Hi,
The back story, we have a 2009 Chevy Silverado that we bought used several years ago. Ever since we bought it, there’s been a phantom electrical drain somewhere. I used to drive it once a week, which seemed to keep it happy, but if it sits for more than two weeks, the battery needs to be charged. We have replaced several batteries over the years and lived with the drain. We have suspected perhaps it was after-market things that were draining it, as it appears the power locks/windows were installed after. Recently, we decided to try and find the source of the drain, because it has been sitting more and it’s tiring to always have to charge it before we use it. We went through and pulled fuses and were testing the draw on each fuse to try and find where the problem might be. We also tested to make sure the fuses were still good. There were four fuses which seemed to be drawing more than they should. Looking at other posts on this forum, perhaps that was partially because we didn’t let it sit in the ‘off’ position long enough. We also left the truck with the battery disconnected so as to not drain while we were between diagnostics.
So a bit after testing the fuses, we let it sit and when we went to start it, it will not start now. I thought when I first tried to turn it on that it flashed a message about the vehicle theft monitoring being activated. We looked into resetting that and tried many times, but the truck still does not start. But upon further research, it appears as if we may have successfully reset the anti theft, that the problem lies somewhere else. (To reset, turned key to accessory, let sit 10 minutes, light goes out..) The warning light does not stay on. My research seems to lean towards something with the BCM, which also may account for the previous power drains. It doesn’t seem as if it would be the fuel pump or the starter switch. The truck does not try to turn over, you just turn it and nothing happens, no sound at all, it’s not cranking. But there is power getting through, as the radio and air will come on, so it is not the battery. We’ve tried fully disconnecting the battery and reconnecting, to no avail. We have hooked up a code reader and there are no codes.
At this point, we just want the truck to start and then will worry about the power drain after the fact. It’s at the point where we may have to have it towed to the dealer and then who knows how much money we will have to spend on it and whether they will diagnose it properly. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
