Best way to conduct a parasitic draw test

[Eddie Lanham]

I know there’s an issue with keeping the doors closed , but the 04 expedition has the fuse panel in the passenger seat foot area, so it’s difficult to do without opening the door.

I’ve read you can close the door latch and it’ll trick the car into thinking the door is actually shut.

Can anyone walk me through the correct way to do this !

 

[WesT]

There is a parasitic testing tool that works pretty good...https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-64970-...ay&sprefix=parasitic,digital-music,175&sr=8-1

 

[the bus]

Check out South main Auto channel on you tube. I think he did this a few times. Sometimes it is even the alternator when the truck is shut off. Is your alternator warm to the touch? I am think you need an amp clamp to check the draw. Also the truck needs to be off for 1/2 hour before testing too. so you put the amp clamp on and then start pulling fuses is the short way to determine the circuit.

 

[1955moose]

Its real simple. Pull your negative lead off battery, hook one end of multimeter to negative terminal, the other to battery post. Set your multimeter to miliamps. Pull each fuse, observing meter, especially the bigger ones, 10 amp or larger. When get to the suspect circuit, the milliamp reading will be 4-6 times higher than the others. Theirs your culprit draw. Usually it's an after market item, like lights, stereo, alarm etc, but not always. The rear wiper motor running, or a DVD player running can be a culprit. Hope that helps, good luck with your diagnostic. Let us know what you find

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[mrbadwrench]

Link to Tacklife CM01A like the one I have.

I found a draw of .6 to .8 amp with this. It's a clamp meter and you have to zero it to cancel Earth's magnetic field when you use it.

I shut off the dome light on my 2008 by turning the wheel for the instrument lights all the way down and had both right doors open while testing without a problem.