[s-cars] Current drain - I need more help!

[Fred Munro]

Hi Jack;

I had the same problem on my UrS4 - I've attached a post describing the fix
for my car. From your write-up it sounds like you might have pulled the A1
circuit breaker but it's worth a re-check.

HTH

Fred Munro

<<Attachment>>

Thanks to Tom, Igor, Teddy, Calvin, and Dave for responding to my current
drain question and confirming that the drain was indeed too high.

A bit of work with a digital ammeter isolated the problem to the automatic
window closure circuit. Pulling the A1 breaker in the under-hood relay box
dropped the drain to below 10 mA.

This circuit is designed to close windows or the sunroof if they are open
when the car is locked. This feature has never worked on my car. The circuit
has it's own relay under the driver's side A-pillar kick panel. The power
supply side is "fused" with a 30 amp breaker in the A1 position in the
underhood relay box. The relay is triggered by a white/yellow wire from the
power window control module.

This is apparently a relatively common source of a battery drain problem -
it is written up on Scott Mockry's website and the recommended fix is to cut
the yellow/white wire.

Removing the A1 breaker fixed my problem - this disables the auto close
circuit and leaves the power windows operational. From this I assume my
relay is either fused closed or is indeed being activated by the control
module (via the yellow/white wire) and the power drain is in the circuit
itself somewhere.

The car now has a 100 mA drain for 30 seconds after the alarm is set, then
it drops off to 10 mA with a spike to 20 mA every 5 seconds.

A substantial improvement from 280 mA.

When I get some time (ha!) I'll pull the relay to check it out.

Fred Munro
'94 S4
-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of The Gagnons
Sent: November 7, 2004 4:13 PM
To: S-Car-List
Subject: RE: [s-cars] Current drain - I need more help!



I have tried pulling all the fuses and all the relays Under the hood and in
the drivers footwell and still have a 270 milliamp draw.  I even unplugged
the alarm harness and there is still a draw.  How can I find the culprit.
Are there any more relays/fuses?

Thanks

Jack



> -----Original Message-----
> From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
> [mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of The Gagnons
> Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 6:30 PM
> To: S-Car-List
> Subject: [s-cars] Current drain
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I am having a problem with my battery draining while the car is
> sitting.  I
> have used an amp meter to measure the current.  With no dome lights or
> accessories to simulate the car at rest, I measured 0.27 amps or 270
> milliamps.
>
> This seems like too much.  What is an acceptable value?
>
>
>
> I thinkaround 70-80 is normal.  This appears to be 200 milliamps too much
> draw.  What is there that could draw this much?
>
>
>
> I pulled the trunk light and saw no drop in the current draw.
>
> I pulled each fuse from the inside of the drivers side fuse box one at a
> time and saw no drop in the current draw.
>
> I pulled each relay on the relay panel behind the drivers side kick plate
> and saw no drop in current draw.
>
> I pulled each relay from the relay panel under the hood on the
> drivers side
> with no drop in the current draw.
>
> There are a bunch of fused wires coming off the battery terminal that lead
> to an aftermarket Clifford alarm system.  I pulled each fuse and saw a 50
> milliamp drop on one of them.  The one that caused the drop also disabled
> the car alarm.
>
> Where else should I look?
>
>
>
> Are there more relays to check? There must be more!
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Jack
>
>
>
>
>
>
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