Parasitic draw in my Fiesta

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01-31-2021, 07:02 AM
16hypen3sp

Parasitic draw in my Fiesta

Funny this thread was bumped... I just got rid of a Motomaster battery from Canadian Tire.

There is a parasitic draw from something in my Fiesta. Have a hunch it's the remote start.

Feb. 2020, the car was parked at EIA. I return after a week and it's minus 30 out. Car has zero power. Battery was frozen solid. I said fuck it and got the car boosted and off I went. Got home and pulled the battery. Thawed it out in my basement. Of course it was fucked but it managed to get me through the summer without issue.

I have been using an RV battery as "insurance" to boost it if required again and that became the case this past week. Got back to my car at EIA, she's froze again. I boosted it and got it home. Pulled the battery and took it to Battery Doctors in Red Deer. Told them the story, they gave me a new battery, can't remember the brand. I threw that in and then pulled the power to the remote start inside the cab. Tested it with a multimeter and there is 9mV being drawn for the remote start it seems. Not sure if that's enough over the course of a week to kill the battery enough that she won't crank.

Going to test it this week and see how she handles the cold.
01-31-2021, 08:18 AM
ExtraSlow

where you park at the airport is there a plug-in for blockheaters? A small battery tender would probably save the battery when you are parking for 1 week, and a fully charged battery doesn't freeze.

There's lots of vehicles these days that will be dead after 1 week, sadly.
01-31-2021, 09:54 AM
ianmcc

Quote:

Originally Posted by 16hypen3sp

Funny this thread was bumped... I just got rid of a Motomaster battery from Canadian Tire.

There is a parasitic draw from something in my Fiesta. Have a hunch it's the remote start.

Feb. 2020, the car was parked at EIA. I return after a week and it's minus 30 out. Car has zero power. Battery was frozen solid. I said fuck it and got the car boosted and off I went. Got home and pulled the battery. Thawed it out in my basement. Of course it was fucked but it managed to get me through the summer without issue.

I have been using an RV battery as "insurance" to boost it if required again and that became the case this past week. Got back to my car at EIA, she's froze again. I boosted it and got it home. Pulled the battery and took it to Battery Doctors in Red Deer. Told them the story, they gave me a new battery, can't remember the brand. I threw that in and then pulled the power to the remote start inside the cab. Tested it with a multimeter and there is 9mV being drawn for the remote start it seems. Not sure if that's enough over the course of a week to kill the battery enough that she won't crank.

Going to test it this week and see how she handles the cold.

Have you checked out the main ground point?
My sister has a 2014 Fiesta SES and thought she had a parasitic draw killing her battery. Required boosting several times and worse when sitting outside in the cold.
Alternator was only putting out 12.7V at idle and that is with nothing on.
Cleaned the ground point as seen in the video below and it started charging 14.1V at idle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsQmnUZXGH0
01-31-2021, 10:13 AM
ExtraSlow

Yeah, checking out your ground connection can be beneficial on any older vehicle.
02-01-2021, 03:50 PM
16hypen3sp

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExtraSlow

where you park at the airport is there a plug-in for blockheaters? A small battery tender would probably save the battery when you are parking for 1 week, and a fully charged battery doesn't freeze.

There's lots of vehicles these days that will be dead after 1 week, sadly.

I wish there were outlets there. Fuckers are too cheap to put them in... but they have no problem increasing the parking costs every 6 months.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ianmcc

Have you checked out the main ground point?
My sister has a 2014 Fiesta SES and thought she had a parasitic draw killing her battery. Required boosting several times and worse when sitting outside in the cold.
Alternator was only putting out 12.7V at idle and that is with nothing on.
Cleaned the ground point as seen in the video below and it started charging 14.1V at idle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsQmnUZXGH0

The part of the frame where the grounding wire fastens to is a known issue with these Fords. They painted it for some reason too. However, it isn't the culprit in this case. The Eliminator battery was always receiving a 14.1v charge with the car running. I did take the opportunity to make the grounding point better tho.

Anyway, car gets parked for a week starting tomorrow. I'll see what happens when I get back.
02-01-2021, 04:34 PM
ExtraSlow

you ever consider one of those small solar panels that plugs into your cigarette lighter?
02-01-2021, 06:41 PM
e31

Turn off easy-mode; Beyond or Youtube videos won't solve your problem for you.

