Diagnose: Battery Drain / Parasitic Draw - Chevy Trailblazer
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Date: 2020-08-05
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Comments and reviews: 10
Thomas
I know this is from a long time ago but just like me there are still plenty of people who have GMC models ( with body control module with key-pass. I have a 07 GMC envoy and I came across your video when out of no where our battery was intermittently having a dead battery after sitting one night. At first it was not so bad but progressed to all the time. I was an avionics tech for FedEx and aircraft mechanic and figured if I could find weird problems in every type jet I could fix this. I started first by hooking up a current meter (had one off a old ohm meter that read milliamps and could actually see what was the draw. I disconnected negative terminal and place it between the negative battery and cable and found with no key in doors closed was drawing around 700 ma which is way to high when should be around 50ma max. as I pulled fuses under hood found no fuse had any big influence so went under rear seat fuse box. The first fuse I pulled was one of the 5 or so fuses that ran to body control module. I know this module can be a pain in the ass because of the security system gmc had installed to stop car thefts but really only caused owners to get stranded when it went bad. I know you must know you can not just change out one from a junk yard because it has to be programmed to your key and in my case will lock out radio and fuel injectors as well as wont let you crank in some cases. any way when I pulled one of the fuses I saw my amp meter shoot way up past the 1 amp max the meter was able to handle. I decided to leave the fuses in and monitor the BCM just sitting there. what I found is when the vehicle is just sitting there doors closed like you just woke up to get in car so any time delay was over was reading 75 milliamps which again is to high. When I opened drivers side door you activate the BCM and the current will jump up to around 750 milliamps. This is because you wake up the BCM to run interior lights and so on, then after around 20 seconds or so it drops down to around 100 ma then a few seconds after rested at the around 100 ma. I did this numerous times and the same happened. From another problem with secturity system problems I went to junk yard and found 2 BCM's with same part number but like I said you can jumper in but car wont start and radio will lock up. It will crank but the injectors are told to shut off so it is only good for things like this parasitic voltage leaks. When I put the replacement BCM in I noticed because battery is going to it it will go to the high draw 700 ma then drop 20 seconds later to around 100 ma then a few seconds after that it dropped to almost nothing around 15 -20 ma. When I seen that I tested it by opening and closing door which is the same as when you swap it out. I opened door and once again ran up to 700 ma 20 sec later 100ma and then right after down to 15-20 ma. So now it is looking like its the original BCM that for some reason when it times out it stayed at 100ma way to high and with replacement down to perfect low am draw. This has to be my problem and I wanted to verify by putting back original but then it started acting just like the replacement. I don't know if it could have been a connection going to the BCM it has 3 different connectors one being a ribbon cable. I kept original and ran test over and over by opening drivers door only and watch the BCM come alive with the 700 amp then go down to the 100 then down to the 15-20. I know the original did it because i videoed it and ran test at least 10 times hanging up at 100 ma.
Sorry about explanation being so long I just want people to under stand the smallest thing could cause the parasitic draw and I believe if I was you in this case (but it was 5 years ago lol) would have tried at least clean the connectors and replace back on if you don't have a spare to try. If it fixed your problem the you would have to put original back in so it will start have them either put replacement back in but only they can program the BCM to accept you key and or key cylinder. I can see why I never found a good specific find on here because it could be anything but the last thing to power down is the BCM. hope this helps someone to under stand how it works.
