I have a 2009 Grand Caravan that is having a battery problem. When the car sits for 3-4 days I will have a dead battery. I have had it to a shop and they told me that the car was drawing to much current and they traced the problem to a bad fuse/controller module so they went aead and replaced it. I picked the car up and brought it home and let it sit for four day the proble was still there. I noticed that with the key off the radio CD player would cycle when the door was opened. o I went back to the repair shop and we removed the radio from the car. The problem is still there. Today I did some testing with a amp meter in the negitive lead of the battery. I noticed some very strang behavior. With the door closed, windows closed, and the hood switch taped closed I was reading 180ma. ( I waited for the car to go a sleep). THis seems high but than I heard a sound comming from the right front side of the car. I put my head under the hood a heard a sound like a very small humming. This sound whould cycle as well. So I got a stop watch and documented the cycle both the time and the current draw.
I waited for the sound to come on and called this T0 current 1.45 amps, about 25 sec later current dropped to 650 milamps, 20 secs later dropped to 280 milamps, 30 secs 180 milamps, 4 mins later the sound came back and the current draw was 280 milamps about 25 secs later current dropped to 180 milamps, 4 min 30 sec later the sound would come back andthe current would jump to 1.45 amps and the cycle would start again.
So the cycle is about 10-11 mins and we have a lot of current being drawn. What is located in this right front side of the car possibly dehind the clove box that I can hear when I put my head down into the engine compartment on that side of the car that woud be cycling.

Thanks
George

 

measure amperage between negative battery cable and negative battery post and report..

If it's over 0.03A start pulling fuses till the meters reads around that.. You probably have like 0.18A or so right now..

 

Ok I pulled every fuse in the TIPM with no change in the current draw. The cycle that I described in the initial post has not changed. The sound that I hear every 5 minutes is still there. The sound is coming from behind the glove box. The current is .180A for a time and it goes to .28A. This repeats every 10 min or so. The sound is heard twice during this cycle with the max current being 1.45A.
I did discover something when I got into the car after I reconnected the battery cable. If I turn the key to the on position and wait for all the dash lights to go out I would next turn the heater fan on and than off I hear the sound coming from the same location as I heard when I was pulling fuses with the car fully a sleep. So I believe it has to do with some kind of control motor or fan that is located behind the dash that is turning on when the car is a sleep. There must be a sensor that is being triggered every 5 minutes and the computer turns on the device.
The current during sleep mode is much to high .18/.28A. You indicted that it should be .030-.050A.
Would the dealer be able to attach a computer and monitor what is happening during the sleep mode to tell what is turning on?
I have seen forum post about new FLASH code to fix problems in the TIPM unit. Does this sound like one of those issues? This problem just started 3 weeks ago (the car has 90K miles)


Thanks
George

 

One other thing. Does the Caravan have a second fuse panel hidden away somewhere or possible single fuses also hidden away?


Thanks

 

They change too much even by trim options to tell you what you have. Most have non-service internal fuses.

You definitely have a parasitic draw. 0.015-0.03 is the universal stock draw for everything. The bay panel should of found it since it covers all the circuit trunks..

All the AC stuff is where you describe. It could even be the control panel glove box light.

 

Any thought as to what the noise could be, it sounds like a small motor. If it was a light I would not hear the sound.