Step 1: Get a Multimeter and set it to Amp mode
Step 2: Remove the ground from your battery and connect the multimeter in between. Measure how big of an electrical draw you see.
Step 3: Start removing fuses one at a time, see if draw goes away/reduces, then re-insert fuse. Either you find the fuse with the draw, or maybe you have another fuse somewhere hidden in your vehicle harness.
02-01-2021, 09:25 PM
Misterman

Quote:

Originally Posted by e31

Turn off easy-mode; Beyond or Youtube videos won't solve your problem for you.

Step 1: Get a Multimeter and set it to Amp mode
Step 2: Remove the ground from your battery and connect the multimeter in between. Measure how big of an electrical draw you see.
Step 3: Start removing fuses one at a time, see if draw goes away/reduces, then re-insert fuse. Either you find the fuse with the draw, or maybe you have another fuse somewhere hidden in your vehicle harness.

^^ This!! Every forum or page I'm on that's automotive related, people ask these random questions about what a potential source of parasitic draw is. You can throw shit at a wall all day and hope to get lucky, but if you just do a proper draw test like this you should find your issue much more precisely. It's like 25$ for a cheap multimeter at Crappy Tire.
02-01-2021, 09:50 PM
ianmcc

Well from the first post it sounds like the op did a draw test but mistook 9mV for 9mA which is acceptable and certainly not enough to kill a battery.
02-02-2021, 07:56 AM
ThePenIsMightier

1 Attachment(s)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExtraSlow

you ever consider one of those small solar panels that plugs into your cigarette lighter?

There are many things you can plug into a cigarette lighter, nowadays.
Attachment 97223
02-02-2021, 08:09 AM
killramos

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExtraSlow

you ever consider one of those small solar panels that plugs into your cigarette lighter?

Do those still work? Aren’t most cig lighter outlets disabled when the car turns off these days?
02-02-2021, 08:35 AM
16hypen3sp

Quote:

Originally Posted by e31

Turn off easy-mode; Beyond or Youtube videos won't solve your problem for you.

Step 1: Get a Multimeter and set it to Amp mode
Step 2: Remove the ground from your battery and connect the multimeter in between. Measure how big of an electrical draw you see.
Step 3: Start removing fuses one at a time, see if draw goes away/reduces, then re-insert fuse. Either you find the fuse with the draw, or maybe you have another fuse somewhere hidden in your vehicle harness.

10-4. I already have the meter. Will do this first thing. Thanks.
02-02-2021, 10:30 AM
ShermanEF9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xFo_oHFF48

This might help.
02-02-2021, 10:47 AM
16hypen3sp

Ok so I disconnected the negative and hooked up my multimeter, switched to Amps and let the modules do their thing and settle... lo and behold, 0.115A steady. I looked at the diagram and sought out the main fuse for the interior fuse box (currently working on the engine bay fuse box). There are two interior fuses on this car. The first one I pulled did nothing, but the second one dropped the draw down to 0.080A. So I need to begin pulling those fuses inside but the weather is super shitty right now, will continue when the snow stops.
02-02-2021, 10:56 AM
ShermanEF9

The problem with newer vehicles is you have to wait for modules to fall asleep. Just because that fuse showed a drop doesn't mean thats where the problem child circuit is. Theres a very specific way to check for draws in new vehicles as some modules stay awake for a while.

Just another two cents, the Alternator seems to be a culprit quite often in the newer fords, specifically the onboard voltage regulator. If after sitting for a while you find the alternator is warm, check there.
02-02-2021, 10:59 AM
pheoxs

Does your radio / head unit stay on with your remote start? Mine does for some reason though mines sorta a franken setup with the manual / push button in the ST so I have to arm it while its running then get out and lock it to shut it off.
02-10-2021, 10:04 AM
16hypen3sp

Update:

Got back to the airport last night. Car sat thru those horribly low temps. I got to the car and the cabin had power. Turned the key and the engine turned over and fired up without issue.

I was fuckin floored that I didn't have to fuck around. Things I did different this time was; powered down head unit, left e-brake off, disconnected wire to remote start receiver. Did all that before parking the car a week ago.

Biggest thing tho is I have a new battery in there.

The guy right next to me had a newer Golf TDI. He was having problems so I used my spare 12v battery I had inside the cab of my car and got him up and running.

Still need to do some checking but hopefully I don't have any more issues. Sitting in those temps was a serious test.

Sherman, I also took a look around the alternator and didn't find any heat anywhere.

Thanks for the tips here guys. Much appreciated.