Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Killing Batteries in 3 days?????

[Drue]

I have an automatic (i. e computer controlled) charger I bought at Sam's Club a few years back that does the charging. It will regulate the charge from 25 amps down to near 1 amp, then tell me I have a full charge as it shuts off. Batteries load test fine and are matching group 27, only about 3 months old. They seem to charge to ~12. 68 volts each when I checked earlier this afternoon, near 85+ degrees. I have left the PDC disconnected for 2 weeks prior and the batteries held the charge and cranked the CTD over fine. So I feel confident my batteries are OK.

I have disconnected the any accessories I have added that were not connected to the Accessory Key circuit. I have verified there is no draw from my add ons like the brake controller, exhaust pyro, boost, transmission temp gauge and fuel pressure gauges. I have even checked that the CB and radar detector are completely off with no current draw.

I have used many suggestions and removed the under hood lamp, not just the blown bulb, completely disconnected the glove box switch/lamp.

I have tried the seatbelt issues found in the older archives of the TDR, but I have manual belts in the regular cab. I think the Quad cab belts must be very different in the 99's. So I think I can rule that one out.

I need to get a new connector for my digital amp meter, as I have broke it so I can not make any readings now. So with that being said, I recharged the system till my charger shut off indicating completely charged and simply walked away. I will let it sit till tomorrow afternoon when I can have a little time to test other ideas.

I really want to thank all who have taken time to make some really good suggestions.

Drue

 

[PRout]

I've sniffed this kind of thing out with a tone generator before. After its in a known situation of draining the batts (probably when they are dead the next time), pull all battery cables, use something plastic to keep them all as far away from ground as possible (to keep as much tone out of ground as possible) , only hook up one lead of the toner to a positive cable and keep the other lead away from ground, run around with the sniffer and with any luck there wont be tone all over the place, only in the circuit that still has connectivity to the positive cable. . Just another angle to try. Usually, what happens, is you find your culprit, or you have too much tone and its everywhere, thats the reason to try to keep all leads away from the chassis. This might be a last resort, because with sensitive electronics you usually dont want to be injecting unusual signals, but I doubt it would hurt anything, could always disconnect the ecm also. .

Another thing you can do is connect a good digital meter to the batts that has the extra digit readout so you are seeing it down to the thousandth of a volt, let it stabilize, then start pulling fuses, relays, etc one at a time. You should see a very slight rise in voltage when you disconnect the offending circuit.

Also, I would think if its killing the batts in 3 days, you should see a very small spark on the offending fuse leg if you just barely touch them to their holders. A pair of 27 batteries will supply a small current for a long time. I've forgotten and left my carter fuel pump running circulating fuel through the filter for the aux tank for an entire weekend (think it was 3 days, at least 2) and the truck fired up without a hitch afterwards.

Just more input to confuse the situation. . Sorry I didnt read everything above, but Good luck!

 

[Drue]

Don't you just love an intermitant problem?

I completely charged the system (Monday) and walked away from it till Saturday morning. I cranked like it had only been off for a couple of minutes. The changes that were made include 1. removing fuse from the 20 AMP POWER OUTLET, even though I could find no auxiliary connections to cause a draw, 2. removing the glove box lamp switch connector, 3. disconnection power door locks and interior lights, 4. removing the under hood lamp completely(several weeks earlier), 5. and moving various wiring harnesses trying to locate potential problems.



So for now, I guess my truck is in remission. (Until next time... )

 

[JLandry]

The changes that were made include...

Drue,



That's good news!



So now you need to reconnect one item at a time to narrow down the exact cause.



Best regards,



John L.

 

[Ncostello]

This is an easy one if it were quad cab. 1999 model year. The seat belt control module under the front seat is faulty. It causes the solonoids in the seatbelt retractors to remain powered up and unlocked. Amp draws in the 10ths of amps constantly.



After 30 minutes they should lock and go dead. When you open the door and the dome light comes on... it signals them to wake up and let you pull the belts out.



Leave your windows down, park it for an hour or so... and reach in to see if your belts can still be pulled out of the seats. They shouldn't.



Do regular cabs still use the SCTM module under the seat? Are your belts in the seat? Or are they anchored on the Bpost? Either way regular cabs might still use the electric solonoids to lock up. Quad cabs had them because there were no bposts to ahchor belts to and they needed a way to lockup the belts in a reclined seat position. The SCTM also ties to the airbag system and roll over detection to lockup belts.



Just a shot in the dark. I dealt with the same problem of dead batteries after 3 days. In 2000 they went to a mechanical mechanism and did away with the troublesome SCTM module.



I no longer have my 99 service manual to see what the regular cab seatbelt system consists of.

 

[EBung]

I am going through the same thing right now with my 2002 any suggestions?

 

[Drue]

EBung,
I hope you can have better luck at tracing the problem than I did. You can read through some of my trials and tribulations. From my readings on this type of problem it seems the quad cabs are more likely to have the seat belt tensioner issues, while the standard cabs have other problems that may be in the interior lights circuit, (i. e. the glove box lamp maybe).

I plan to use JLandry's suggestions (many Thanks!) and try to find an exact cause for my truck.

My only problem is that now I will be using the truck more frequently, every day in the summer, and that will not leave enough time to determine if the problem has actually drained my batteries or not. I will replay when I know something more definitive.

Thank you to John L. and all of the other great TDR members who have come up with great suggestions!