagine this is correct. Does the radio pull that much current when parked? Or am I just getting bad batteries? Or do I have two bad radios? I have a buddy with a '94 F150 that he ONLY starts every 6 months or so with no problems (hunting truck).

For the time being I have a green-**** disconnect installed....any input appreciated.

 

With the radio it should just be a dim light because, obviously there will be draw for memory.

 

as stated above, the radio dosen't draw that much. you need to go through the wireing harness that feeds the radio, and see if it got scraped open somewhere, and is shorting to ground.possible the heat box cable, or controls are rubbing it

 

I was going to say something along the lines of that but I was not sure what would happen if a power grounded out in there. Thanks.

 

Ford says to unhook the battery if you are going to park it for more than two weeks.
At least I think they said two weeks if I remember right.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I was wondering if it could actually be in the wiring harness. This should be fun....

Although I rarely drive the truck and I have installed a battery disconnect I would like to correct this problem. I will begin tracing wires and see what i can find. Thanks again!