92 Camry dead battery

[alldodge]

Bought a Camry for the grandson's first car. Installed new battery and checked the charging circuit and all doing good. Parked it and it sat for more then a week. Tried to start it and nothing, dash lights wouldn't even come ON. Battery was dead, so recharged and go it running.

The ALT would put out some times and not another, might be the meter connections or the meter. So pulled the ALT and took it to local shop, they checked it out and said there is nothing wrong. Reinstalled, started and its putting out good voltage.

With motor OFF, pulled the positive cable and checked for amps. Was seeing 60 mA or so drain. One by one I pulled every fuse, and relay and there was no change in the current reading.

Anyone know of an unused keep alive connection?

 

[bruceb58]

How many fuse boxes did you check? Looks like there are 3 of them. Driver and passenger kick panels and an engine mounted one.

 

[rbh]

Not sure what a keep alive connection is???
Are you meaning a non fused hot circuit?

Radios pull Ma for the clock and the memory, is there a Amp for the stereo?

Any wires going straight into the face fuse panel? is there a main bus panel under the hood?

and because this one has happened to me is the glove compartment light staying on or any interior/trunk lights staying on when the door is closed..

 

[MTboatguy]

I agree with rbh, it sounds like a jockey box light, trunk light under hood light is not turning off.

Also make sure the clock on the radio is not staying on when you turn the car off.

 

[rbh]

Yup +2 on the radio LEDs staying on-that used to happen on the wifes safari van, would kill the battery in about 3 days.

 

[alldodge]

Yes, found all three of the fuse boxes and pulled everything one at a time with no effect.

The radio also had a fuse and this to no effect. Bulbs it the truck or other places should pull more then 60 mA. It must be a radio memory line (unfused) or a computer lead. Just doesn't make any since.

The stay alive thought comes from Merc and VP and there PCM lines.

 

[bruceb58]

Is it easy to pull the plug on the ECU? It should be all fused though. Try posting on a Camry forum and see what they have to say.

 

[alldodge]

My brother in laws H2 will also go dead if not driven every 3 days, so what ever it is, even GM has the issue

 

[bruceb58]

If it's only 60mA, you should be able to still start the car easily after a week. That's a 10A total draw. After 2 weeks it starts getting dicey depending on how good the battery is.

 

[Grub54891]

Haven't had an issue like that in years. But when it did happen, it was usually the cig lighter outlet, they would short out. Nowadays its called a charging port.
Just something to check.

 

[bruceb58]

Not sure why I didn't think of this before...what happens when you disconnect all the leads from the alternator and measure the draw?

 

[alldodge]

Not sure why I didn't think of this before...what happens when you disconnect all the leads from the alternator and measure the draw?

Did that also, same draw, no change. Tried the main output terminal, then also disconnected the plug (no wires connected). I'm starting to thing it was the dome light circuit. There are no bulbs in the dome lights (overhead and no door panel). When I open the door with no lights coming ON the draw increases to 300 and sum mA. Close the door and its back to 60. Maybe the drain was the doom circuit somewhere, which caused the battery issue. The 60 mA should not have drained it in two weeks or more

 

[bruceb58]

Wonder what fuse that dome light is on. I would assume you already pulled it though.

There isn't some car alarm that the previous owner stuck on somewhere is there? Might take a look under the dash. That might also explain the draw when the door opens. Its an input to an alarm.

 

[alldodge]

Yes, dome light when pulled went from 300 sum mA to 60 mA. No alarm, its a stick shift 92 camry (not very many of those around), roll up windows. I know the previous owner and no alarm or anything else added. My guess is its the clock, which is not part of the radio. Still weird

 

[bruceb58]

That is very weird that it draws power without bulbs and with all the fuses pulled.

Those were good cars. I had a few friends that had them.

 

[mickyryan]

its the glimmerblinkens or the hoptocoptar muffler bearing sensor! seriously if you have everything disconnected and unfused the only thing that might be drawing that is relays you could have a partially closed relay in one of the fuse boxes other then that id be clueless as you seem to have everything disconnected .. did you take out the ecu box as well and connections to it?

 

[bigdee]

60ma should not have bled the battery in a week. You said this happened AFTER you put in a new battery......new batteries are only partially charged. Did you charge it or drive long enough to charge it?

 

[alldodge]

Yes

 

[bigdee]

OK then you had to have more than 60ma. 50-75ma is the normal parasitic drain so something else had to come into play. Very possible when OLD battery was getting weak the low voltage caused a relay contact to stick/weld closed and now it has cleared itself. BTW I just lost a vehicle because of a weak battery.....it was too weak to turn engine over and I tried several times to start it, I could hear the relays chattering. 30 minutes later it was in flames....total loss.

 

[alldodge]

Or a bad battery, but two amp meters which read the same should rule out a bad measurement. Battery is sitting right now, disconnected and is showing 12.4V, so could just be a new bad battery. Will take it back Monday