Evening all, noobie with electrical issue
 

Hey all,

Just got given a 2003 Civic 1.7 as a winter beater. I had the car sitting outside the house for a few days and battery went completely dead. I have checked both battery and alternator which are working fine so my next fault finding was for a parasitic amp draw.

Before removing fuses, I was pulling 140 milliamps, I went through each fuse one at a time. After I pulled fuse 14 under the hood, the amp draw dropped to 20mA.

My question is, what is fuse 14? says is an "option", I can't find any further info on it.

Many thanks in advance.

Re: Evening all, noobie with electrical issue
 

The option fuse supplies power to the dash fusebox: fuses #2, 3, 5, 15, and 16.



HTH

Parasitic Amp draw on 2003
 

Hey all,

Just got given a 2003 Civic 1.7 as a winter beater. I had the car sitting outside the house for a few days and battery went completely dead. I have checked both battery and alternator which are working fine so my next fault finding was for a parasitic amp draw.

Before removing fuses, I was pulling 140 milliamps, I went through each fuse one at a time. After I pulled fuse 14 under the hood, the amp draw dropped to 10-20mA.

My question is, fuse 14 under hood supplies under dash fuses 2,3,5,15 and 16.

I pulled all the fuses under the dash (2,3,5,15 and 16) replaced fuse 14 under hood and the amp draw shoots back up to 140mA?

Anyone got any ideas?

Many thanks in advance.

Re: Parasitic Amp draw on 2003
 

Continue posting in your original thread.



Moving to original thread....

Re: Evening all, noobie with electrical issue
 

Why is there a link to Walmart in your post?



SO..you removed 2,3,5,15,16 and the draw is still present?

Are there any accessories? #14 also feeds power to socket "U" in the dash box. Looks like dealer installed foglights would have used it, but someone could have used that terminal for power for damn near anything.


http://www.skidmore.edu/~pdwyer/e/images/udfrb.gif

Re: Evening all, noobie with electrical issue
 

Possibly the same reason why you have posted a link to "EBAY" for "dash box"? lol

I posted in the other thread because it appeared there is a lot more traffic on that particular part of the forum and needed answers quickly.

Thanks for your help, I will replace fuse 14 under the hood and pull "U" under the dash and do another amp draw check. As you said, it could have been used for a number of things but nothing obvious I can see other than bone stock.

Re: Evening all, noobie with electrical issue
 

My hotlinked pic of the fusebox came from a google image search, and is from skidmore.edu. That's the only thing I intentionally put in my post.

If you are seeing "vibrant" hover ads on random words in anyones posts, you need adblock plus LOL. (Those were the last ads I saw here anyway, maybe the site is doing something different now.)


And....I totally missed your ebay link to the alternator in the same post with the links to Walmart 14A glass fuses. (That's the part I couldn't figure out, it made no sense to me.)

This isn't a chatroom, I just happen to check in here more than once a day and look under "todays posts". Please allow minimum 24 hours for replies from any others that wish to respond.

I hope you aren't buying new fuses to replace good fuses.

The wiring diagram doesn't show much else in the way of factory connections to that circuit.
Any chance the dash fusebox could have gotten wet?

Re: Evening all, noobie with electrical issue
 

Leave the amp meter hooked up for a while and see if the current drops down after say 3-5 minutes idle with doors and trunk closed.

Re: Evening all, noobie with electrical issue
 

No, I'm just pulling the fuses when the car has been sitting for over 20 minutes. This eliminates items the possibility that some electrical items might still be live when the car has just been turned off.

I have also pulled all the lights in the trunk, still the same. Not much chance of water ingress either. I am still yet to pull "U" from under dash but nights are drawing in by the time I'm finishing work.


CRAIG. My ammeter isn't strong enough to have the car idling with everything else live. I can only measure 10A max.
I always thought that its best to check a parasitic amp draw with KOE, simulating an "overnight" scenario?

Thanks both for your advice.

Re: Evening all, noobie with electrical issue
 

KOE?

I'd expect you would blow meter fuses if you try to have the car running.
If checking for a drain then do it with the car off.

However, try to install the ammeter without breaking the battery circuit, just as if the car had been turned off normally. Key out of the ignition, doors locked if you usually lock them and hood latch tripped with a screwdriver to simulate "closed".

If you break contact between the car and the battery while connecting your meter, some draw readings might be erroneous since this action can "wake up" computers.

I have used jumper wires, or used a battery jump start pack so there is always battery power to the car while connecting my ammeter (DVOM).

(Now I have a nice clamp on inductive low reading ammeter that I use for checking draw. No need for me to disconnect cables anymore. AND I can take it around and clamp around almost any single wire out of a bundle anywhere it will fit in the car.)

I'll usually allow at least 10 minutes for the computers to time out and go to 'sleep' mode.
Newer cars take longer.
Some other car brands I have encountered have taken a full hour to go to 'sleep'.

A general rule of thumb is less than 50 milliamps parasitic draw.
A 7th gen will generally be about 20mA as you have with the fuse out.




Was anything plugged in to the "U" socket?

Got any other electrical gremlins?
Try twisting the key in the doors, see if the 140mA draw changes.

Re: Evening all, noobie with electrical issue
 

Was talking about parasitic..... not when running.

What's KOE ??

Re: Evening all, noobie with electrical issue
 

KOER and KOEO were Ford-speak for 'key on engine running' and 'key on engine off'...

IDK what KOE is though.