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I know this is from a long time ago but just like me there are still plenty of people who have GMC models ( with body control module with key-pass. I have a 07 GMC envoy and I came across your video when out of no where our battery was intermittently having a dead battery after sitting one night. At first it was not so bad but progressed to all the time. I was an avionics tech for FedEx and aircraft mechanic and figured if I could find weird problems in every type jet I could fix this. I started first by hooking up a current meter (had one off a old ohm meter that read milliamps and could actually see what was the draw. I disconnected negative terminal and place it between the negative battery and cable and found with no key in doors closed was drawing around 700 ma which is way to high when should be around 50ma max. as I pulled fuses under hood found no fuse had any big influence so went under rear seat fuse box. The first fuse I pulled was one of the 5 or so fuses that ran to body control module. I know this module can be a pain in the ass because of the security system gmc had installed to stop car thefts but really only caused owners to get stranded when it went bad. I know you must know you can not just change out one from a junk yard because it has to be programmed to your key and in my case will lock out radio and fuel injectors as well as wont let you crank in some cases. any way when I pulled one of the fuses I saw my amp meter shoot way up past the 1 amp max the meter was able to handle. I decided to leave the fuses in and monitor the BCM just sitting there. what I found is when the vehicle is just sitting there doors closed like you just woke up to get in car so any time delay was over was reading 75 milliamps which again is to high. When I opened drivers side door you activate the BCM and the current will jump up to around 750 milliamps. This is because you wake up the BCM to run interior lights and so on, then after around 20 seconds or so it drops down to around 100 ma then a few seconds after rested at the around 100 ma. I did this numerous times and the same happened. From another problem with secturity system problems I went to junk yard and found 2 BCM's with same part number but like I said you can jumper in but car wont start and radio will lock up. It will crank but the injectors are told to shut off so it is only good for things like this parasitic voltage leaks. When I put the replacement BCM in I noticed because battery is going to it it will go to the high draw 700 ma then drop 20 seconds later to around 100 ma then a few seconds after that it dropped to almost nothing around 15 -20 ma. When I seen that I tested it by opening and closing door which is the same as when you swap it out. I opened door and once again ran up to 700 ma 20 sec later 100ma and then right after down to 15-20 ma. So now it is looking like its the original BCM that for some reason when it times out it stayed at 100ma way to high and with replacement down to perfect low am draw. This has to be my problem and I wanted to verify by putting back original but then it started acting just like the replacement. I don't know if it could have been a connection going to the BCM it has 3 different connectors one being a ribbon cable. I kept original and ran test over and over by opening drivers door only and watch the BCM come alive with the 700 amp then go down to the 100 then down to the 15-20. I know the original did it because i videoed it and ran test at least 10 times hanging up at 100 ma.
Sorry about explanation being so long I just want people to under stand the smallest thing could cause the parasitic draw and I believe if I was you in this case (but it was 5 years ago lol) would have tried at least clean the connectors and replace back on if you don't have a spare to try. If it fixed your problem the you would have to put original back in so it will start have them either put replacement back in but only they can program the BCM to accept you key and or key cylinder. I can see why I never found a good specific find on here because it could be anything but the last thing to power down is the BCM. hope this helps someone to under stand how it works.
reply
William
Hello great video. I have about the same issue with 04 Dodge durango limited edition for over a year now. if not started in 2 days the battery dead. I replaced the battery no changes. So 2 wks ago i used a trailer to tow a buddy 1941 power wagon home. Frist time i have ever towed anything with my durango. The next day i started her up & she would not go come out of Park gear. So i spayed WD-40 on the slide that the key pushes to unlock the shifter worked great for 2 days. Then i started her 1 night and came out of park gear great but now i had a ABS &a brake light & engine light on the cluster & no turn signals, no brake lights, and no tail lights on the driver rear side & nothing on the center light. So not sure what i did but i have tail lights & turn signals back but no brake light at all & there no power to brake lights and no power to the the 3 rd light at all. So i replaced the brake light switch still nothing at brake lights. So yesterday i unhooked the neg cable on battery and checked fuses & relays for power i have power to almost everyone 1 of them like 0. 2 volts. and now after hooking the battery back up i have nothing wont turn over no lights nothing just like there no battery. I am at a lose. Tell me what you think please. And is it right to have 0. 2 volts with neg cable off at the fuses relays? I am stumped thank you. William
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Hello great video. I have about the same issue with 04 Dodge durango limited edition for over a year now. if not started in 2 days the battery dead. I replaced the battery no changes. So 2 wks ago i used a trailer to tow a buddy 1941 power wagon home. Frist time i have ever towed anything with my durango. The next day i started her up & she would not go come out of Park gear. So i spayed WD-40 on the slide that the key pushes to unlock the shifter worked great for 2 days. Then i started her 1 night and came out of park gear great but now i had a ABS &a brake light & engine light on the cluster & no turn signals, no brake lights, and no tail lights on the driver rear side & nothing on the center light. So not sure what i did but i have tail lights & turn signals back but no brake light at all & there no power to brake lights and no power to the the 3 rd light at all. So i replaced the brake light switch still nothing at brake lights. So yesterday i unhooked the neg cable on battery and checked fuses & relays for power i have power to almost everyone 1 of them like 0. 2 volts. and now after hooking the battery back up i have nothing wont turn over no lights nothing just like there no battery. I am at a lose. Tell me what you think please. And is it right to have 0. 2 volts with neg cable off at the fuses relays? I am stumped thank you. William
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J.
