Corvette ED

2003 coupe and the battery goes dead in two days. Sent the car to a Chevrolet dealer for the problem. Dealer says the draw is in the dash cluster. They claim when the cluster is unplugged the draw goes away.

Has anybody ever had the problem?

Easygoing

I also had the same problem and finally found out that the lights that illuminate the door panel switches was staying on. I haven't found the cause yet, but I unplugged the bulbs in the mean time.

Corvette ED

I will check the door panel switches

Dale002

I had this issue. check this . a good place to start.

casey007

I have a similar problem and can't find the source.

Oldvetter

Here is a post that Dee Gee posted on what causes battery drain:

Identifying Battery Problems
The C5 eats batteries unless you take some regular precautions. If your battery continually dies its either the battery which is on its last legs or something on the car.

You also need to look at how you use the car. Is it a daily driver? If so the battery should be getting a good top up every day so you may have a problem.


Is it a DD but you do short trips? If so you'll be taking a lot out of the battery every time you start. For a short trip, say less than about 20 mins, you won’t top it off properly. Eventually it'll drain.

Is it a weekend car. If so, this takes a lot out of your battery. There’s a 20MA drain even dormant. If you don’t drive the car for a reasonable time every week or so, it'll kill the battery. In this case you really do need a battery tender.

You’ll know when your battery is bad. As it gets low you may get strange electrical indications (random warnings and U fault codes). As it gets lower it may drop the memory settings or defaults such as HUD settings. Eventually you’ll get the dreaded chattering relays in the footwell and eventually the lights on the IPC will disappear.

Most batteries can be recharged quite successfully, although AGMs are harder. Start by checking the charge on the battery. Don’t read the DIC when the car is off. The value you see on the DIC is alternator output when the car is running. It will always measure an inaccurately low voltage on the battery when the ignition is off and figures of 11.0V to 11.9V is normal in this case. With the engine on, the voltmeter should show between 13V and 14.5V. You need to measure voltage across the battery terminals using a digital multi meter if possible. A fully charged battery measures 12.7V and a fully discharged battery measures 11.9V. Partially discharged batteries will give a reading somewhere in between.

If the battery is low give it an overnight charge (or put it on a battery tender until you get a fully charged indication) and retest it. A true test is under load and Autozone will do that test for free.
If you have an AGM battery like the Red Top and it has been deeply discharged it's harder to recover it. This might help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIoaL3DWWEg

If you’ve recharged it and it still runs down, then you need to start looking for excessive drains. Bill Curlee posted a good method for checking:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1567522286-post590.html

There are some common faults which are well known for causing problems:

First to check is the interior lighting rotary switch on the drivers panel. It’s possible for that to be turned on as there’s a setting (fully clockwise) which bypasses the auto off function. Turn it fully counter clockwise and check after about 30 minutes (preferably in the dark) that the interior lights have gone off.

If it’s not the lights something has failed or is badly installed.

Have you fitted an after-market device which draws current? Typically it’s a cellphone charger, radar warner or a similar device that’s the problem.

If still no joy, you need to start pulling fuses to identify the problem.

The power seat switches on the side of both seats are notoriously unreliable. The switch becomes sticky with use and can stick in the “on” position. You shouldn’t damage the motors as they are thermally protected. The fuse may blow so worth checking (Fuse 36 20A in footwell).

The driver’s lumbar motor can also cause issues so check this too (mini fuse 3 15A in footwell). The seat controls connect under the seat. Pull the connector and if the drain stops that’s your problem.

Less common but not unheard of are failures of the headlight motor control module the alternator and the Bose Amplifier under the dash on the driver’s side.

DeeGee

Interesting thought that the dealer got down to pulling the IPC connector to trace a battery draw How did they pull the connector? Hopefully they haven't stripped down the dash to get there without checking the more obvious problems.

Just a thought but if it was as simple as the interior lights rotary switch, pulling the IPC connector would indeed stop the drain

I think I'd ask them a few questions to find out what other sources they checked first.

ZeeOSix

Dormant is the key word here. When doing parasitic current draw tests, it takes the computers about 20 minutes of inactivity to go to sleep.

You will see more than a 20 mA draw for the first 20 min or so, then it should drop down to 20 mA after all the computers have went to sleep. If not, then something is definitely drawing too much current. So, if you open a door or make the hood light come on, etc; it will take 20+ min for the real parasitic current draw to appear.

Corvette ED

They claim the IPC is the source of the draw.

kh400

If you can do it, remove the body control module from the vehicle and take it apart [pretty easy to do] and examine it for signs of corrosion. If you see some, brush it away with a tooth brush gently and thoroughly dry the board with a hair dryer or air dry it for twenty four hrs. May not be the problem, but it is fairly common. It fixed mine. Good luck!!!!! PS I kinda doubt the IPC is the source of your problem.