Battery drain
08-12-2022, 02:01 PM
#1
Battery drain
Hi all,
I'm having an electrical problem with my 2008 5.4. I was on a 2 hour drive a couple days ago, and suddenly my gauges all stopped working, the whole dash except for the turn signals, the climate control stopped working and the windows wouldn't roll down, but the truck ran fine otherwise, so I kept driving. Every once in a while the climate control would kick on for a minute or so, and the air coming out smelled a little funny. After about 45 minutes everything came back on and worked for the rest of the trip. I made it home and parked the truck. In the morning, the battery was dead. I put a charger on the battery, and came back a couple hours later to an error message on the charger saying the battery was unable to reach the full charge voltage. I disconnected the battery from the truck and put the charger on, and the battery took a charge. Now whenever I leave the battery hooked up to the truck, the battery drains. I'm not sure where to begin looking for a battery drain, I was hoping someone might have some ideas. Thanks!
Tim
I'm having an electrical problem with my 2008 5.4. I was on a 2 hour drive a couple days ago, and suddenly my gauges all stopped working, the whole dash except for the turn signals, the climate control stopped working and the windows wouldn't roll down, but the truck ran fine otherwise, so I kept driving. Every once in a while the climate control would kick on for a minute or so, and the air coming out smelled a little funny. After about 45 minutes everything came back on and worked for the rest of the trip. I made it home and parked the truck. In the morning, the battery was dead. I put a charger on the battery, and came back a couple hours later to an error message on the charger saying the battery was unable to reach the full charge voltage. I disconnected the battery from the truck and put the charger on, and the battery took a charge. Now whenever I leave the battery hooked up to the truck, the battery drains. I'm not sure where to begin looking for a battery drain, I was hoping someone might have some ideas. Thanks!
Tim
08-12-2022, 02:43 PM
#2
Hi all,
I'm having an electrical problem with my 2008 5.4. I was on a 2 hour drive a couple days ago, and suddenly my gauges all stopped working, the whole dash except for the turn signals, the climate control stopped working and the windows wouldn't roll down, but the truck ran fine otherwise, so I kept driving. Every once in a while the climate control would kick on for a minute or so, and the air coming out smelled a little funny. After about 45 minutes everything came back on and worked for the rest of the trip. I made it home and parked the truck. In the morning, the battery was dead. I put a charger on the battery, and came back a couple hours later to an error message on the charger saying the battery was unable to reach the full charge voltage. I disconnected the battery from the truck and put the charger on, and the battery took a charge. Now whenever I leave the battery hooked up to the truck, the battery drains. I'm not sure where to begin looking for a battery drain, I was hoping someone might have some ideas. Thanks!
Tim
I'm having an electrical problem with my 2008 5.4. I was on a 2 hour drive a couple days ago, and suddenly my gauges all stopped working, the whole dash except for the turn signals, the climate control stopped working and the windows wouldn't roll down, but the truck ran fine otherwise, so I kept driving. Every once in a while the climate control would kick on for a minute or so, and the air coming out smelled a little funny. After about 45 minutes everything came back on and worked for the rest of the trip. I made it home and parked the truck. In the morning, the battery was dead. I put a charger on the battery, and came back a couple hours later to an error message on the charger saying the battery was unable to reach the full charge voltage. I disconnected the battery from the truck and put the charger on, and the battery took a charge. Now whenever I leave the battery hooked up to the truck, the battery drains. I'm not sure where to begin looking for a battery drain, I was hoping someone might have some ideas. Thanks!
Tim
then inspect, clean and tighten all cables/connections. Looks for rotted out cables and worn out terminals.
id also check/clean/tighten all your grounds when doing above.
then get battery and alternator professionally tested (typically free at good auto parts store). Get codes read too.
post back with findings.
08-12-2022, 05:10 PM
#3
I have a similar problem with my Lincoln MKZ 4.0. Once every two months or so, something will stay "on" after the car shuts down, draining the battery overnight. Need to disconnect the battery to recharge, but then everything is fine until the next episode.
I've picked up a DC clamp current meter so I can track the offending circuit. Last time, it was drawing about 2 amps after at least 12 hrs of being off. I was able to track the current draw to the driver's side fuse box, but couldn't track it down by that time since the battery had run down too low. My plan was to pull fuses until the draw stopped. I'll get it sooner or later. Hope you do too.
I've picked up a DC clamp current meter so I can track the offending circuit. Last time, it was drawing about 2 amps after at least 12 hrs of being off. I was able to track the current draw to the driver's side fuse box, but couldn't track it down by that time since the battery had run down too low. My plan was to pull fuses until the draw stopped. I'll get it sooner or later. Hope you do too.
08-28-2022, 06:30 PM
#5
Thanks for the tips everyone. Jimboy, thanks for the video. I had a spare alternator, so I swapped it out. I haven't had a problem with the dashboard since, and the battery was staying charged for about 8 days, then the next morning it was dead. I tried doing an amperage draw test on the battery, but whatever is drawing seems to be doing it intermittently, which makes it more difficult to diagnose. So I've just been disconnecting the battery at the end of the day so that I don't need to jump it in the morning. Another thing started happening, the idle is pretty low, but not always. And it stalled a couple of times at stop signs today. Not sure if this is related or not, but hoping it's a clue to what's going on. Thanks again for any ideas.
08-28-2022, 08:46 PM
#6
id start by fully charging battery,
then inspect, clean and tighten all cables/connections. Looks for rotted out cables and worn out terminals.
id also check/clean/tighten all your grounds when doing above.
then get battery and alternator professionally tested (typically free at good auto parts store). Get codes read too.
post back with findings.
then inspect, clean and tighten all cables/connections. Looks for rotted out cables and worn out terminals.
id also check/clean/tighten all your grounds when doing above.
then get battery and alternator professionally tested (typically free at good auto parts store). Get codes read too.
post back with findings.
