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My battery went totally dead after my car hadn't been started for 2 days. It was 16 months old and out of curiosity I thought I'd check for a parasitic draw. I ran the car, shut it off, pulled the negative terminal, and found it to be pulling 60 milliamps through my meter. However, it only lasts for a minute or so and then it drops to a constant 4 milliamps. When I pull the #9 fuse which reads "backup" in the underhood fusebox, it drops to zero. I don't have the wiring diagrams outside of what is shown in haynes and on several diagrams it suggests #9 is hot all the time. I'm thinking that should mean it has voltage but not necessarily flowing electricity.

Anyway, does this sound like a parasitic draw, albeit a very small one? I pulled every single fuse and nothing changed the 4 mA reading except #9.

2001, LX

 
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BTW - put in new battery and it was fine. However, it is has been hardstarting for a while and it is very sporatic - sometimes it will fire right up, sometimes it takes 4-5 crank, rest, 4-5 more and then it goes. I'm currently getting the fittings I need to check the fuel pressure.

 
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The 4ma draw is probably for the computer memory and radio. That wouldn't kill your battery in a 2 day span. Your battery could not be holding a charge, you can get it tested.

 
Rep Power: 518

4ma is too low! LOL. You need moar!

j/k, that's a great number....If it is accurate, then that amount of draw is not your problem. (You positive it's not 40mA?)

10-30mA draw is average, and roughly 50mA is the max allowed (rule of thumb). A good, fully charged battery would probably last about a month even with a 30mA draw on it.

I'm thinking about 15-18mA is what I usually see on a 7th gen.
That's supplying some power for the PCM, other control units, radio, clock, everything that has to retain a memory while the key is not in the ignition.
Yes it has to be powered all the time, and yes it is "flowing electricity" to all the items that use have to use it. (As evidenced by your own observation: "it drops to zero.")

Could have tried disconnecting the battery over that period of time to see if the problem is the car, or inside the battery. I have seen plenty of batteries that would drain themselves due to an internal malfunction..

 
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lol, thanks for the help. Well, I will have to think about that actually. I did change the scale on my meter midway so it may have been 40 but I will have to check it again. Either way, it is good to hear that I don't have a parasitic draw.

But I now have a brand new battery so I'm pretty sure it is either the fuel or the starter. Since it starts sometimes np I'm thinking the starter is OK. I'm going to measure the fuel pressure and may pull the sending unit and just see how everything looks. I can run the fuel pump diagnostic but it sounds to me like it may be the problem. See, a couple months ago I was on my way home from work and it started howling like a sick dog. It was late and a weeknight and I had to work the next day so I ended up pulling it and replacing just the pump with the one that Autozone sells aftermarket. Seemed to work fine.

However, now, the times it hard starts, it sort of sounds "quieter" when it kicks on. Once the car will start just fine and I turn it off and then on and listen to the pump it is much louder so I'm thinking that it may be the culprit.

Got any tips on the fuel pressure test? I bought a kit at Harbor Freight but the adaptors are all wrong. I thought I could get the right connections at O'Reilly or AZ but they seem to all be Domestic. So, I plan to buy a piece of fuel line and connectors from Honda and cut it so I can get the right parts.

 
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No real tips on pressure testing other than see what pressure is at the time the car is acting up.

You just need the correct adapters to insert the "tee" fitting inline using the quick-connects, and I thought they were similar to a GM or Ford type that would be in a master tester kit.
If you can't fab up something......IDK.

At work we have a set of adapters that were sent by Honda.....and it's really pretty rare to need to use them (Hondas pumps are dang reliable, unlike Big3)
I couldn't tell you where to look though.