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I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

davidmuller.github.io

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Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#301

Post by gsich »

tempestn wrote: post #292
somat wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, When powered down(battery diconnected) the computer then has to re learn parameters/pass internal validity checks. On a well preforming system this will be done in as little 1 or 2 rides but on a marginal system this can take many rides. the computer may not enter closed loop mode until these checks pass. closed loop mode is where the computer set it's output values(fuel air ratio, timing etc) based on it…

Not to mention more minor annoyances like losing radio stations and other settings.

It's insane that this keeps happening. Computers can remember BIOS settings for probably 40+ years now.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#302

Post by noizejoy »

gengkev wrote: post #205
WirelessGigabit wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My car beeps loudly and angrily at me if the doors are not 100% closed when I hit the close button on the fob.

With my car, trying to lock the doors just doesn't work if one is left open — not always the most obvious failure mode, but it's been enough to get me to notice something's wrong.

> With my car, trying to lock the doors just doesn't work if one is left open

for suburban single family residence dwellers with their own garage, they may not always (or ever) lock the doors while the car is parked in their locked garage.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#303

Post by ldoughty »

ceautery wrote: post #40

This is type of thing I've seen Eric O. over at South Main Auto[1] fix in dozens of videos. Mad troubleshooting skills, works hard to find root causes of things. He's pretty amazing, hidden away in some no-account town in upstate NY. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/@SouthMainAuto

Man, I would love for him to look at my 2003 Ford Ranger. I turned on the headlights and the anti-lock breaks engaged and the gauges randomly fluctuated. That's the most recent 'fun' story I have with it... Had a parasitic drain in this thing for 5+ years, but it operates 100% fine as long as I keep the battery charged with a tickle charger and can avoid jumping it. I've mentioned this to nearly every mechanic in the last 5+ years, no one has ever found the issue. Three said replace the battery, 1 said get a new alternator. Seems like those 2 would be the go-to for mechanics these days.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#304

Post by ledauphin »

m463 wrote: post #253
JohnFen wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if installing a switch to disconnect the car's battery entirely would be an acceptable (but obviously hacky) solution.

I did this with an old vehicle taht was pretty basic without a lot of electronics. the actual problem was sort of electronic-releated - leave lights on, drain battery to zero. I put on a battery-cutout-monitor-thing. If battery drained to x%, it would disconnect the battery. to start the car, I think you had to stand on the brake pedal (add a load - like brake lights?) and it would reset and reconnect the battery - t…

this sounds like the sort of perfectly reasonable system that the original manufacturer could install in order to save the world from buying several hundred thousands replacement car batteries every year.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#305

Post by noizejoy »

Dalewyn wrote: post #294
civilized wrote: post #166

My wife and I gave our old car to her parents. In the subsequent years, its battery kept dying and we had to go over to their place and jump it. Never happened in the prior 7 years we'd owned the car. The mechanic said nothing wrong with the battery, but suggested there might be a parasitic drain somewhere. A few days later, we were visiting them. I looked at the car and saw the door closed, but not properly latched…

Tangent, but what's the rationale for car doors requiring slams? They are the only door I know, at least in common, daily life contexts, that require slamming them with the force of Thor to properly close them.

I think one of the reasons is air pressure inside the car.

I've always found it amazing how much less slamming the doors needed when a window was left wide open and the air inside the car could escape freely.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#306

Post by thereisnospork »

Dalewyn wrote: post #294
civilized wrote: post #166

My wife and I gave our old car to her parents. In the subsequent years, its battery kept dying and we had to go over to their place and jump it. Never happened in the prior 7 years we'd owned the car. The mechanic said nothing wrong with the battery, but suggested there might be a parasitic drain somewhere. A few days later, we were visiting them. I looked at the car and saw the door closed, but not properly latched…

Tangent, but what's the rationale for car doors requiring slams? They are the only door I know, at least in common, daily life contexts, that require slamming them with the force of Thor to properly close them.

