something is draining the battery, please help!
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Update
After my last post I didn't mess with the truck as I grew busy with Christmas around the corner. This evening I was home early from work and thought I would check and see how bad the battery had been drained from sitting for over a week. To my surprise the truck fired right up without any hesitation or sign of a weak battery. The only thing I've done to the truck since failing at finding a fuse that cut the draw from the battery was leave the battery on an overnight tender, but that was probably more than a week ago. I did disconnect the battery for several minutes the last time I messed with the fuses (again, over a week ago).
I am taking a wild stab in the dark here, but I'm thinking the disruption in power has tripped/reset/disengaged whatever source that was drawing power while the truck was turned off.
Unfortunately, I have not located my issue and I'm sure this will arise again in the future. Over the 6 that I've owned this truck, the battery has elusively died a few rare times, but it always took a jump and went back to normal operation. I always attributed it to a dome light being left on or the radio being on for too long without the engine running. To me, this means I've had this issue for years, but not until recently was it becoming a repeat situation.
Next steps will be testing the amps with the truck running to see if maybe my alternator is spotty.
I am taking a wild stab in the dark here, but I'm thinking the disruption in power has tripped/reset/disengaged whatever source that was drawing power while the truck was turned off.
Unfortunately, I have not located my issue and I'm sure this will arise again in the future. Over the 6 that I've owned this truck, the battery has elusively died a few rare times, but it always took a jump and went back to normal operation. I always attributed it to a dome light being left on or the radio being on for too long without the engine running. To me, this means I've had this issue for years, but not until recently was it becoming a repeat situation.
Next steps will be testing the amps with the truck running to see if maybe my alternator is spotty.
Member
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 57
Likes: 2
I had an elusive battery drain problem that I couldn't seem to find the offending circuit, using the previously outlined method.(measuring amp draw at battery,removing fuses)
I must have read hundreds of threads on numerous sites. One piece of advice was to check all the grounding locations, and clean each one for a good connection. A poor ground can cause the computer to be "awakened" each time the ground is interrupted, keeping it from "sleep" and draining your battery. On my rig it was the ground strap on the passenger side floorboard area going to the fram. I have a 6" lift, and it required a bracket to mount the ground strap to the frame. This was corroded, causing a bad connection. I cleaned it up, along with all the others, and it seems to have solved my issue. Once summer hit here again, I'm gonna upgrade all the ground/supply wires, with the big three upgrade.
Check it out,
I must have read hundreds of threads on numerous sites. One piece of advice was to check all the grounding locations, and clean each one for a good connection. A poor ground can cause the computer to be "awakened" each time the ground is interrupted, keeping it from "sleep" and draining your battery. On my rig it was the ground strap on the passenger side floorboard area going to the fram. I have a 6" lift, and it required a bracket to mount the ground strap to the frame. This was corroded, causing a bad connection. I cleaned it up, along with all the others, and it seems to have solved my issue. Once summer hit here again, I'm gonna upgrade all the ground/supply wires, with the big three upgrade.
Check it out,