Parasitic draw

Corax · Post by **Corax** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 8:52 pm

Hi All,

Having problems with the brumby, mainly along the lines that if I don't drive it for 2 days in a row something drains the battery to the point that there's not enough juice left to even turn the motor over (yes its a new battery). I know that I can fit an isolation switch but is there anything obvious that I should look at that could be an obvious culprit? ( have already had the alternator rebuilt) or does anyone have a brilliant technique that I could use to track this draw down? Cause all in all, its a massive pain in the a*se!

Thanks for any help,
Dave.

Venom · Post by **Venom** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:50 pm

There is a technique you can use, I did it myself with my Liberty.

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain

Not sure if that article mentions it, but I'm pretty sure you're not suposed to turn anything on while running the negative power through the multimeter because it'll blow the fuse.

Corax · Post by **Corax** » Wed Aug 13, 2014 10:19 pm

Ok, set things up as described in the link and found the car was constantly drawing 23-25 milliamps. Pulled the dash fuses and it made no difference. Managed to trace it through the + terminal to the fuse (?) box located near the battery and up under the dash where the offending wire went into a harness of about 10 wires. I then pulled the harness apart at a junction to make sure I was on the right track and sure enough the draw dropped right off. I then put the harness back together and expected the draw to return but it didn't. WTF? Put things back together and started the car, took it for a run then tested for the draw again. Nothing. Now don't get me wrong Im glad it appears to be fixed but I have no idea how I fixed it. Any ideas