The solidness is an indicator of quality. Apocryphally Mercedes used to add lead weights to their doors to get that solid 'thunk'. Nowadays car manufacturers are a little more subtle at it -- there's a lot of engineering that goes into how a car door feels and sounds to give that impression which is very much intentional.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#307

Post by 1970-01-01 »

ldoughty wrote: post #303
ceautery wrote: post #40

This is type of thing I've seen Eric O. over at South Main Auto[1] fix in dozens of videos. Mad troubleshooting skills, works hard to find root causes of things. He's pretty amazing, hidden away in some no-account town in upstate NY. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/@SouthMainAuto

Man, I would love for him to look at my 2003 Ford Ranger. I turned on the headlights and the anti-lock breaks engaged and the gauges randomly fluctuated. That's the most recent 'fun' story I have with it... Had a parasitic drain in this thing for 5+ years, but it operates 100% fine as long as I keep the battery charged with a tickle charger and can avoid jumping it. I've mentioned this to nearly every mechanic in the…

Check your ground wires, especially when you flip the light, honk the horn, or anything that is relatively high current. Corrosion on a wire can be fixed with Deoxit spray.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#308

Post by tvarghese7 »

I had a 2005 Acura RL which had some pretty fancy electronics for its time. I gave it to my daughter a few years ago and she started reporting that the battery was dying. It would take several days to die, so at first she just jump start the car every couple of days. When she brought it home (she lives 5 hours away) I measured the current draw at >800mA when it should be These cars have a Bluetooth handsfree module that goes bad and starts leaking power. The fix is to bake them in the oven at 350F for 5min to reflow the solder. Already did this twice and then decided to just get rid of it. So that was not the problem.

She needed to get back so we figured out which fuse was the easiest to remove and she lived with that for a couple of months. In the mean time we figured out it was the MICU module, which is the module that controls all the electronic systems and security. Without this nothing works. I was told a new one would be north of $1200 and labor. If they could find one. The dealership said they would chase down the problem again for $165/hr just to be sure... And I would have to leave the car with them until they were ready. Possibly 3 weeks.

I found a couple of the units on ebay for Mind you, it took >4 hours the first time to get the MICU out and 2 hours to put it back in. I did this at least five times. I got good enough at it that I could do the whole swap in less than an hour. Back and hands were not happy each time I did it for a day or two.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#309

Post by King-Aaron »

Dalewyn wrote: post #294
civilized wrote: post #166

My wife and I gave our old car to her parents. In the subsequent years, its battery kept dying and we had to go over to their place and jump it. Never happened in the prior 7 years we'd owned the car. The mechanic said nothing wrong with the battery, but suggested there might be a parasitic drain somewhere. A few days later, we were visiting them. I looked at the car and saw the door closed, but not properly latched…

Tangent, but what's the rationale for car doors requiring slams? They are the only door I know, at least in common, daily life contexts, that require slamming them with the force of Thor to properly close them.

They rarely require a slam. You can soft-close the door, then lean on the outer edge enough to engage the latch.

Often, the door just isn't aligned correctly. Either it's sagged on it's hinges over time, or the latch itself needs a minor alignment/adjustment (Note that even on a lot of new cars, this still helps a lot! Not all manufacturing is perfect). Other times the rubbers can be hard and perished and it doesn't allow the mechanism to engage properly.

Re: I fixed a parasitic drain on my car in 408 days

#310

Post by dTal »

Dalewyn wrote: post #294
civilized wrote: post #166

My wife and I gave our old car to her parents. In the subsequent years, its battery kept dying and we had to go over to their place and jump it. Never happened in the prior 7 years we'd owned the car. The mechanic said nothing wrong with the battery, but suggested there might be a parasitic drain somewhere. A few days later, we were visiting them. I looked at the car and saw the door closed, but not properly latched…

Tangent, but what's the rationale for car doors requiring slams? They are the only door I know, at least in common, daily life contexts, that require slamming them with the force of Thor to properly close them.

At a guess it has something to do with needing to withstand 70+ mph winds. There needs to be considerable force holding the door against its seals at all times, and in a mechanical latching system this force must come from a spring, which must be charged with energy via a good slam.

However there are minivans with electronically operated sliding doors, which either power the latch allowing you to gently close the door, or (going further) powering the entire closing operation at a button push. I surmise the reason we see it moreso on minivans is because 1) it is particularly difficult to work up enough energy to properly latch a sliding door, due to losses from the 90-degree change in direction at the end, and 2) violently slamming the sliding doors on a minivan is very dangerous to children's fingers.

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