Es 300 Battery Dead After Several Days Of Sitting

[kljames]

Help! my 98 ES300 battery drains after several days of not being driven.

All the diagnostics known to me have not found the problem.

charging system good

battery good

parasitic load test shows over 30mA load at all times. no fusable loads seem to be the problem.

Any suggestions?

[George_Jetson]

How much over 30ma is the load? At around 30, it would be considered normal and I would recomend changing the battery. If it is a lot higher then something is remaining powered up, and you will have to find it. Removing the fuses to isolate the draw is a good first step, but there are some components that have fusable links, have you disconnected the links? I hope this helps a little bit.

[kljames]

How much over 30ma is the load? At around 30, it would be considered normal and I would recomend changing the battery. If it is a lot higher then something is remaining powered up, and you will have to find it. Removing the fuses to isolate the draw is a good first step, but there are some components that have fusable links, have you disconnected the links? I hope this helps a little bit.

I haven't tryed any fusable links, I guess I had better get an electical schematic to find them.

Do you think the dealer will give me one?

[George_Jetson]

Check the sticky out labled Merry Christmas, it has links to factory service manuals. If the electrical schmetics are not there, then I would recomend a company called ALLDATA. I use it professionally, they have not only the diagrams, but also connector locations, and pinouts. It is one of the most complete programs available, MITCHELL ON DEMAND is another good one.

You did not mention what you draw was,,, one thing that you could try is disconnecting the alternator connectors (both the heavy gauge wire, and the smaller connector). I recomend disconecting the battery grd cable before trying to remove the heavy cable going to the alt. If the wrench slips and hits any metal, you will get heavy arcing that can give you even more problems. It is a good idea to disconnect the battery grd before doing any major electrical work.

[kljames]

My meter only reads to 30mA, so i don't know how high the mA load is.

Sorry but I do not understand the sticky out label reference, Merry Christmas.

[Lexucan]

Sorry but I do not understand the sticky out label reference, Merry Christmas.

George meant the pinned thread at the top of the 92-06 ES250/300/330 forum page entitled "Merry Christmas! Factory Service Manuals"

That thread will lead you to this site:

http://www.phatg20.net/component/option,co...c,select/id,16/

where you can download the factory service manual for a '97 ES300.

[George_Jetson]

If your meter only goes up to 30ma, go to Radio Shack and purchase a "0.47 Ohm/5W 5% Wirewound Resistor

Model: 271-130 | Catalog #: 271-130" for $1.69. Disconnect you ground lead and then put one lead of the resistor on the battery, the other on the ground lead. Then use your volt meter and read the voltage. Using Ohms law Volt/resistance= current , you can determine how much current you are actually pulling. Carefull not to touch the body of the resistor, if you are pulling a lot of current, it will get quit hot. Let it sit for at least 40 mins to insure that everything has gone into sleep mode before troubleshooting. It is important to figure how much you are really pulling, because if it is only around 30 to 40 ma, then you don't have a problem with draw.

[kljames]

Thanks for all your help. I'll try this out.

[Rhoderman]

Have a good friend close the trunk while you're in it. See if the light stays on.

The other culprits would be the glove box light or the vanity mirror lights.

When it's really dark, check for any signs of light.

[kljames]

I am getting a 70.2 mA draw on the battery at all time.

now I guess I can go back through the parasitic load diagnostics and try to find the problem.

I can't believe I am the first to have this problem.

[kljames]

The DCC fuse has no amperage rating on it and I cannot find anything in the manual that tells about the circuit.

this seems to be the problem area.

Any thoughts?

[George_Jetson]

I was looking in alldata, I did not see where the DCC fuse is located, which fuse box is it located in? 70ma is a little too high (keeping in mind that the power resistors typically have a 10% tollerance rating, which means that it can be 63 to 77 ma draw). I know the draw is a little high, but enough to drain it after a few days? There may be more to it. You had the battery tested, do you remember what type of tester they used? Did it have a digital meter, or was it a older analogue meter? How old is the battery? The heat down here in Tx is very hard on batteries, the issue you are having may be the battery.

[kljames]

The DCC circuit turns out to be a short pin. This short pin feeds the Dome and ECU-B circuits.

the ECU-B circuit seems to have about 49 mA load on it. I will have to go to the component by component

trouble shooting method.

Atleast I am gettting closer I believe.

Battery in the car is new, the mechanics that were looking at the problem actually changed the alternator and 3 different batteries.

Maybe it will be something easy like the electric seat controls.................

[Keltilexus]

HI,

I am having the same problem on my Lexus GS 300. No help from dealer. After 3 days I need a jump start. Though at one point, my car was unused for 2 months, but i dont think that is the culprit. I would be glad to follow ur updates and learn about fixing the problem.

[Rhoderman]

Parking lights and the Car Battery.

It was (and still is in some circumstances) a legal requirement to display parking lights on some roads, for times when your car is left parked in the dark. Some schools of thought believe you should never leave lights on as it will drain the battery, others say that’s the whole idea what the CB Ampere/hr capacity is for because it's being recharged. Then there are some cars with ancillary electrical equipment (alarm, clock, cellphone etc) which when left drain current which over time can add up to a significant A/hr drain. Let's do some sums, say the current is 0.05A, over a 24-hr period that's 1.2 A/hrs, after a week it's over 8 A/hrs. Whatever the situation, there still needs to be sufficient capacity to left start the engine (see above), a CB with reduced capacity will then fail at this point. Don’t forget a battery with greatly reduced capacity will still happily start a car, providing there's at least one A/hr left out of the 40-50 or so original A/hrs it had when it was new!

Above stolen from:

http://www.far-out.demon.co.uk/cardiy/battery.htm

I wonder if maybe your battery isn't getting fully charged when it is running. Measure the voltage across the battery when the engine is running. It should be 14 to 14.5 I think. You might be charging your battery only to 20% capacity and the "normal" parasitic drain is killing it overnight, where if you were charged to 100%, it woudn't even be an issue.

Measure the parasitic current in another vehicle. If it's roughly the same as yours, you're chasing a ghost and your problem isn't the drain current, but the charge state of the battery.

Another thing I've run across is a dead cell in a battery. If you roll the starter for a bit, but don't let it start, you should still measure over 12V. Close to 10V after rolling the starter indicates a dead cell (2V per cell on a lead-acid battery).

Good Luck!!

[Skypilat]

I had the same problem with my 2004 ES330. After checking quiescent current (~ 35 ma ) and ruling out battery and alternator, it turned out to be a loose negative ground connection at the battery. The clamp was worn and slightly stretched I could move the connection by pushing it. I torqued down the screw clamp and had continuous days of start free operation.