Electrical Drain

For those that have had sudden electrical drains that kill the battery, what seems to be the most common issue? Mine is suddenly draining and having changed nothing in months. Everything works as expected, all lights are good with no condensation in any of them. No obvious loose connections with what I can see. New battery, same problem.


While I know that finding the drain via a multi-meter is possible, electrical is not one of my strong suits and can be time consuming.


Anything to make it easier is greatly appreciated.

well this could be an easy fix or a difficult one. i remember someone else having a similiar problem a week or so ago. first thing i would do is determine if its a current draw problem or a charging problem. if your alternator or rectifier is bad, then your system would never get a charge. what year truck and what kind of mods? if its a current draw issue, you are going to have to take a meter and go to town

I know it is not a charging issue, certainly believe that it is a draw issue. When I first noticed anything was Thursday, started and went to work fine. When I went to leave (8 hours) battery was low, truck turned over just enough to start. Took it home, looked at the battery, eye was red. Considering that it was 2 years old and the brutal winter we had, I figured that was it and replaced it. Friday, no problems went to work and home. Truck sat until this morning (roughly 42 hours) battery stone cold dead. Put it on charge, got truck started. Visually checked everything as described previously.


I have a Kicker sub that I put in 8-9 months ago, have had no problems. I have unhooked the power wire from the fuse block to see if that is an issue. Fogs and headlight LED lights are wired to the upfitter switches. Have after market HID headlights using all factory connections. Truck is a 2013 801a package. Haven't touched anything electrical in months. Have not been off-road. Did a cursory check of wiring underneath, starter and transmission, everything appears as normal.


Since I am still under warranty, I will likely get it in to the dealership as soon as I can. again, electrical not my strong suit.


I saw a post from Raptor Embroidery saying that he figured others might have the same problem, but there is not other posts with it. It is the most recent electrical problem post, so I have no idea what he found or did.


http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f39/battery-drained-twice-41102/


Thanks Noah.

---------- Post added at 11:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 AM ----------

One weird thing that happened when I connected the charger to the truck, the 4 way flashers came on, but on a fast rate flash. And would not go off with hazard button. Eventually they just stopped.

The most common issues I have encountered are things like dome lights, glove box lights, and after market accessories staying on when the key is turned off. Many times people mistakenly hook accessories up to B + instead of KEY ON.

I know you said your not electrically inclined, however, an EASY test to check a battery drain is to take a DVOM and set it to AMPs and attach one side to your battery ground and one side to your vehicle ground, then disconnect the ground from the battery and monitor the amperage. Anything over .030 amps is a giveaway to a parasitic drain.

Then you simply pull fuses until the amperage comes down, the fuse you pull that lowers the amperage is the circuit with your problem. Then just inspect that circuit.

I had this same problem back in mid November. Park your truck in a quiet place and shut it off, wait until the exterior lights go off and listen to see if you hear a high pitched noise coming from anywhere. It would sound like the HIDs do when they are on. That noise is an electrical draw and if you hear that something isn't shutting off like it should and it's draining your battery. I had a noise coming from my transmission and turns out my truck had a 5 amp draw when my truck was off and it would kill my battery within several hours. The problem that caused it was the rear camera wiring harness wasn't sealed properly from the factory and over time moisture and water got in and corroded the wires, ergo killing my camera and shorting out sensors. My truck has been at the dealership since January 6th and I still don't have it and still don't know 100% whats going on. Apparently my truck is the first to have this problem because the techs at the dealership and the Ford techs have been having a hell of a time with it.

Strange, the link you provided took me to a new post but I remember posting that as a comment.

Anyways, I started getting a dead battery over and over. Thought I left something on but remembered to turn everything off from there on out and still had problems. Died 5 timed total. Took it to Ford and they said "everything is fine get out of our hair."

I went down to a Toyota dealership where a buddy works and we did multiple tests.

Arrived at dealership - battery good - 750 +/- cca and good health

5 minutes of headlights on - battery bad, less than 250 CCA.

Did a parasitic draw test. You should do this after installing accessories.

You want it to stay in between the negative on the battery and the negative battery terminal to measure draw. Basically you want it to stay there for 30 minutes because electrical accessories must shut down in order to be accurate. On my truck, it was still reading oem specs of .05 amps.

After that I knew it was the battery. So, after fighting with Ford (my battery was replaced Dec 16th, 2014 and I was at the dealership sometime the beginning of Janurary) for over 1 hour, they finally replaced my battery which was still under warranty and still haven't had a problem.

If they tell you it's "fine" for god sakes get a second opinion.

Story continued - Took it in Monday, they called on Tuesday to say they found the problem, picked it up later that day. To work and back Wednesday no problem. Thursday morning, it seemed a little slow on crank, but I passed it off as being sensitive because of recent issue. Went to leave work Thursday - dead. Took it back to dealer. They tested it overnight, draw test, battery test, everything was fine. Called to say to come get it. Went first thing Saturday morning, had the opportunity to speak to the service manager. We reviewed what had happened and were brain storming when he said "Lets go out to the truck". Had the keys in my hand, hit the unlock button - nothing. Hit it again, driver's door unlocked. Turned key to start - DEAD! Needless to say, they still have it... And the wait begins.

---------- Post added at 06:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 AM ----------

Raptor Embroidery said:

Strange, the link you provided took me to a new post but I remember posting that as a comment.


Stuff happens...


Anyways, I started getting a dead battery over and over. Thought I left something on but remembered to turn everything off from there on out and still had problems. Died 5 timed total. Took it to Ford and they said "everything is fine get out of our hair."

I went down to a Toyota dealership where a buddy works and we did multiple tests.

Arrived at dealership - battery good - 750 +/- cca and good health

5 minutes of headlights on - battery bad, less than 250 CC

Did a parasitic draw test. You should do this after installing accessories.

You want it to stay in between the negative on the battery and the negative battery terminal to measure draw. Basically you want it to stay there for 30 minutes because electrical accessories must shut down in order to be accurate. On my truck, it was still reading oem specs of .05 amps.

After that I knew it was the battery. So, after fighting with Ford (my battery was replaced Dec 16th, 2014 and I was at the dealership sometime the beginning of Janurary) for over 1 hour, they finally replaced my battery which was still under warranty and still haven't had a problem.

If they tell you it's "fine" for god sakes get a second opinion.

Click to expand...

Thanks. As you can see, the story continues. I was already thinking about where to go next.

Update - They left me a message saying that it took the entire week to figure it out and that it appears to be the PCM. New one will be here on Monday. To be continued...

Don't get a fuzzy warm feeling about this yet. A week, wow! Hope they gave you a nice loaner

CoronaRaptor said:

Don't get a fuzzy warm feeling about this yet. A week, wow! Hope they gave you a nice loaner

Click to expand...

Hence the "to be continued". They gave me an Enterprise rental (their dime), 2015 Fusion. Nothing fancy, but I don't have to go far, 4 mile round trip for work.