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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

#341

Post by malandrew »

o10449366 wrote: post #324
adversaryIdiot wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Lol. This sounds like my house. My spouse and my nephew (who lives with us) cannot for the life of them ever close any kitchen cabinet doors. They both always leave them ajar, never leaving them fully opening but never fully closing them. It drives me nuts.

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

#342

Post by wpietri »

smackeyacky wrote: post #336
jopsen wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

There are companies around that offer VIN re-coding by mail order if you need to swap one of the computers, but you'd have to be in a fairly big metro area to profitably run a company just doing electronic trouble shooting. It's easier just to "fire the parts cannon" after the usual suspects (dead sensors, shorted wiring) have been accounted for. Having had a 2006 model car in my workshop forever rebuilding the engin…

> fire the parts cannon

I love this phrase, and it reminds me that the behavior exists in the computer world too. From the Jargon File:

field circus: [a derogatory pun on `field service'] n. The field service organization of any hardware manufacturer, but especially DEC. There is an entire genre of jokes about DEC field circus engineers:

Q: How can you recognize a DEC field circus engineer with a flat tire?

A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.

Q: How can you recognize a DEC field circus engineer who is out of gas?

A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.

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

#344

Post by tvarghese7 »

nuancebydefault wrote: post #99

Once you find the fuse that passes the highest current, why not just place a switch button in series with it? Turn it off when exiting the car. Add an LED to show when it is on.

It was not all that easy to get to and not all that easy to mount a switch securely near by. May be I just lacked imagination.

The real reason and the part I skipped was the leakage current was getting worse over time. By the time I replaced the MICU it was close to 2A draw. It was just a matter of time before it died.

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

#345

Post by tvarghese7 »

localhost wrote: post #34

While not a fix for this problem, a nice form of insurance is a Lithium Ion jump start battery[1]. I'm amazed that a hand-held battery can discharge fast enough to jump start my car, but ... it works great. [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B55RFM1Z

Yeah she had one of these too.

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

#346

Post by coding123 »

malandrew wrote: post #341
o10449366 wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Lol. This sounds like my house. My spouse and my nephew (who lives with us) cannot for the life of them ever close any kitchen cabinet doors. They both always leave them ajar, never leaving them fully opening but never fully closing them. It drives me nuts.

Do the cabinets have those magnets or latches that have an annoying sound? Some people avoid the "hit" and leave them slightly ajar.

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

#347

Post by PebblesRox »

dTal wrote: post #310
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.

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 doo…

Plus they're often used by kids who might not have the body weight to give a good slam.

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

#348

Post by btach »

o10449366 wrote: post #324
adversaryIdiot wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Are you me from a parallel universe? My wife does this, bless her heart.

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

#349

Post by rootsudo »

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…

Heh, I also have an NC2 Miata, and I don't drive it for 3-6 month periods, and it still starts on the first/second engine spin.

If the battery is over 3 years old, I would replace it and start anew simply because of the life/abuse it'd had so far.

And then I'd start at the obvious ones - radio, aftermarket radio, alarm, etc. You can literally put a multimeter along the fusebox to see what is pulling voltage after - but most likely it will be something along 12V connected switch.

Wiring isn't problematic, but if you have a hitch installed it may be wired to always be on.

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