Electrical Problem Parasitic Draw
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 10,036
Likes: 346
From: Anaheim CA
The most common causes of parasitic draws are motors that don't shut off after they have done their thing. I think the seat motors are the most common problem, but there are also the antenna motor and headlight motors.
Racer
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 427
Likes: 124
check all interior lights - especially vanity mirrors. disconnect the positive battery terminal and put your voltmeter in series. pull one fuse at a time until you find the circuit that causes the most drop. usually under 200 milliamps is okay.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 25,383
Likes: 2,736
If you do any of your own maintenance you might consider picking a few tutorials on the subject, compare them in regards to procedure and equipment used, pick one that your comfortable with and do it yourself until at least you've run into a problem.
Patience is certainly a requirement.
If the car is garaged you might leave the window down and with key in your pocket walk around the car at night and in an unlit garage looking in the window, under the rear bumper and listen. That costs nothing!
I've a friend that with a 25 year old GM car would measure the draw and his next move would be to remove all of the fuses and circuit breakers, check the condition of the fuse box and check again with the fuses and circuit breakers removed.
You do need to confirm first of all that the battery and charging system are working properly.
