Hi all, I have been having intermittent problems with my battery dying in 01 dakota. The truck sits for days at a time and just recently had no charge after 2 days. I have already tested the battery itself which is fine and a few months old only.

I have now been carrying around a multimeter that detects amperage on it and checking every time I shut off the truck for a parasitic draw. It is usually only drawing around .01 amps which is acceptable. Well finally today I got a .16 amperage draw so I started pulling fuses. I pulled every fuse and relay and the last one which is the 20amp trans fuse immediately reduced the amp reading to a normal level. I'm assuming this is the culprit but not sure where to go from here. Could this be an ECM problem? I'm on my 2nd ECM from auto computer exchange.

Thanks

 

which engine, 4.7 or 3.9/5.2/5.9?

 

4.7l SLT 4WD

 

I'll have to check the FSM. What fuse location number is it, and is it on the side of the dash or under the hood?

160 mA still is not near enough to drain a battery other than over 2 or 3 weeks. Definitely not 2 or 3 days.

 

.016 or .16 ?


Next time you connect and see that reading, leave it connected and walk away for 15 minutes.

 

16 mA would take 2,180 hours to drain a 35 Ah battery. (90 days)

160 mA would take 218 hours to drain same 35 Ah battery. (9 days)

Only thing i can think of on the trans circuit would be a hung solenoid or relay.

But need to know which fuse number and where the fuse is before i can trace the FSM.

 

It is .16 Amps. I left the meter connected for around 30 minutes to confirm the charge wasn't temporary after I secured and left the vehicle.

I don't know the fuse location number but it is the only fuse labeled "20 AMP TRANS" under the hood.

 

Well, Intermittent problems are hard to find. Yes I still get a current reading with the 20 AMP TRANS fuse, but I think I found the culprit. .16 shouldn't drain the battery as quickly as it has been draining as magnethead was saying. I just parked the truck and the current keeps fluctuating every few seconds to a high amperage around or over 5amps. I started pulling fuses and when I removed the power seat fuse it stopped the fluctuation to where it settled at roughly .03ish. Not sure why the original trans fuse isn't reading as before but electrcial problems are sometimes strange and I'm also using a clamp on meter.

Now that I have it pinned on the power seat the temporary solution is pulling that fuse and putting it back in when adjustments need to be made. I don't know if the solution to this problem is worth the investment in time or money....

I'm still wondering if this could still be related to the ECM.

 

power seat would not be ran through any module. It's direct power to the seat, then the switches on the side route power from there. It's a passive circuit. Only thing i can think of that would draw power like that would be something tapped to that circuit, or a short. Also providing the diagram for the fuse i *think* you are referencing.

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