1995 Ls Battery Drain

[Heavymental]

i have a battery drain, ive check my alternator ps fluid leak etc all is good there.

i put a meter to the battery and got the following readings:

0.18 amp

radio fuse pulled it read 0.05

does the CD changer eject button suppose to work while key is out/car is off?

[LSPaul]

I can't tell you for certain on that vintage of LS, but the changer in my '93 is always powered on, and I can eject the CD cassette with the radio/car off/key out.

Paul

[curiousB]

Modern cars have a lot electronics that are often in various states of being powered up. As a result there is a phenomenon known as key off current. It is not zero. I am sure there is a spec for your car if you search for it.

Be careful measuring key off current. It is not just as simple as plugging in an ammeter and taking a reading. The doors and lights need to be closed and off. I am not sure if the LS has one but a Ford I have has a hood switch. If the hood switch doesn't detect hood closure then car never migrates to its low power state (8mA). If you see a hood switch spoof it out with a wire tie so it thinks the hood is closed while doing your measurement. Lastly set it all up then come back in 1 hour. The same Ford I mentioned doesn't drop down to the lowest power state until 31 minutes (in fact to the second if you use a stop watch!) after last activity detected by onboard systems (door close, ignition off, ...). So if you get a higher reading right after an activity don't worry, it may drop to proper dormant state a while afterwards.

Now if the reading is too high after all of this the way to check it is to start pulling fuses one at a time to see which circuit is drawing the rogue power. Maybe an amplifier or CD unit has leaky capacitors and is drawing too much idle current. The point is you have to wait the period of time it takes the system to migrate to lowest power state. So again with my Ford that was 31 minutes each test!!... with 40 or so fuses it can take a long time. You might find leaving a door open and spoofing the door switch will become an important thing to do so you don't keep interrupting the state timer..... otherwise pack a cooler and enjoy the weekend of testing...

Also, a fairly common problem is leaky diodes in the alternator stator. The alternator may seem to work fine but when the car is turned off it draws current in the reverse direction. You can test this by disconnecting the charge wire from the alternator and repeating the test. If no difference the stator diodes are probably OK.

[landar]

curiousB brings up a good point. That is, you must wait a certain amount of time for the electronics to go into its quiescent state. Do a little test and see if current draw remains at 180ma for over an hour. If so, there is most definitely a problem.

I would like to know more of why you decided to check in the first place. Dead battery after just one day... one week? And is the CD changer/radio stock or aftermarket? Any 'mods' lately?

[Heavymental]

I would like to know more of why you decided to check in the first place. Dead battery after just one day... one week? And is the CD changer/radio stock or aftermarket? Any 'mods' lately?

my car would die after sitting 3-4 days. Car is all stock, stereo changer is stock.

[1990LS400]

Try cleaning the battery terminals and cable clamps until they shine like new and then tighten the clamps VERY securely. Use a battery terminal / clamp cleaning tool - a few bucks at an autoparts store. I had an even worse problem with my 00 LS until recently - battery wouldn't start the car after sitting overnight. Cleaning the terminals and clamps and making sure that the clamps made perfect contact with the battery terminals solved the problem and the car now starts after sitting for days unused. Be sure to apply a thin coat of corrosion inhibiter (e.g. petroleum jelly) to he terminals/clamps after cleaning and tightening the clamps.