2002 Battery Drain
 

Seeking a good wiring diagram - also does anyone know where the WHITE lead goes that connects to the battery cable (has a but securing to the battery terminal connector) and goes UNDER the fuse box. That is where my grounding drain is happening. Something fed by that white cable.

UPDATE: I narrowed the drain to the 15a fuse for DOME LIGHT. I removed all dome (LED) bulbs be that didn't fix. Something along that wiring is grounding out. Any thoughts where to look next?

more details:
I have a battery drain. I thought it was the battery itself, but doing a quick and easy test light test.... I found that when I disconnect the POS cable. Place a test light to act as a jumper between the freshly charged battery and the disconnected POS cable - the test light lights up. Meaning there is a grounding issue in my wiring ...somewhere.


I'll keep investigating, but wanted to post something here early for some help.
Cheers.

I think the radio is also part of that circuit.


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First places to check. ALT. Drivers door and your rear hatch.


How many amps are you pulling with everything off and in amp meter in arteries with the positive terminal

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I deleted my original procedure once I found the 15A fuse.
I first disconnected the Alternator, but that wasn't the issue.
How would I check the door and rear hatch switches? I was unable to locate the one for the rear hatch. Maybe it is a sort of gravity switch in the top portion where the wires go in?

I read a little about testing for amp measure with my multimeter. I think I disconnect the negative. I'll see if I can figure that out. I have a basic meter and honestly don't understand it for many settings.

Ok, with everything turned off, doors shut, disconnect the NEG battery cable, set meter to 20A and move the meter positive plug to 20A and set the dial to 20 DC. I get a reading of .32 - but then when I moved the probes and reconnected, it showed zero. not sure what that means.

.320 is 320ma deep sleep is under 100ma. So you have a drain. I am.thinking its deep sleep is 50 to 75ma [ trying to remember]

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Very common for the wires in the rear hatch or drivers door to break. A few circuits are powered all the time. Stop fuse is one of them in the rear hatch.

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Thanks. So the door uses a plunger pin sorta switch. Not sure how the rear hatch works. Nor how to isolate that.
I noticed the cigarette lighter works regardless of the key on or completely removed (Off). But maybe that is normal so that folks could light their cigar without the car on.
Ugh, not sure what my next step should be to fix this.
Even if I figure out how to access the door switches, not sure how to trace down the issue.

Search your always on circuits. Stop circuit is one. Courtesy lights are another.

The rear hatch wiring boot look for shorting wires cracked insulation.

You can also keep the amp meter on and check each fuse till the amp load drops
To find it as well. :)



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Stock on my '97 is that the cig lighter is OFF if the key is off. If the 2002 is the same, a PO may have dinkled with the wiring in a non-kosher way. Just an idea...

On stock 3rd gen's the cigar lighter and other 12v receptacles are power only with the key on. I have modified my relay to make it power on at all times.

Power draw when vehicle off should settle to below 50 mA after a few minutes of vehicle being off and all doors being closed.

50 ma Thanks Bad luck I couldn't remember what that ma number should have been I knew it was below 75ma.:-)

When you say 'search the circuits' - meaning a visual search at areas where a cracked wire could be? A quick look seems like everything is fine. But I'll have to figure out how to remove the rear hatch boot.
Not sure if this is something or not... when i was using the multimeter, touching the prongs to the NEG batt. post and disconnected NEG clamp; the reading starts off at around .32; then after 5 seconds or so drops to around .12 or such and then zero. what is going on?
So i unplugged the cig litghter, but that didn't change anything. still not sure when that can work without the Key on. I've owned the vehicle since 26K miles, I doubt it was altered. maybe my model (2002 Sport) is designed to always be operating?
This is frustrating me without a clear answer or even direction to focus on. And I am not an electrical expert. But I'd hate to spend $$$ for someone to figure out...but starting to feel that way. URGH.

Just to confirm one of my testing procedures...
I disconnected the POS cable. then used my test light to jump between the POS cable and the post. it lights up. but if i remove the DOME fuse, the test light does not light up. so something is grounding, but not enough to blow the fuse. must be the rear hatch.

So when you put the meter in amp mode and let it goto deep sleep [ a few minutes]
Your still at 350 milliamps?


You can pull each fuse and note which one drops the amperage.

Search the always on circuits first.

For example:

Dome
Stop


This can be a time consuming process but you will find it or a few circuits that have issues. Then you know where to focus your energy on..:)

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Ok, yea, it is definitely the DOME fuse. but after that, I am not sure how to solve - visible check of the wires will be madness because they run everywhere. I tried disconnecting the rear DOME switch/light = no change. Same with the cigarette lighter, but it could still be some wire. Ok, I will try to figure this out. Thanks for the pointers.