‘06 Odyssey - Parasitic Drain

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Finz

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‘06 Odyssey since new 86,000 miles Battery 2-3 years old For a few years, battery would simply discharge. Trav mentioned some time ago about a parasitic drain and I only looked into it further this holiday season... at the time, fully charged battery with no drain taking place (25 ma was all the registered) Been using a portable pack jump starter which has been working well... when car started, made sure to use it/keep it running a long time to get a nice charge. Next day, car would start even during that freeze a week or so ago. If a couple days went by without trying to start, I’d need a jump Throughout yesterday into today, the car would turn over with the jump pack and start but immediately die out. I mean 100% die out with no dashboard lights or anything. Jump again and would turn over slowly but not start. If I wait a while (60 minutes +), I can do it all over again... fast turn over, start, die This is a new development as of yesterday What the heck is going on? What did I break? Next Christmas, I’m asking Santa for a horse
 
Why didn't you just disconnect the battery when the car sat, if you knew it had a drain? Repeated discharges of a car battery is not good for it's longevity.
 
Originally Posted By: Finz
the car would turn over with the jump pack and start but immediately die out.
Sounds like a bad battery connection. Take the battery cables off and clean them with a wire brush.
 
There is no mention of voltage. To me that is issue #1. Sounds like a low to medium impedance short in the battery.
 
Sorry guys... I should have been more thorough in original post Tested for drain 2 weeks ago with a fully charged battery... 12.xxx volts when test was done Made sure everything was off... only thing possibly pulling juice would be the clock Connected multi meter and draw was only 25 ma. Despite low draw, I pulled about 20 fuses just to be sure... nothing made a dent in the 25 ma Now, there’s every chance that something could have opened after testing so once the car is up and running, I’ll go thru it again In the meantime, if the battery connections pan out, what’s the next step? What would cause an immediate shut-down and total loss of electric? Thank you
 
Originally Posted By: Finz
Sorry guys... I should have been more thorough in original post Tested for drain 2 weeks ago with a fully charged battery... 12.xxx volts when test was done Made sure everything was off... only thing possibly pulling juice would be the clock Connected multi meter and draw was only 25 ma. Despite low draw, I pulled about 20 fuses just to be sure... nothing made a dent in the 25 ma Now, there’s every chance that something could have opened after testing so once the car is up and running, I’ll go thru it again In the meantime, if the battery connections pan out, what’s the next step? What would cause an immediate shut-down and total loss of electric? Thank you
See my post again:
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
There is no mention of voltage. To me that is issue #1. Sounds like a low to medium impedance short in the battery.
12.xx isn't good enough. Parasitic drain from the vehicle is irrelevant if the energy is dissipating inside the battery due to an internal short. A battery with such a short will discharge to 10.5v or lower as the cell is lost.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
There is no mention of voltage. To me that is issue #1. Sounds like a low to medium impedance short in the battery.
JHZR2... would that cause an immediate shut down of the vehicle once started. Just happened again: * Removed and cleaned the terminals and posts on the battery * Tested negative connection/ohms across several areas in the engine compartment * Made certain the absolutely nothing was on inside the car. Even turned off electric side door switch as well as auto light switch when opening any door - set up jumper pack and car turned over full bore but didn’t start. Give it a few minutes rest, turned it over and it fired right up. Before I could even depress the gas pedal, immediate shut down. I mean everything on the dash went completely black and turning the key didn’t absolutely nothing I hear what you’re saying about the potential for an internal battery problem, but once started, the alternator kicks in, right? Pretty much instantaneously...? Not arguing the point as all because I’m a babe in the woods here, but if the car starts and then dies immediately, doesn’t that point to a problem outside of the battery? The battery did it’s job How would I check for an impedance short within the battery? This is starting to get on my nerves Thank you
 
IMHO 25mA is too much and will cause the battery to drain. I assume this has happened quite a bit and the battery is probably had it. You all circuits off should be around 5-10 mA. Had this very same thing happen to me a few years ago on a ford Taurus. It turned out to be one of the circuit boards on the radio face. Its very hard to tell anymore what the base current draw is as there are so meany timed circuits that are actuated after the car is shut off and doors closed. Always best to start with pulling the main engine fuse box fuses first.
 
