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Battery Drain? Help Needed!

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kaufmankdk Enthusiast

kaufmankdk

Posted
Posted

If you would like, PM me the last 8-digits of your VIN and I can check if there is any additional information, regarding battery drain issues, available for your vehicle.

 

I look forward to your reply.

 

Louis

GM Customer Service

Luis,

 

Can you please check on my VIN too ?,

Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD VIN 1GCHC29U61E299252

I was having luck with several items, lastly the headlight switch. cab light on/off push button showed a draw at park with keys removed. replaced switch and seemed to solve the phantom problem.

Not so, Please advise.

Kurt

  • 5 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
sub2003 New Member

sub2003

Posted
Posted

Battled this a while back with my battery draining overnight and 2003 suburban. It took a week to figure this out.

 

Remove the info fuse which is the on-star system if you dont have to have it.

 

That said, my fix held true. My vehicle starts daily without issue at all times (even after sitting for days). It turned out to be the INFO fuse. The .5 amp HVAC draw for 4 hours is ok (the fuse is back in). The .7 millivolt/1amp overnight draw by the info fuse was simply too much (this doesn't turn off after 4 hours via the computer).

I believe this became a problem all of a sudden because I had a Gold Die Hard battery that died of old age and I replaced it with a cheap advance battery that couldn't deal with the overnight draw.

 

 

To figure out what fuses were pulling with the key out:

 

 

I read about something called voltage drop and looking for the fuse that doesn't look like the others when reading. On my meter I set it to 200millivolts (not amps).

 

Checked every fuse. I found 3 fuses under hood fuse box that gave an odd reading versus all other fuses. They were, info, ipc/dic, and hvac. I pulled all 3 and battery was fine after sitting 2 days. Left it this way for a week and it was good all week.

 

My readings were this:

15amp info fuse = .07

10amp hvac fuse = .03

10amp ipc/dic = .05

 

Ended up find that I could put the hvac and ipc/dic back in and just leave out the info/onstar fuse and the fix held.

 

Hope this helps someone.

Coby7 Senior Enthusiast

Coby7

Posted
Posted (edited)

03-04 have a cluster issue where the cluster doesn't shut down after you pull the key. I fixed 4 of these this month alone. 05 up have the same issue but far less frequent. Problem can be in different locations on the circuit board so you kinda need an expert for this one. For example the last 4 I dealt with 3 were in a different location.

 

Also this problem is intermittent and may not be there while you're testing.

Edited by Coby7
  • 3 weeks later...
onebad8.1 Enthusiast

onebad8.1

Posted
Posted

Took the truck to the dealership to find the draw and it was my passenger side seat cover was pullng the power seat control up and staying on that was draining my new battery,glad it wasn't expensive but still feal dumd i couldn't find it on my own

Colossus Senior Enthusiast

Colossus

Posted
Posted

Oh I don't know, I think that is something everyone else would have missed as well. Don't feel too bad. Just be glad there were no fires.

  • 2 years later...
Big BA Bobby New Member

Big BA Bobby

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have a 2003 chevy 2500 hd, the instrument cluster definitely has a problem, but I have another problem, I can hook up a test to the negative side of the battery and touch the body with the light and it lights up, the light was dim but when I pulled the ipc/dic fuse it got really bright,anybody ever have a issue like this really need some help with this one, would be much appreciated thank you, I forgot to mention this truck already had this problem when I got it,previous owner took it to a repair shop and they could not find the problem so they put a big shut off switch on the negative cable so he could turn it off when he is not driving it, I accidentally found this problem with the test light when I was checking out the alternator, this happens with the switch off when you turn it on the light goes out, not sure what is going on here but some how getting positive feed to the ground, checked fuses and relays really got me puzzled please help thank you 

Edited by Big BA Bobby
Something I forgot to mention
diyer2 Senior Enthusiast

diyer2

Posted
Posted

I think this is the right approach.

Get a Digital Voltage Meter.

Key off.

Unhook negative battery cable.

Put one lead of DVM to neg. battery post. Other lead to negative battery cable.

Check votlage on meter.

Pull fuses until voltage drops or stops.

That is the circuit with a problem.

Start tracing circuit for problem.

:)

  • 1 year later...
ajot4u New Member

ajot4u

Posted
Posted

I have 2008 GMC Sierra 2500 HD 4WD with battery drain issues. Service shop cannot find the problem. After watching youtube and reading responses on this site, I will check each fuse, be sure all extras off before turning key off, and see what happens. Thank you to all who posted ideas. 

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