Electrical short

[JOHN TLOCKOWSKI]

Can use some help in trouble shooting a short in my electrical system. When the negative battery cable is disconnected and then reconnected a small spark an be seen at the battery post. When an ammeter is connected, a noted amperage draw can be seen on the meter indicating a voltage draw.

I've pulled all the fuses to try an isolate which if any accessory is drawing any voltage but everything checks out OK. Anybody out there have any suggestions?????

Jon Tee

 

[Yardsale]

In "modern" vehicles, there will always be a current draw because some systems (i.e., the Theft system) remain active with the key Off and out.



A "typical" short is a ground not making contact that causes components to not function. If what you have is an electrical problem, it seems that there is a positive making contact when it should not (i.e., a sticky relay or switch). If so, and you cannot see or hear what is out of the ordinary, you may have to use that ammeter while removing and replacing fuses to find the affected circuit.

 

[JOHN TLOCKOWSKI]

Thanks Yardsale. I completely forgot about the "Theft system" being powered all the time. That can explain why there's some small voltage draw and I can see a small spark at the negative battery cable. Thanks again for the input.

jontee

 

[JOHN TLOCKOWSKI]

Thanks Yardsale. I completely forgot about the "Theft system" being powered all the time. That can explain why there's some small voltage draw and I can see a small spark at the negative battery cable. Thanks again for the input.

jontee

 

[Yardsale]

There are more than the theft system always powered, and I think that one, in particular, should not result in a (small) spark at the battery, but combined with others, there may be.



There may be a problem, but, sometimes, you just have to wait for complete failure or you could spend hours chasing and not finding the culprit.

 

[Austin Sewell]

Parts of the GEM circuits and the PCM are also powered all the time, check your instrument cluster to see the blinking theft light and observe the lights on the door lock switches which I believe are also always on. If your battery is dying, best thing to do is parasitic draw test as Yardsale hinted at, use an ammeter at in place of fuses until you find one that's drawing more than say 50mA

 

[JOHN TLOCKOWSKI]

Thanks for your input Austin. I'll continue to do some more troubleshooting.

 

[JOHN TLOCKOWSKI]

By the way, here a dumb question, are the tail lights supposed to blink on-off when the key fob door lock button is depress?

 

[James Swanson]

Yes, John, they are supposed to blink. Mines been doing that since I got it in April 2001.

 

[JOHN TLOCKOWSKI]

Thanks jrswanson1. I thought they did. Could be part of my parasitic voltage drain.

 

[Yardsale]

My parking lights blink once (and the horn sounds) only with the second press of the lock button within three seconds. It depends on the alarm system and how it was installed (mine is the System 3/4).