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Parasitic Battery Drain From Bcm

ktg

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ktg Enthusiast

ktg

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I think after 7 flippin' years of fighting this problem every winter, I've finally fixed it. I began to suspect that the starter may have problems earlier this year. My battery drain was getting really bad, even in warmer weather. I had to attach a battery tender every night to keep my 2 yellow top optimas from going dead. I changed the starter several months ago and haven't had a problem since. Even in freezing weather now it starts like new. Hopefully when we go to -15 degrees, it stays starting like new.

Dnt Senior Enthusiast

Dnt

Posted
Posted

issue is not confined to GM it seems to be a industry wide problem. My wifes brand new F$#@ Escape has killed 2 batteries in 1700 miles. Has an intermittent battery draw that the dealer cannot find. There latest excuse is well you need to drive it a couple of hours every day, yeah right silly arses.

  • 2 months later...
Brianwestp New Member

Brianwestp

Posted
Posted

New to this forum and new to battery drain. After a quick video from YouTube I figured out how to narrow down the parasitic draw. Don't have the exact figures in front of me but the radio and the instrument cluster were individually drawing more than the entire sleep draw should be. I just removed the instrument cluster as it was keeping the highbeam indicator on or flashing when the suburban was off. Waiting to see if the battery lasts more than a day or two.

 

My question is this happened all at once and I am left wondering if this is a BCM failure or individual failure from instrument cluster and or radio. Heard of issues with the 2003 Chevy's and a recall but wonder why my 2004 three-quarter ton suburban Quadra steer is having this issue. Somebody please help!

Coby7 Senior Enthusiast

Coby7

Posted
Posted

03-04 clusters have this issue where they don't shutdown after you remove the key. I repaired 4 this month with various problems causing this drain. If you have your cluster serviced by a highly qualified technician they will resolve this problem for you. Did about 40 last year with this issue.

Coby7 Senior Enthusiast

Coby7

Posted
Posted

issue is not confined to GM it seems to be a industry wide problem. My wifes brand new F$#@ Escape has killed 2 batteries in 1700 miles. Has an intermittent battery draw that the dealer cannot find. There latest excuse is well you need to drive it a couple of hours every day, yeah right silly arses.

What year is your Escape? 08-12 ?

  • 2 years later...
JNW New Member

JNW

Posted
Posted
On 1/27/2017 at 7:40 PM, Brianwestp said:

New to this forum and new to battery drain. After a quick video from YouTube I figured out how to narrow down the parasitic draw. Don't have the exact figures in front of me but the radio and the instrument cluster were individually drawing more than the entire sleep draw should be. I just removed the instrument cluster as it was keeping the highbeam indicator on or flashing when the suburban was off. Waiting to see if the battery lasts more than a day or two.

 

My question is this happened all at once and I am left wondering if this is a BCM failure or individual failure from instrument cluster and or radio. Heard of issues with the 2003 Chevy's and a recall but wonder why my 2004 three-quarter ton suburban Quadra steer is having this issue. Somebody please help!

Companies that rebuild instrument clusters say that the lead free soldier has silver migration. Creates black flakes that either short out the circuit grid or cause shorts that create parasitic amp draw in the circuit. Idiots have been creating cars for over a hundred years. Place low voltage delicate circuits in an environment of high vibration, heat, dust, solvents and contaminates without adequate protection and refuse to make any adjustment over several model years. Greed rules!

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