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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

#321

Post by bunabhucan »

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.

Look around the door the next time you open it. You are compressing a rubber gasket that keeps out noise/water etc. out.

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

#322

Post by qiqitori »

jopsen wrote: post #219
nickff wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with specializing in these issues is that most customers will be dissatisfied when you charge them thousands of dollars to reset a minor module on their car. How many hours of shop time are you willing to pay for with no guarantee of a solution, and very few (if any) parts replaced?

> How many hours of shop time are you willing to pay for with no guarantee of a solution, and very few (if any) parts replaced? Imagine opening a computer software support business where you bring in your old proprietary binary programs that you got from who knows where, and the business is to fix bugs you've found. Maybe some really big enterprises would pay for that sort of thing. But I doubt it would be feasible f…

I've toyed with that kind of thought. The technical part seems fun, finding customers (especially the first customers) seems difficult :p I'd really like to work at such a company though.

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

#323

Post by waych »

gsich wrote: post #301
tempestn wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

But this is usually done on computers with a battery too?

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

#324

Post by o10449366 »

adversaryIdiot wrote: post #254
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…

Thats insane... To consistently not close the door like that

My wife, bless her heart, leaves everything partially open. Not even just open, but she'll screw the lid on jars just enough where if I pick it up by the top they'll drop. It drives me crazy.

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

#325

Post by dd36 »

overthrow wrote: post #3

Well this is timely. I have a parasitic draw on my NC Miata. The first mechanic just replaced the battery. The second told me it's normal for the battery to die if you don't drive it for 3 days (because "cars have computers now"). It seems like mechanics really don't like digging into the electrical part of the car... but these days that encompasses more and more of what can go wrong. Without time to dig into it myse…

I solved one recently. Really wish there was a simple time logging multimeter that you could leave plugged in 24 hours.

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

#326

Post by fbellag »

noizejoy wrote: post #305
Dalewyn wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My last two (severely low end) cars had a function that opened slightly one window when there was just one door open,for this reason... To allow the last door to close without excessive force.

On one of the cars it wasnt enabled from factory, but I asked the dealership and they enabled it at no cost.

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

#327

Post by 1letterunixname »

My VW van has a parasitic drain because it's a VW with shitty wiring.

The starter positive wire runs 4 m / 12 ft from the back to behind the passenger seat.

I had to completely redo the dash wiring because the entire thing was a corroded flex "PCB" like the inside of an Apple II or an Atari 2600.

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

#328

Post by tempestn »

gsich wrote: post #301
tempestn wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, there are lots of ways cars could store such settings that wouldn't be cleared when main battery power is disconnected (which is something that regularly needs to be done when the car is serviced). Flash storage would work too.

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

#329

Post by gonehome »

jimnotgym wrote: post #264
gonehome wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re going to have to deal with it might as well get a tesla which is at least all in on the electronics and the company understands software. The dealership model has really been awful for legacy manufacturers.

Good luck in 5 more years when Tesla decide that your car is now unsupported. I wonder if the Tesla mechanics are measurably better than the franchise dealers? I doubt it. I bet they have fancy testers, but when the tester is not showing 100% the right answer I doubt they are any use at all.

I've had mine (Model 3) for about 5 years now, so far they updated the hardware for free and it's gotten way better software for free over the air. It's a much better car now then when I bought it (so at least so far, the opposite of what you suspect is true).

Service has also been way better for me than when I had cars serviced by franchised dealers, but that may be because I'm in SF. I had an issue and two days later a mobile Tesla service car came to my house and fixed it in my driveway for free.

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

#330

Post by lastLinkedList »

jimnotgym wrote: post #264
gonehome wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re going to have to deal with it might as well get a tesla which is at least all in on the electronics and the company understands software. The dealership model has really been awful for legacy manufacturers.

Good luck in 5 more years when Tesla decide that your car is now unsupported. I wonder if the Tesla mechanics are measurably better than the franchise dealers? I doubt it. I bet they have fancy testers, but when the tester is not showing 100% the right answer I doubt they are any use at all.

Are they doing that with old model teslas?
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