8-10hr parasitic draw = dead battery

[k2ski3]

I am looking for some guidance on where to focus my efforts to address an electrical short that drains my new battery.

Here are my data points on my electrical short.
- once the truck is jump started, the alternator is charging the battery fast enough to restart on its own with less than 5-minutes of run time. Volt meter shows >14V while running but did occasionally drop to ~13.1V for a seconds before recovering.

- the instrument cluster back/needle lighting has a faint glow with the interior lighting control wheel turned all the way down, and clicked into the off position.

- aftermarket GPS stereo head unit was flickering between daytime illumination and nighttime illumination when lights were on, but now remains in the nightime illumination mode even with the headlights off.

- the day before the issue started, a mechanic replaced the rack & pinion, lower steering-shaft, and all tie rod ends. I can't figure out what electrical and circuits would have been impacted by the steering work accept for the TPMS.

If hanks in advance for any ideas/guidance to find the root cause!

 

[Bedrck47]

check the following link

http://www.expeditionforum.com/f16/parasitic-draw-your-battery-keeps-going-dead-24600/#post200162

 

[k2ski3]

Yes, it takes about 5-hours to drain to the point I can't get the engine to turn over.

Pulled 9 fuses to rule out the stereo, and all the circuits were fine since the battery died each attempt.

The truck still has the original windshield. From my web searches it seems that water leaks from a failed window seal is a common cause for electrical issues since it leaks down to the fuse box and causes corrosion.

Where is the best place to look for a water leak reaching the fuse box? The front of the box looks fine.

Thanks!

 

[Bedrck47]

Before we go any further in trying to troubleshoot your problem you need to answer a few questions

What year is your expy engine model etc.

When you ran the Parasitic Draw Test what was the amp draw at the start and what was the amp draw when you pulled the 9 fuses and why did you only pull 9 fuses.
And what were the fuse numbers of the fuses you pulled?

Depending on which Generation expy you have may determine if you have had a problem with a leaky windshield as there are know problems with the 1st gens more so than a second gen.

Another reason to know what year your expy is.
Is due to the many changes Ford has made from one year to another for example if you have a 1st gen you will have Two fuse boxes but in some of the 2nd gens you only have one fuse box.

Any suggestions at this point would only be guessing until you provide the above information.

 

[stamp11127]

To the up - do you understand how to perform the draw test and do you have a volt meter or dmm?

 

[k2ski3]

My amp meter is only 10A and with just pin-probes I couldn't get a good measurement on the parasitic draw.

I pulled back the carpet, and definitely have water leaking in somewhere. Looking behind the fuse box, I don't see any water stains, or marks in the wire well below, but I can see water marks closer to the flat, passenger foot area.

With +200k miles, should I just play it safe and replace the junction box and the windshield?

Thanks.

 

[Bedrck47]

Again it would be nice to know what year your expy is.

Based on your reply and saying you have water marks on the passenger side I suspect that you have a 2nd gen expy.

There are at least 40 fuses on a second Gen. that have power on them at all times so you just pulling only 9 fuses was a waste of time.

Also the second gen fuse box if fed from the battery with a single red cable.

What I would suggest is for you to disconnect the battery and then disconnect the red cable on the fuse block.
Then take your meter and have it on the 10 amp scale and check to see what the amp draw is on the battery.

And then post the results

At this point "to just play it safe" by replacing the fuse box and windshield could possibly be just a waste of your money. As neither of those could be the cause of your problem.

You need to find the cause of the power draw before just replacing parts.

When you remove the red wire from the fuse box the only power will then be going to the starter and alternator. and if you still have a high amp draw then it would be one or both of those parts or the wiring going to those parts.

Also when you remove the red wire from the fuse box make sure it is insulated so that it doesn't touch any metal/ground.

 

[k2ski3]

The truck was manufactured 04/2004 with a "L" manufacturing location, followed by the letter "B" before the serial number.

I got a second meter and tried to retest parasitic draw and I am getting a reading of 0A. After much confusion, I tested the voltage between the ground cable-end and the negative battery terminal and I am getting a full 12.2V after having the truck running for 30-minutes to charge the battery.

Any recommendations what to do in this situation besides removing the ground cable to save the battery?

 

[stamp11127]

A "full 12.2v" is 50% of full battery charge. When fully charged it will read 12.6v.

State of Charge
12.6 = 100%
12.4 = 75%
12.2 = 50%
12.0 = 25%

You will have a very small current draw - in the low milli amps for a normal system. A reading of "0 amp" is suspicious.

What is your charging voltage? It should be around 14.1v.

 

[Bedrck47]

being you are reading 0 amp draw I would suspect that the fuse is blown inside of the meter You should have had some sort of a reading