July 20th 2019 what we all know that doorman is low-quality anything related to electronics is crap now if she would have received a cluster that was GMC I didn't catch the name of the vehicle what year was or that I should have went to the original general motors part. And in those clusters there are these little shareables and one thing interesting on on another YouTube video is that there was a device that was actually melting the metal and then another device to actually suck up the metal what's another device so one device would melt a soldering and another vice would suck it up and make it clean so these actual modules were being replaced and that was a particular item related to the GMC vehicles that the clusters would end up being problem in the future so perhaps that's the thing with older vehicles you have to get the original oh yeah mm part and find someone who's going to do such a detailed information like yourself.
reply
July 20th 2019 what we all know that doorman is low-quality anything related to electronics is crap now if she would have received a cluster that was GMC I didn't catch the name of the vehicle what year was or that I should have went to the original general motors part. And in those clusters there are these little shareables and one thing interesting on on another YouTube video is that there was a device that was actually melting the metal and then another device to actually suck up the metal what's another device so one device would melt a soldering and another vice would suck it up and make it clean so these actual modules were being replaced and that was a particular item related to the GMC vehicles that the clusters would end up being problem in the future so perhaps that's the thing with older vehicles you have to get the original oh yeah mm part and find someone who's going to do such a detailed information like yourself.
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Leon
I know after reading comments that the IC was the problem. I have repaired electronic products to the component level for 30 years. After watching the video I considered this. What if you install another cluster that is confirmed good by being used in another car and does not have the current draw problem. After you install it and reconnect the battery you monitor the current without opening the doors or turning on the key and confirm the part is still good. Then try turning on different things like the key, or the headlights or move the fuel sensor you mentioned in the video. Then see if the problem develops in the IC. Something on one of the lines going to the IC could be damaging it. There may be a regulator Integrated circuit or diode that gets damaged after something else connected to it draws excessive current. I have seen this happen many times in TVs and audio equipment.
reply
I know after reading comments that the IC was the problem. I have repaired electronic products to the component level for 30 years. After watching the video I considered this. What if you install another cluster that is confirmed good by being used in another car and does not have the current draw problem. After you install it and reconnect the battery you monitor the current without opening the doors or turning on the key and confirm the part is still good. Then try turning on different things like the key, or the headlights or move the fuel sensor you mentioned in the video. Then see if the problem develops in the IC. Something on one of the lines going to the IC could be damaging it. There may be a regulator Integrated circuit or diode that gets damaged after something else connected to it draws excessive current. I have seen this happen many times in TVs and audio equipment.
reply
RavenReign
I have a observation of my own,
I have a 2000 GMC Jimmy 2dr SLS 4WD. It seems like I need a new battery every year. and now that fall weather is falling, here I am trying to trouble shoot this. Cus my battery is failing and I don't buy cheap batteries! Interstate is what I have now and last time.
anyways, when I turn off my Jimmy, I have always noticed that the P N R D 123 light bar glows (extremely dim) on the Park side and the needle on the fuel gauge will slowly move from empty (at pin) all the way over to past the full mark.
my cluster must be draining and killing my battery. I'm going to look into this more.
reply
I have a observation of my own,
I have a 2000 GMC Jimmy 2dr SLS 4WD. It seems like I need a new battery every year. and now that fall weather is falling, here I am trying to trouble shoot this. Cus my battery is failing and I don't buy cheap batteries! Interstate is what I have now and last time.
anyways, when I turn off my Jimmy, I have always noticed that the P N R D 123 light bar glows (extremely dim) on the Park side and the needle on the fuel gauge will slowly move from empty (at pin) all the way over to past the full mark.
