Battery draining on 2003 3.0i
- Thread starter CHIMV8
- Start date
captain caveman
Member
Take the bulb out of the centre cubby hole infact i,l take the boot glovebox and any other ones like that. If it fixes the problem put them back in one at a time. Worked for me.
Something is drawing juice somehow. I looked into this for mine too as I have a parasitic drain too, but mines an old battery too (but not that old!) so something is drawing the current but by the sounds of it not as quick as yours! Take a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF1gijj03_0 I'm prob going to go down this route myself (over xmas when everything is nice and quiet) 
Yeh, centre cubby hole is a good one to check as the switch actuator can break off. Put your mobile in there doing a video to check! Also, not locking the car actually takes more drain from the battery as it doesn't go into full 'sleep' mode with doors unlocked.
Buy one of these which you can simply clamp around one of the battery wires to check current. It should be less than 0.1A when car is asleep..... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Multimeter-Tacklife-Auto-ranging-Continuity-Capacitance/dp/B01N014CTB/ref=pd_sbs_328_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=P4ZT794ZEEJEHQG793MJ&tag=z4fo-21
Buy one of these which you can simply clamp around one of the battery wires to check current. It should be less than 0.1A when car is asleep..... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Multimeter-Tacklife-Auto-ranging-Continuity-Capacitance/dp/B01N014CTB/ref=pd_sbs_328_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=P4ZT794ZEEJEHQG793MJ&tag=z4fo-21
ph001 said:
In the question and answer section on Amazon one guy reckons the minimum DC reading is 1A and another reckons 700mA which won't be sensitive enough to be useful for measuring parasitic drain if true. For a more accurate reading using a conventional meter in series with the battery lead will be more accurate.
True but anything killing your battery in a couple of days will be more than 1A anyway. Most people are not comfortable with disconnecting battery leads and putting a meter in series. Also, you have the added inconvenience of it blowing the meter fuse when you do something like lock the doors when it takes a pulse current of 20A
Indeed but the OP said it drained over 1-2 weeks and if the drain was say 0.5 A the meter clamp meter may not read it but it would be enough to give the same symptoms. I'd rather know what the actual current drain is. I admit I use my old Avo for such tasks as it can take surges. I use my digital meter for less heavy duty tasks.
If you cut off the battery you would have no alarm and have to reset the clock and windows etc. Better to isolate the adapter even temporarily to see if it is your issue.