Current draw when key is off
 

I parked my car for a few weeks and when I came back to it, the battery was dead. I've since fully charged the battery several times (removed from the car), but I can't leave it hooked up for any length of time or it gets too discharged. Even after I fully charge the battery (removed from the car), then start the car and run it for ten minutes, if I shut it off, I will have trouble immediately restarting.

So I've been trying to figure out if something is drawing excess current when the car is off. I hooked everything up, put my DC ammeter inline, locked and armed the car, and waited 5 minutes. The current draw went down to about 120mA. Then I did the same test, but with the alarm system fuse out. The current draw was down at 80-90mA after 5 minutes.

This still seems too high. My theory is that it has been doing this for a while and when I let the car sit for a few weeks, it was the last straw for the battery. I'm going to replace the battery (not even 2.5 years old yet) and I think that should keep me going if I don't let the car sit for too long. But I think I still have a current draw problem. I'm going to systematically pull fuses and relays and see what happens, but I was hoping someone has something to add.

Anyone agree? Disagree? Advice?

Thanks guys.

That is a good way to do it. Remember that there is a certain amount of current flowing all the time which is used to keep the various memory settings happy

check your tail bulbs and see if any are very dim but lit. I had a problem once with my body control module going out. It was sending a small amount of juice to the tail lights keeping them on all day and night. Ended up replacing the module.

Well, I never really ended up finding an electrical problem. I took my battery back to get a partial warranty replacement. They gave it a good charge and put it on their tester and it came out as weak. So I'm up and running with a new battery.