2006 S-Type parasitic current draw
#1
2006 S-Type parasitic current draw
Hi all. My 2006 S-type 4.2L has a parasitic current draw that will deplete the battery in around 4 days. Everything is working and there are no DTC codes in any of the modules ( icar soft 930 ) No lights stay on, including the trunk lights. The last time I had an issue like this. it was on my Audi and was a diode in the Alternator that was leaking. I haven't checked the alternator on the Jag yet other than to check it is charging correctly. It is.
Two things I notice is if I close the car and leave the doors unlocked, after some time the entry alarm will arm with the doors still unlocked and go off when the door is opened, I don't remember it doing that before. Also the "close all" feature only closes the sun roof and not the windows. The "all open" works just fine. These may well not be related to the parasitic current draw, but they may...
Where would you recommend I start ? or should I start pulling fuses/relays. Thanks for the help.
Two things I notice is if I close the car and leave the doors unlocked, after some time the entry alarm will arm with the doors still unlocked and go off when the door is opened, I don't remember it doing that before. Also the "close all" feature only closes the sun roof and not the windows. The "all open" works just fine. These may well not be related to the parasitic current draw, but they may...
Where would you recommend I start ? or should I start pulling fuses/relays. Thanks for the help.
#3
Obviously it's not fine or it wouldn't do it!
There are multiple very detailed posts about how to troubleshoot this in more than one way (all require persistence and logic, some luck helps) which you may like to read to save a lot of time.
Main tool - DVOM. Almost any will probably do but reasonable accuracy helps.
There are multiple very detailed posts about how to troubleshoot this in more than one way (all require persistence and logic, some luck helps) which you may like to read to save a lot of time.
Main tool - DVOM. Almost any will probably do but reasonable accuracy helps.
#4
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#5
Read through this link in the stickies. Its all there. very common topic
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...-drain-123535/
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...-drain-123535/
I'll start with those fuses in a couple of days when I have some time to spare. I will report back when I find the offending circuit(s).
#6
Two things I notice is if I close the car and leave the doors unlocked, after some time the entry alarm will arm with the doors still unlocked and go off when the door is opened, I don't remember it doing that before. Also the "close all" feature only closes the sun roof and not the windows. The "all open" works just fine. These may well not be related to the parasitic current draw, but they may...
The alarm? If you disconnect the battery, the alarm will be armed when reconnected. I've learned the hard way to always have the key fob handy when reconnecting the battery. All seems quiet until you open the door. I suspect in your situation, as the battery slowly runs down, the voltage drops below the threshold to make the alarm think the battery has been disconnected. Open a door, however, and there's still enough juice to make the alarm respond as if the battery had actually been disconnected and then reconnected. I doubt the system is smart enough to know the difference. It's just responding the way it was programmed.
The windows? My '02 only has the global open function. I suspect the lawyers got involved during the design phase and said a global close function isn't the best idea, as you could have a child or pet in the path of the window. I think later cars did have an optional global close feature, but it required dealer-level programming for activation. If so, and this is just a wild guess on my part, it may default to off under certain conditions, such as a battery disconnect (or a reasonable fascimile thereof).
Last edited by kr98664; 08-06-2018 at 09:35 AM.
#7
Remember, any time you disturb any circuitry (such as pulling a fuse), the car may awake from sleep mode and then you have to wait for it to nod off again. This can be VERY time-consuming.
You can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation by measuring the current flow through each fuse without pulling any of them, using a simple trick. JagV8 has previously suggested this in post #3 of the sticky thread. I gave more details in post #9:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...5/#post1891454
The test is as simple as taking a millivolt reading across the two metal dots on each fuse, and then comparing the reading to the chart to get amperage. It is incredibly accurate, too, even for very tiny amounts of current flow.
You can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation by measuring the current flow through each fuse without pulling any of them, using a simple trick. JagV8 has previously suggested this in post #3 of the sticky thread. I gave more details in post #9:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...5/#post1891454
The test is as simple as taking a millivolt reading across the two metal dots on each fuse, and then comparing the reading to the chart to get amperage. It is incredibly accurate, too, even for very tiny amounts of current flow.
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#8
Remember, any time you disturb any circuitry (such as pulling a fuse), the car may awake from sleep mode and then you have to wait for it to nod off again. This can be VERY time-consuming.
You can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation by measuring the current flow through each fuse without pulling any of them, using a simple trick. JagV8 has previously suggested this in post #3 of the sticky thread. I gave more details in post #9:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...5/#post1891454
The test is as simple as taking a millivolt reading across the two metal dots on each fuse, and then comparing the reading to the chart to get amperage. It is incredibly accurate, too, even for very tiny amounts of current flow.
You can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation by measuring the current flow through each fuse without pulling any of them, using a simple trick. JagV8 has previously suggested this in post #3 of the sticky thread. I gave more details in post #9:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...5/#post1891454
The test is as simple as taking a millivolt reading across the two metal dots on each fuse, and then comparing the reading to the chart to get amperage. It is incredibly accurate, too, even for very tiny amounts of current flow.
I will pull PJB F7 tonight and see if I get the same results with the battery voltage with F1 installed.This is the lazy mans method !
#9
All seriousness aside, you can save yourself a LOT of work by just taking the amperage measurements at the fuses. You're obviously on the right track, i.e. pulling a certain big fuse which feeds a group of smaller fuses. The downside is you have to wait for the car to go to sleep again and then repeat the process.
If you take an amperage measurement at the same big fuse, without disconnecting it, you will also know if the battery drain is caused by something downstream from there. You'll learn the same thing, but much more quickly. Even better, if the drain does not run through that big fuse, you simply move on to the next big fuse and its respective downstream circuits. If you've got an active battery drain after the car should have gone to sleep, you can quickly find the offending circuit this way in a matter of minutes, versus hours or days when pulling fuses and waiting for the car to go back to sleep each time.
#10
The lazy man's method? Ha? Are you challenging me to a Laze-Off™? Nobody can do less than me. It seems the gauntlet has been thrown down. Challenge accepted!
All seriousness aside, you can save yourself a LOT of work by just taking the amperage measurements at the fuses. You're obviously on the right track, i.e. pulling a certain big fuse which feeds a group of smaller fuses. The downside is you have to wait for the car to go to sleep again and then repeat the process.
If you take an amperage measurement at the same big fuse, without disconnecting it, you will also know if the battery drain is caused by something downstream from there. You'll learn the same thing, but much more quickly. Even better, if the drain does not run through that big fuse, you simply move on to the next big fuse and its respective downstream circuits. If you've got an active battery drain after the car should have gone to sleep, you can quickly find the offending circuit this way in a matter of minutes, versus hours or days when pulling fuses and waiting for the car to go back to sleep each time.
All seriousness aside, you can save yourself a LOT of work by just taking the amperage measurements at the fuses. You're obviously on the right track, i.e. pulling a certain big fuse which feeds a group of smaller fuses. The downside is you have to wait for the car to go to sleep again and then repeat the process.
If you take an amperage measurement at the same big fuse, without disconnecting it, you will also know if the battery drain is caused by something downstream from there. You'll learn the same thing, but much more quickly. Even better, if the drain does not run through that big fuse, you simply move on to the next big fuse and its respective downstream circuits. If you've got an active battery drain after the car should have gone to sleep, you can quickly find the offending circuit this way in a matter of minutes, versus hours or days when pulling fuses and waiting for the car to go back to sleep each time.
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