2003 Ford Escape draining batteries

sasharmand · 07-28-2008, 03:06 PM

I have '03 Escape that is have an inconsistent battery eating issue. With the basic visuals and inspections out of the way I have been trying to test battery to see if I have an excessive battery drain. With keys out, accessorries off, doors and windows closed and no under-hood light I have been doing the drain test. Negative cable off and positive still attached I have my meter with the probes attached to negative post and cable and it shows it pulling 1.10mA +- which is 1,100mA...about 600mA more than normal. Should only pull in the neighborhood of .10mA (100mA). Continually holding meter/probes in position the battery draw of this magnitude only stays for about 20 - 30 sec than scales back and stabilizes at .09 -.10mA (100mA +-). I guess my thought here is that I need some reassurance that I am doing this test right? Is the high mA draw that I am seeing for short 20 second time normal than scales off to the normal draw amount? If all seems right above than what next to find out why I am eating batteries so much. Again, there are no certain patterns, climate conditions, etc...???HELP

rgoers · 07-28-2008, 07:20 PM

There are some factors that might be at work, which could explain the higher draw for 20 seconds (i.e. interior lights time-out).

I'm confused by your numbers though... 1.10 milliamps is not a very big current draw, but 1100 is! Could you clarify? Seems you're saying the draw is 1.1 mA, then you say "which is 1100mA" (that's over 1 amp!). Which is it? Then you say it should draw .1mA (100mA). Is it .1, or 100? It's just confusing the way you wrote it...

I would assume SOME current draw, even with everything off. Some stuff still gets 12v, like the clock in your radio. Even though the display is off, it needs to be powered to keep time. Having said that, the draw from items while OFF should be minimal... a few milliamps, to possibly a hundred or so. For reference - a single LED usually draws around 20 mA. A car battery could power that LED (literally) for years without draining the battery.