Hey all, looking for some hopefully quick advice. Yesterday I swapped my driver's door in my '93 with a donor door that was included with the car. Something I didn't realize until I was doing the swap was that the original door had an antenna for the PKE and the donor didn't. I haven't swapped over the antenna yet because I can't access the upper rivets to drill them out without removing the glass, so I left the connector unplugged but tied down (to stay out of the way of the window) in the new door. I hadn't had any issues with the battery draining in this car yet, and when I left it yesterday it was nearly at a full charge. Cut to this afternoon when I put my key in and there was almost nothing. So little voltage it wouldn't even light the odometer, just barely try to light some of the lights within the Driver Information Center. I did hear a strange clicking though, as soon as I opened the door, even with the key out. It seemed to be coming from approximately where the PKE module is behind the dash. To try and test my hypothesis (that the PKE module was freaking out without that sensor plugged in and killed my battery) I started pulling fuses until the clicking stopped, and that's what's confusing me. The PKE Fuse didn't stop it like I had expected, but the CCM 2 fuse did. CCM 1 and CCM 3 made no difference, only 2. It's my understanding that the CCM is akin to a BCM in most vehicles, and also has something to do with the VATS, which the PKE also would have to interface with, right? So is the lack of that antenna throwing off the whole VATS system because the PKE module is telling VATS that something's messed up? I was planning on pulling the glass out of both doors to swap and to be able to get that antenna, but I'm not even sure now if that's the issue, it's just the only thing I can think of that might make sense. For those who also have PKE equipped cars, does it drain your battery over time all the time as it searches for a signal? Obviously mine is an extreme case and not normal operation, but if it's something that will drain even a little over time I may just delete the whole system if that's an option. I don't have a fob for the car, and didn't even know about PKE until I saw the antenna and then looked at the RPO codes, then found out it was standard from '93 and on. Point is, I was never really planning on using the system anyway, so is it easy enough to just disable without it screwing with the VATS? Thank you all in advance
-Zach (Buldg7)

 

My 40th anniversary coupe has a pke system. I have 2 key fobs. My car sits for months at a time and doesn't kill the battery. I don't see any reason the pke system would kill the battery with or without the antenna from that door.
As far as getting rid of the whole system, all you have to do for that is pull the fuse.
As for your relays firing and stopping only when you pull the ccm2 fuse, that sounds like it's unrelated to the pke, but the source of your parasitic drain.

 

You messed up something, probably shorted a wire, causing an issue with the CCM and draining the battery. I suppose it's possible that the PKE is constantly asking for status that the CCM can't provide due to the short, and by disabling the CCM, it stops requesting status.

As mentioned, you can pull the PKE fuse to see if it works as a bandaid fix, though I would rather check the wires for a short to fix the actual problem.

Also, not to be the grammar police, but adding some paragraphs to your post would make it easier for others to follow your question.

 

Sorry, I meant to add an update but got sidetracked and completely forgot I started this thread.

I found the issue, and it wasn't PKE or CCM related at all. It's simply that I'm an idiot lol. I'll explain:

When I swapped over the door I checked that everything on it functioned properly, and everything checked out. The first time anyway. It turns out the door ajar switch on the donor door only worked intermittently, and happened to work when I was verifying all functions. When I left the car though, it was still light out and I didn't realize the dome lights were stuck on because lol and behold, that switch was telling the car the door was still open.

So in summary, the battery got drained with the interior lights stuck on, and with battery voltage down to about 5V the CCM was freaking out causing the clicking I was hearing and confused by. A fresh battery and swapping the door ajar switch from the old door and no more 5A parasitic drain, no more weird clicking, and no more issues.

I am still going to swap the glass between the doors and swap over the PKE antenna just for good measure while I'm able, but the issue I started this thread for is fixed. Thank you to those who replied and offered their insight.