96 Conture .7 amps drain

[rohrt]

I read through the sticky above and I'm trying to trouble shoot the current drain issue. I have a few questions.

1. If I leave the door open on the conture will the light shut off like the other ford I read about?
2. The neg cable has metal plate with wires crimped on it. Are these connected together someplace other then at the batery post.
3. Is .710 amps a little more then the normal CPU current? I have the ignition off and the doors shut.
4. My Fluke 79 keeps shutting off before the 30minutes are up. Whats the deal?
5. I read one post where someone took out a relay that power the items that would go into sleep mode. Can I do this on this car as well? Do I just pull the 20amp fuse to the PCM module?

Thanks

[rohrt]

update.

I was able to keep the fluke meter on by changing the decimal reading every 10 minutes. Even well after 45 minutes the current never went down from .710.

With the ignition still off and the door still shut. I started pulling fuses in the engine bay. I have a Haynes Manual. I could not figure out how to pull the #1 #2 #3 fused that has the clear plastic cover #1 is the main fuse going to the fuse box. I did pull all the rest.. No change

Anyway I then decided to tackle the interior fuse box. When I opened the door the current jumped to 1.4amps. I wanted to shut the lights off so I pulled fuse #34 This took the current down to .15

So about .6amps from the interior fuse?????

I called it quits for the night after that. Its around 5 deg in the garage. This sucks.

[ABE]

Originally Posted by rohrt

I read through the sticky above and I'm trying to trouble shoot the current drain issue. I have a few questions.

1. If I leave the door open on the conture will the light shut off like the other ford I read about?
2. The neg cable has metal plate with wires crimped on it. Are these connected together someplace other then at the batery post.
3. Is .710 amps a little more then the normal CPU current? I have the ignition off and the doors shut.
4. My Fluke 79 keeps shutting off before the 30minutes are up. Whats the deal?
5. I read one post where someone took out a relay that power the items that would go into sleep mode. Can I do this on this car as well? Do I just pull the 20amp fuse to the PCM module?

Thanks

To answer your questions:
1. You need to leave the door open because the interior lights are usually module controlled and go off automatically and you need access to the passenger compartment fuses. If you open and close the door all the lights go on and the monitoring systems wake up again in preparation for you to drive off. So leave the driver's door open for the entire procedure.

2. No, the neg terminal wires are intended to provide good grounds to particular areas of the vehicle. Primary ground will be to the engine near the starter motor, another wire will ground the body near the battery, etc.

3. Yes 0.710 is a high drain with the lights off. The PCM will take more than that when functioning, but a lot less when going to sleep.

4. My tester maintains power for 20 mins then shuts off if I have not made a physical adjustment in that time. I just power it back on, no big deal. Yours is probably similar, just press the power button occasionally to wake it up.

5. The items that go into sleep mode are the critical components on your car. These use very little power, so don't pull a fuse or relay on these. You need to find the circuit that has the problem, the one that is drawing excess current.

Hope this helps.

[ABE]

Originally Posted by rohrt

update.

A. I was able to keep the fluke meter on by changing the decimal reading every 10 minutes. Even well after 45 minutes the current never went down from .710.

B. With the ignition still off and the door still shut. I started pulling fuses in the engine bay. I have a Haynes Manual. I could not figure out how to pull the #1 #2 #3 fused that has the clear plastic cover #1 is the main fuse going to the fuse box. I did pull all the rest.. No change

C. Anyway I then decided to tackle the interior fuse box. When I opened the door the current jumped to 1.4amps. I wanted to shut the lights off so I pulled fuse #34 This took the current down to .15

D. So about .6amps from the interior fuse?????

E. I called it quits for the night after that. Its around 5 deg in the garage. This sucks.

I put letters beside your paragraphs so we can follow along:

A. So just power your fluke on when it goes off or press the power button occasionally. So 0.710A is a big draw and you need to find the problem.

B. Don't touch the power distribution box in the engine compartment without addressing the particular circuits. Do you have an owner's manual that you can identify the fuse circuits?

C. Opening the door starts the whole process over, so don't close it. The 1.4A reading is about right for all the keep alive circuits and the interior lights functioning. By pulling fuse 35 you have probably identified the problem circuit, but don't do that until the systems have gone to sleep. The 0.15A is about right for the components that are going to sleep to draw at this early time. As the components then go to sleep the draw will reduce over 30 mins or so to about 0.040A. You would have seen this if it wasn't so late and miserably cold.

D. I would say 1.25A for the fuse 34 circuit, (1.4 - 0.15) This appears to include the problem drain (0.6A or 0.7A) and the lights, but 0.625A is too small for the interior lights I think. Do you have any lights that are staying on (Hood lamp, dash glove box, etc) try taping the switches up and keeping the door open. Also, what other circuit is on fuse 34.

Hope this helps.

[rohrt]

ABE

Great response to the questions. I will going out and freezing my a$$ off tonight and provide an update.

[ABE]

I will look forward to reading your results Friday night.

[rohrt]

Sorry it took so long. I think the issue was the trunk light was not shutting off. I wonder if the light has a timed shut off like the interior?

[ABE]

I would have thought the trunk light would shut off with the other interior lights. Also hard to believe that one or two lights in the trunk would account for 0.6A drain. So with the bulbs removed from trunk light holders the drain is down to 0.040A or lower and with the bulbs in place the drain is about 0.6A?