You said it couldnt be the alarm system cause it's been in there for a long time.. with me, i find that usually the thing thats causing the problem is always the least likely suspected candidate. I'd check it anyway.

 

well so far all my efforts have been to no avail, so im just gonna take it the this electrical shop in town that a friend/evo owner of mine recommended.

I'll let you guys know what the problem was hopefully by tomorrow.

 

You have a parasitic draw somewhere. All newer cars have it. About 150-300mv through the system with it off because of our modules. Can't do anything about it. Now the alarm system, even if installed from the factory, can play a part in draining the battery. Did you do a volt drop on both the insulated and noninsulated side of the battery? When the vehicle is running what is the volt drop on the insulated and noninsulated side of the alternator? Perform a volt drop on the starter also, the insulated, noninsulated and switched side of the starter. But first you need to see if there is a draw at the battery. If you can let me know whatever you find. or if you have any questions on how to perform these tests PM me and i will tell you. Thank you for your time.

 

Nope, nowhere near that, but 250ma is a very very small amount of power. As SSP mentioned, normal parasitic draw can be 300 or even higher. To give you a comparison, your cell phone charger probably pulls 900ma-1.1amps, and it doesn't take a lot of power.

With as fast as your car is draining, you're looking for something that's pulling quite a bit more power than that.

 

I would check the alternator voltage. easy to check with a multimeter.
measure with the car off across the battery terminals it should read about 12.6 ish volts
then start the car and measure across the battery terminals. this one should read between 13-14 volts
then with the car still running, turn on everything: high beams, heater fan on full, ac, radio, all lights, everything that you can, and then read the multimeter, it it shouldn't drop below 13 volts

if either voltages while the car is running with light load and full load drops below 13v, then your alternator is suspect

 

Autozone or Advance should be able to check both the battery and alternator. I would go and check with them. If you have a friend who would help you out, trade batteries for a couple of days and see who has the problem.

 

Well you need to know the amount of voltage the alternator is producing and amperage. But there is a possibility that your rectifier bridge is shot meaning one of the diodes crapped and you are pumping AC voltage into your battery. 500mv and higher AC voltage is bad. Give you something to think about.

 

Their tests aren't accurate, it's better to test at home with a multimeter. Twice I've had them tell me an alternator is fine when testing at home said it wasn't.

 

tested it, off its ~12.4ish volts, and on is 13.5.

I'm 98% sure it isnt the alternator or starter, car starts fine when it has power, and I took it to sears and they did their 45 min test (which took 1 1/2 hours lol) and verified that there is a drain at the battery.

So after checking all the fuses, and not solving it im just gonna take it to an electrical automotive shop tomorrow. with spring break around the corner and going out of town i dont have the time to test everything, fix it, and take care of work and school.

 

mmm.. well. if there is a drain AT THE BATTERY, wouldn't that mean that the cells can't hold a charge? It's like volts is pressure and amps is volume, so it can hold the pressure at 12.4V, but can't hold the volume so there is either internal self-discharge at a rapid rate, or it no longer has any capacity.

if there is a drain AT THE BATTERY, it means you need a new battery.

 

sorry if there was an confusion, they tested the battery first, its good and hold a charge, its a parasitic drain that happens when car is off and just sitting there.

new update, after jump starting the car tonight I pulled p0638 (Throttle Actuator Control Motor Circuit Range/Performance Problem )

any more advice before I take to dealer tomorrow?

 

A fully charged battery is 12.6v. Because there is a 6 cells and each have 2.1 volts fully charged. If it was sulfated then when you do a 3min charge at 40amps and the voltage rises above 15.5V within that 3 mins then the battery is bad. I hope they figure it out for you joey. If i was near there i would find it for you but you are alittle too far away for me. Goodluck with the techs.

 

Let us know whatever they find.

 

I will, I explained to the tech everything aftermarket I did and he is gonna call me if he has any questions, should be done by tomorrow if not monday.

At least my sister is visiting family in cali so I can use her car while she's gone and mines in the shop.

 

an update on this, car is still in shop, talked to the tech, he said he checked almost all the factory wiring, and none of it is drawing the power, however my battery had a bad cell and needed to be replaced before he could continue testing. So i took it back to sears (I may have been a little short with them since it was my 3rd time there this week for this) and let them know that even though the said the battery was good last saturday, that it indeed does have a bad cell. So i forced them to honor the warranty (stupid 8 year battery going bad in two months lol) and took the battery and put it back in my car.

Right now its sitting over night at the shop to see if it still drains. (crossing my fingers that it wont) and tomorrow if it still is, we are gonna start taking the after market stuff off untill we find whats causing it.