Diagnosing battery drain from power seat
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 1,097
Likes: 191
From: Vienna VA
Diagnosing battery drain from power seat
I've recently experienced a battery drain and I'm in the process of diagnosing it. I've read a lot of information on the forum about possible causes and the method of diagnosis.
I suspect that is might be related to the power seat switch as this happened a few days after I brought my car in for the safety inspection and I know the mechanic adjusted my seat. I want to start here as the first place to check.
Anyway, my question is: Can I pull fuse #3 and fuse #4 to determine this, or do I also have to pull #35 (and #36 for passenger)? So if #3 (lumbar adjustment) and #4 (seat adjustment) are pulled does this disable all current draw from the seats?
Thanks
I suspect that is might be related to the power seat switch as this happened a few days after I brought my car in for the safety inspection and I know the mechanic adjusted my seat. I want to start here as the first place to check.
Anyway, my question is: Can I pull fuse #3 and fuse #4 to determine this, or do I also have to pull #35 (and #36 for passenger)? So if #3 (lumbar adjustment) and #4 (seat adjustment) are pulled does this disable all current draw from the seats?
Thanks
Tech Contributor
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 10,924
Likes: 78
From: Forney Texas
I've recently experienced a battery drain and I'm in the process of diagnosing it. I've read a lot of information on the forum about possible causes and the method of diagnosis.
I suspect that is might be related to the power seat switch as this happened a few days after I brought my car in for the safety inspection and I know the mechanic adjusted my seat. I want to start here as the first place to check.
Anyway, my question is: Can I pull fuse #3 and fuse #4 to determine this, or do I also have to pull #35 (and #36 for passenger)? So if #3 (lumbar adjustment) and #4 (seat adjustment) are pulled does this disable all current draw from the seats?
Thanks
I suspect that is might be related to the power seat switch as this happened a few days after I brought my car in for the safety inspection and I know the mechanic adjusted my seat. I want to start here as the first place to check.
Anyway, my question is: Can I pull fuse #3 and fuse #4 to determine this, or do I also have to pull #35 (and #36 for passenger)? So if #3 (lumbar adjustment) and #4 (seat adjustment) are pulled does this disable all current draw from the seats?
Thanks
Tech Contributor
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 41,066
Likes: 9,829
From: Charlotte, NC (formerly Endicott, NY)
Remember the BCM does power management and controls various loads from the time the ignition is turned off. Some of these loads can remain on up to 15 minutes. If these loads are on when you do your test you can get misleading results. If the BCM is in Wake State it will also draw more current than when it is in sleep state.
Bill
Bill
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,364
Likes: 1
From: Rugby North Dakota
I would recommend you disconnect the battery, put an amp meter in series between the battery and cable with the proper polarity in mind and measure the current draw. Then begin removing your fuses until you see the the current draw go away. Then you'll know which fuse is supplying the draw. Place the fuse back and then begin disconnecting individual circuits off that fuse until it again goes away. Then you'll have your problem properly isolated.
I've got to do this on my wife's Yukon, and this seems like a GREAT way to isolate the problem
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 1,097
Likes: 191
From: Vienna VA
Hope this isn't a dumb question, but please explain what you mean by " with the proper polarity in mind" - can I just disconnect say the positive battery cable, put my amp meter between the battery positive post and the batter positive cable (which remains detached from the battery) and check things this way???
I've got to do this on my wife's Yukon, and this seems like a GREAT way to isolate the problem
I've got to do this on my wife's Yukon, and this seems like a GREAT way to isolate the problem
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...979-drain.html
The multimeter is connected between the negative post and the negative terminal as in the pictures.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 1,097
Likes: 191
From: Vienna VA
Ok, thanks to the information here on the forum, I was able to diagnose the source of the battery drain. It turns out that it was not the power seat as I suspected, but it was the CD changer connection drawing the power. When I disconnected the end of the COR-HAR harness in the trunk the problem went away.
The confusing part of this is that the configuration has not changed for months. I do have an iPod connection in the trunk as well, but this has been there for over a year. Everything had been working fine until last week when the battery started dying after a few days.
I guess I'll do some more searching and see if this has happened to others.
The confusing part of this is that the configuration has not changed for months. I do have an iPod connection in the trunk as well, but this has been there for over a year. Everything had been working fine until last week when the battery started dying after a few days.
I guess I'll do some more searching and see if this has happened to others.
