battery drain, pulled fuses, now what?

Question

HiI am trying to troubleshoot my daughter's 99 Solara SE V6 5-spd.  OnSunday morning her battery was dead, and since it was the original and20 degrees out, I bought a new one.  On Tuesday, the new battery wasdead.  I had the new battery tested at NAPA and it is 100%.I put an ammeter between the negative terminal and cable, and there isa 4-5 amp draw with the key off (and out).  I pulled every fuse I couldfind, and it won't go away. I found 4 fuse blocks, one under the dashand three under the hood.  The current starts out at 5.5 amps andstarts dropping, and within 30 seconds is close to 4 amps or slightlyless.1. what kind of circuit drops like that?2. any ideas where or how to find the offending circuit?3. The glove box light died on Sunday, too, but the switch isn't hot,so I don't think that's the problem.  How do you remove the switch andbulb assembly from the glove box to replace the bulb and so I canpositively eliminate it as the problem?Thanks for the helpJoe

JM · Accepted Answer

Hi Joe, I just looked in my 1995 2.2 litre CAMRY electrical manual.

Although I am retired, electronics was my job.

I see on my circuits that there is the battery with normal ground to chassis.

There is then a permanent live to the starter motor solenoid. there is no fuse in that lead. But the starter motor solenoid is energised via a Relay that has a 40 amp fuse in its line marked MAIN. So that switches low current to bring in the Big Load of the Starter relay That is usually bolted on to the starter itself.

There is a real big fuse 100Amps which seems to power all the other things in the car. That will be very near the battery I would guess.

If you can find that one it will just about insulate all the electrics other than the started solenoid of things.

At 4 amp that about 48watts being drawn. I would have thought some thing would feel warm. Feel the starter motor solinoid bolted to the starter motor. Is it warm or just ambient temp.

As I say that from the 1994 onward CAMRY book. Its worth buying from TOYOTA I think it cost me £20 so that's about $35.

Best of luck.

Johnny UK.

tj · Answer

Sounds likea bad alternator. When they go bad they will totally drain a battery. Put a meter on battery and see if is charging when running.

Johnnyboy · Answer

The alternator suggestion sounds right. One diode may be crook. Remove the lead from the battery to the alternator and see if the current drops.The alternator will probably still charge the battery when the engine is running, but will quickly discharge it when stopped.John

joe s · Answer

The alternator was my first thought - but I pulled both wires and it didn't make a difference. I also disconected the main lead from the starter at the battery, and the 40A starter circuit breaker, but nothing. Thanks for the suggestions.

I brought the car to the shop today, I'll let you know what they find. He thought it may be something with a fusable link.

Joe

joe s · Answer

AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!   Would the dome light pull 4A when the light wasoff?  All he did was turn the switch to OFF and the current drainstopped.  He said the light was on while he drove it.  I know the lightwent out after 15 seconds or so the night before and the night beforethat when I first started troubleshooting.  I'm not loosing it am I?JoePS Fortunately he didn't charge me for this.

m Ransley · Answer

likely it was left on, easy to do in a lit area

JM · Answer

4 amps is a hell of a big interior light.Johnny UK.

Johnnyboy · Answer

12 volts x 4 amps equals 48 watts. I would change the globe for the correct one anyway. 48 watts is far too much.Not your problem, but not right too.John

battery drain, pulled fuses, now what?

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