Small parasitic draw draining battery Topic is solved

[Sveedy]

I seem to have a small parasitic draw occurring on the V70.
It wouldn't start the other morning, so I checked the voltage - 11.5v. I put a charger on it for a few hours and the battery then showed 13v.
This morning I checked it again and it was 12.5v, so I'm losing a little bit with it just sitting overnight.

I read that I can insert a multi gauge inline set to ohms, and check it that way as well, so I'm wondering if at that point I can start removing fuses till I see a change in the reading and narrow down what circuit has the problem.

Any other ideas on how to find the problem ? ( and no, it's not the glove box light )

[erikv11]

You've got it right, except you want the multimeter on DC amps, not on ohms. Remove positive cable and pt the meter between the battery and the removed cable end. Resting draw should be like 50 milliamps. Pull fuses one at a time.

Dozens of good tutorials and videos about this do a quick search if you want more details. Definitely lots posts about it here at MVS.

It could just be a failed/failing battery that doesn't hold charge, but testing for draw is a good idea.

[Sveedy]

It appears to be the overhead courtesy light console. The center toggle switch never functioned correctly, and I switched its position a few times when cleaning things a week or so ago. I had a problem with the same switch on the 850 a few years ago, but it never killed the battery in that case.
So it looks like a trip to the junkyard is in my near future.

[erikv11]

Just curious, how many amps was the draw, do you remember?

[Sveedy]

I think it was up to .32. When I pulled the fuse for the courtesy lights it dropped down to .03. But then the key chime wouldn't stop chiming even with the car running, so I had to pull that fuse as well.
I should mention that the key chime problem occurred when I removed the courtesy light console trying to solve the issue.

[abscate]

0.030 amps is ok, 0.32 amps is too much.

Be careful making these measurements. If you pull 5 amps through most multimeters you will burn them out, so make sure all the lights are off.

I have canbus cars so you have to be a bit more careful making this measurement. A clamp one lead to the battery vlamp, the stick the point of the other into the top of the post. Now I lift the clamp to break the connection of clamp and post and Route current through the meter. On a canbus car 1998/99- , when you first touch the battery post modules talk to each other so current draw goes up

[Sveedy]

I happened to do it the way you described. My thought was maybe I wouldn't have to reset my radio etc, but no such luck.
I put the upper console back in place, and noticed that the key chime will still malfunction if I have the courtesy light fuse (#15) removed.
So until I source a console, I'll just do without the inside lights and the key chime.

[Chieber]

I’ve got a draw too and need to check it out when time permits.

On which amp range did you set the multimeter?
I need to get some alligator clamps as well so I can leave it clamped and pull the fuses.

[Sveedy]

I used this video as reference since I have the same multimeter.