Interesting issue.

[toms89]

Well I went out to take my son to boy scouts tonight and when I pressed the unlock button on the remote nothing happened?! OK.. I use key and when I opened door I noticed no light....hmmm. So I put key into ignition and nothing...nada....zipo. OK battery is completely dead. I take him in my work van and return home to check it out.

Check battery voltage and its a whopping 3.4 volts...hmmm. Something must have been left on?? Jump start it with my van... Nothing was left on that I can find but I leave it running about 15 minutes to charge battery. When I turn it off I check for anything that could be on draining battery. No lights on but I hear something. My heating and air fan is running...key is out of ignition?!

I immediately think of the gem module/windshield leak problem due to the heavy rain we have had the past 24hrs. In addition I just had windshield replaced recently due to a crack. So I guess now I need to confirm leak when I have some daylight to work.

This is my first issue with the gem assuming that is it.

 

[GAINMOB]

alt bout to die? maybe?

 

[sgtowing]

i don't know but good luck

 

[toms89]

Im actually 90% certain its the gem module. The accessories are supposed to turn off with ignition in the off position yet my fan was still running. Since the windshield was recently replaced it all adds up to infamous windshield leak on the gem module to me. Just have to confirm and get the auto glass place back out to fix leak.

 

[GAINMOB]

good luck

 

[Thermo]

toms, first off, I know this might sound silly, but manually turn off the heat and see if the fan stops. IF the fan stops, then you have a problem with your ignition switch and it is not removing all the power that it should. If the fan does not stop, remove the blower motor relay. This will kill the power to the blower motor. If this kills the blower motor, your relay is bad, get a new relay (stuck in the ON position). If the blower motor is still running with the relay removed, you have a crossed wire in the dash and you will have to fix that wiring issue before you will be able to not kill a battery.

if you need more info, let me know.

 

[toms89]

Thermo, I did shut the fan off manually that day to take load off of battery after I shut it down. Battery charged up fine and everything was ok at the time.

Went to try and take it out following day and battery completely drained again. Jump it and run it for 25 minutes and battery took full charge. Fan still off. Turn vehicle off and battery voltage at about 12.5 volts. Normal. Pull battery terminal and there is a healthy spark, more so than usual. Mystery load somewhere?! Computer draws some power but not that much. All lights are off, including under the hood as I disconnected it.

I proceed to try and remove gem module....what a pita!! Several hours later and a million parts removed from dash I get it out. As I was removing it water started pouring out of it!!! I am now 99.9% certain that is the issue. Will attempt to clean it up and dry it out. May bake it in oven at low temps see if it will do the job.

Now I have to get glass place back out!! Dammit..never had issue until windshield was replaced!! They better get it right this time because it is one big PITA to get to GEM module.

Well...may take this opportunity to fix my odometer display in the dash.

 

[Thermo]

Tom, sounds like you found the issue. Hopefully things are just a matter of drying out the GEM and calling it good.

 

[toms89]

Update.

Between hair dryer, oven on lowest setting closely watched and just sitting it in front of pellet stove for near 24 hours I felt comfortable that the fuse block and gem module were completely dry. Reinstalled and now key off turns the accessories off. A few hours later check battery and voltage still good. Will update after a few days. Auto Glass place coming back out tommorow...plan to watch every step of the way!

While I had dash apart I pulled out instrument cluster and performed the odometer fix. It works!!! Woo Hoo!! I have to tell you I could not see any issue with the solder joint on the "problem pin" on the instrument cluster but resoldered it anyways. So far so good!

 

[rburch]

Congrats! I hope the fixes stay fixed!

 

[toms89]

Well its a week later and everything is still working well. Had the glass company back out to check for leaks. None were found but learned from speaking with him that they used a water jet to cut the lower portion of the glass seal and some may have leaked behind the dash. Its possible it took a few weeks for the issues to begin. The only other possibility I could think of is we did have a torrential down pour before all this happened and I guess it is possible some water may have somehow made it pass the door seals for the first time.

Anyways the battery seemed to have survived being completely drained and my odometer has remained visible after the odo fix.

 

[sgtowing]

congrats.

 

[Lane24]

Glad you got it figured out. We are all starting to sound like surgeons on this site lately. Lots of diagnosing, and operating. But the best part is that there is always someone to give advice or a helping link. Love this site.

 

[panda24619]

if it happens again. check your alt. mine went bad and BAM dead battery. these alternators are known to drain the batterys when they begin to die.

 

[rburch]

^+1 Im thinking mine is on the way out. Actually my whole engine and tranny is on the way out!

Glad to see it worked out for you Tom!

 

[toms89]

if it happens again. check your alt. mine went bad and BAM dead battery. these alternators are known to drain the batterys when they begin to die.

My alt is healthy! Had 14.5volts going into dead battery after jump starting. Brandy new lightning alt. But when the interior fan and who knows what else came on and ran for 24hrs while it was off...tends to kill battery.