Car ?'s

Lanx

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
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Control said:
So I've been trying to track down a parasitic draw. Tracked current draw and pulled fuses to narrow it down then tried to unhook everything along the way. I didn't find an obvious source, but it looked like I had fixed the problem after tinkering/cleaning/leaving off a few things. Checked it daily for a few days to make sure it was gone (letting it sit for an hour or so to make sure all the modules had shut down), but no, it's back a couple of weeks later. So I guess it's some combination of conditions that causes a module to get stuck on? All the googles I see stop at "unplug things one at a time til it works", and I'm not enjoying the thought of doing that again trying to dig through combinations or speculatively replacing everything. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
try this way w/ the amp clamp instead of pulling every fuse.

 
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Kobayashi

Kobayashi

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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Control said:
So I've been trying to track down a parasitic draw. Tracked current draw and pulled fuses to narrow it down then tried to unhook everything along the way. I didn't find an obvious source, but it looked like I had fixed the problem after tinkering/cleaning/leaving off a few things. Checked it daily for a few days to make sure it was gone (letting it sit for an hour or so to make sure all the modules had shut down), but no, it's back a couple of weeks later. So I guess it's some combination of conditions that causes a module to get stuck on? All the googles I see stop at "unplug things one at a time til it works", and I'm not enjoying the thought of doing that again trying to dig through combinations or speculatively replacing everything. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
I have something similar to this to check blade style fuses:

www.walmart.com

Parasitic Draw Fuse Tester Automotive, Car Power Fuse Monitor Accessories, Mini Maxi & ATC Fuses Live Current, Electric Test Pen Light Electrical Diagnostic Tool Short Circuit Finder - Walmart.com

Buy Parasitic Draw Fuse Tester Automotive, Car Power Fuse Monitor Accessories, Mini Maxi & ATC Fuses Live Current, Electric Test Pen Light Electrical Diagnostic Tool Short Circuit Finder at Walmart.com
www.walmart.com

It measures the voltage drop across the fuse and treats it like a shunt. It's not super accurate at the low mA range, but I doubt it's that low if you're noticing it. Doesn't work if the problem is on a circuit only fed by a fuseable link or anything that doesn't have test ports at the top. Don't forget to check any fuses on modules like the body control module.
 
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