You need to have the battery and alternator tested. The draw is not the cause. Besides the obvious battery causes, a bad alternator rectifier diode can cause this. If you can drive it to a store, it can betested for free. A quick home test if you get it running is a multimeter in ac mode (google ripple voltage, alternator, etc).
 
Originally Posted By: SHOZ
IMHO 25mA is too much and will cause the battery to drain. I assume this has happened quite a bit and the battery is probably had it. You all circuits off should be around 5-10 mA. Had this very same thing happen to me a few years ago on a ford Taurus. It turned out to be one of the circuit boards on the radio face. Its very hard to tell anymore what the base current draw is as there are so meany timed circuits that are actuated after the car is shut off and doors closed. Always best to start with pulling the main engine fuse box fuses first.
25mA is totally normal, start getting in the 100mA and higher range and you need to start looking more closely. A bad ignition switch can also cause all sorts of gremlins.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
25mA is totally normal, start getting in the 100mA and higher range and you need to start looking more closely. A bad ignition switch can also cause all sorts of gremlins.
That’s what I’m starting to think/wonder. Had similar shut down dilemma in daughter’s ‘99 accord which I posted about a couple years ago...was really hoping that, because the accord would run then die while driving, this was different in that it won’t even run. But... symptoms are identical when failure occurs That ignition replacement job was lousy... hands were like hamburger when finished Is there any way to test the ignition?
 
Originally Posted By: Finz
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
There is no mention of voltage. To me that is issue #1. Sounds like a low to medium impedance short in the battery.
JHZR2... would that cause an immediate shut down of the vehicle once started. Just happened again: * Removed and cleaned the terminals and posts on the battery * Tested negative connection/ohms across several areas in the engine compartment * Made certain the absolutely nothing was on inside the car. Even turned off electric side door switch as well as auto light switch when opening any door - set up jumper pack and car turned over full bore but didn’t start. Give it a few minutes rest, turned it over and it fired right up. Before I could even depress the gas pedal, immediate shut down. I mean everything on the dash went completely black and turning the key didn’t absolutely nothing I hear what you’re saying about the potential for an internal battery problem, but once started, the alternator kicks in, right? Pretty much instantaneously...? Not arguing the point as all because I’m a babe in the woods here, but if the car starts and then dies immediately, doesn’t that point to a problem outside of the battery? The battery did it’s job How would I check for an impedance short within the battery? This is starting to get on my nerves Thank you
Yes it can. A decent internal short can cause real odd issues. One time the wife and I drove out to Chicago. Were driving just fine, were in western Indiana and decided to get gas before going into the city. Car was running perfect. Shut the car down for getting gas, after which, when we went to turn it on, the gauges went wacky and nothing worked. A passerby offered to give us a jump. Nothing. They even sat with a revving engine to help charge my battery. Nothing. Just what sounded like grinding of gears in the speedometer and a few lights coming on. Finally got a tow truck to come. It couldn't do it with the heavy cables, when we cranked it with the key. Finally had to jumper the starter with a screwdriver while connected to the truck. It started. Bought a new battery and took the risk of shutting down the car to install. That was it. Old battery was like 10.5V, textbook for one cell being shorted. Essentially all the jumping energy was being dissipated in that short. Some stuff could illuminate at 10.5v but not be functional. You're right, the alternator should come on. In my case it did. But in y case ai had a stiff 12v source to excite the alternator. Those jumper packs may not allow a long enough, strong enough 12v to excite the alternator field properly. Then it would immediately shut off. I guess the test is to put a donor car or a spare actual 12v battery, fully charged, on with real jumper cables, and see what happens. It would allow the 12v system to be maintained long enough to get the alternator going. If your alternator is the problem, then that's another story too.
 
25ma is nothing. 1000ma would be one amp, which over 16 hours would be 1/3 of the battery's capacity. 25ma is like 2.5% of that. Car quits immediately? Is alternator working? what is voltage with car running? what is voltage with car running AND all electrical loads on (rear defog, full HVAC fans, all lights)? -m
 
Originally Posted By: meep
25ma is nothing.
Yeah, the only car I've ever measured is my BMW and that can draw up to 40mA and still be normal. It will take quite a bit more just after shut-off and then goes down in steps after a minute or two. It had a problem a while back where it was taking nearly 4A, that turned out to be a faulty switch for the trunk lights (diagnosed via fuse pulls). It then did the same thing about a year later but this time it was still draining no matter what fuse was pulled. That turned out to be a defective alternator.
 
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