my cluster must be draining and killing my battery. I'm going to look into this more.
reply
ferdie
Sorry. All I heard was blah blah blah get a toyota Camry/corolla. Otherwise thanks for your time and work sir. Defiantly time wasting diagnosing that. It could be a gas guage or speedometer thing shorting out. The guages read by little tabs so if the tab is stuck between tabs then possibly it'd draw current. The computers in those is basically a Nintendo, so maybe CPU or reflow the motherboard. Look at CPU, might be some little itty bitty capacitor overheated or something. Might want to check that CPU. : /
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Sorry. All I heard was blah blah blah get a toyota Camry/corolla. Otherwise thanks for your time and work sir. Defiantly time wasting diagnosing that. It could be a gas guage or speedometer thing shorting out. The guages read by little tabs so if the tab is stuck between tabs then possibly it'd draw current. The computers in those is basically a Nintendo, so maybe CPU or reflow the motherboard. Look at CPU, might be some little itty bitty capacitor overheated or something. Might want to check that CPU. : /
reply
Willow
I understand this is an old video but I was just asked from my neighbor to look at her trailblazer cause all the locals cant figure it out but hers has gone through 6 batteries in the last 5 months and also all the lights on the gauges light up an stay on while driving. Could the cluster be her problem as well? I seen somewhere else that someone said that theres a yoke in the steering column that is OFF and has to be reset? I want to help her as much as possibly but Im not good with electrical at all.
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I understand this is an old video but I was just asked from my neighbor to look at her trailblazer cause all the locals cant figure it out but hers has gone through 6 batteries in the last 5 months and also all the lights on the gauges light up an stay on while driving. Could the cluster be her problem as well? I seen somewhere else that someone said that theres a yoke in the steering column that is OFF and has to be reset? I want to help her as much as possibly but Im not good with electrical at all.
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Gary
Great job narrowing it down. I haven't worked in a shop in 17 years so im rusty, you helped refresh my brain. My 02 has been draining the battery and I've been to lazy as i don't exactly enjoy troubleshooting electrical problems, but i think i may pull out the multi meter and have a look. I noticed sometimes my interior lights and dash don't want to go to sleep so i turned the dimmer switch all the way down seems to help but if it sits a week it's dead. Thanks for sharing!
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Great job narrowing it down. I haven't worked in a shop in 17 years so im rusty, you helped refresh my brain. My 02 has been draining the battery and I've been to lazy as i don't exactly enjoy troubleshooting electrical problems, but i think i may pull out the multi meter and have a look. I noticed sometimes my interior lights and dash don't want to go to sleep so i turned the dimmer switch all the way down seems to help but if it sits a week it's dead. Thanks for sharing!
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Tim
2007 duramax hd. Had to get a cluster repair kit and fix my own. Was like 35 for kit and 18 for the special type soldering equipment. Took me about 1, that's one hour to change out a couple of those little servo drives. Damn dealership claimed non repairable and wanted to put in a new one for 400. Dealerships are the lowest form of scum on the planet. Retards can actually repair anything nor do they want to.
reply
2007 duramax hd. Had to get a cluster repair kit and fix my own. Was like 35 for kit and 18 for the special type soldering equipment. Took me about 1, that's one hour to change out a couple of those little servo drives. Damn dealership claimed non repairable and wanted to put in a new one for 400. Dealerships are the lowest form of scum on the planet. Retards can actually repair anything nor do they want to.
reply
FuelZ71
So I have a 03 Silverado I have a draw of. 77. I remove the ipc/dic fuse and drops to. 24. mine takes about 2 weeks to drain the battery at the. 77 draw. The batt/tbc fuse has a. 1 draw. My question is did you figure out what exactly in the cluster was causing the draw? Just dont want to replace the whole thing if its something i can fix. Thanks and good video
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So I have a 03 Silverado I have a draw of. 77. I remove the ipc/dic fuse and drops to. 24. mine takes about 2 weeks to drain the battery at the. 77 draw. The batt/tbc fuse has a. 1 draw. My question is did you figure out what exactly in the cluster was causing the draw? Just dont want to replace the whole thing if its something i can fix. Thanks and good video
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