Battery Dead Every Other Day ONLY in the Winter

[Pockets]

I have been dealing with this issue every since the truck was new. The stealership has blamed it on the additional lights that I have put on the truck and them causing a draw. Well that's not the reason as they are wired correctly and it was just an excuse for them.

I have been blessed with the fun task of popping the hood and hooking up the jumper box every other or everyday during the months the temperature drops below 35 degrees F. Then dragging out the cord and hooking up the charger during the day to have it last another day or two. 

So my question is what in the hell could be doing this. It has not happened ONCE during the summer months (which is why I rule out the lights or other accessories). ONLY in the cold, and I have noticed it typically below 35 degrees.

The truck drives no more or no less in the winter vs the summer. So take your best whack at it. I'm trading the truck in soon (hopefully) but I would really like to last through the winter and it's just a huge PITA to do this every freaking day. 

[Blown F-150]

Well, this sounds really familiar...

I know you don't have a whole lot of aftermarket stuff, but in my case it was the relay on my stereo amps that wouldn't kick off in the colder weather. I also just happened to help my buddy with the '06 Mark LT, his turned out to be the relay on the gauge cluster.

Amp draw test is your only way really find out. It is easy once you get it set up.

the below is stolen...
The current (Amps) is what you need to be measuring. The value will change instantly depending on how much power is being drawn from the battery.

***** Note: Whilst the multimeter is connected following the instructions below, DO NOT turn the ignition switch on or turn any high power items on (such as the headlights),The leads of a multimeter are not large enough to handle this amount of power. As the car appears to be drawing a very large current (based on the time it takes your battery to go flat), I would even go as far as to suggest you at least pull out any fuse rated 10A and above (and preferably all the fuses) and all relays before connecting the multimeter, then measure the current changes as you put them back in.


To measure the current (Amps) being drawn from the battery:

Disconnect the battery negative terminal (disconnecting and using the positive terminal for testing as you indicated in your original post is not advised as an accidental slip with the battery cable or multimeter leads could ground the wiring, causing blown fuses/electronics or at worst a fire).

Set your multimeter to read Amps. If your multimeter can read AC or DC Amps then you need to use DC Amps. Use the largest Amp scale the multimeter will accept (typically 10A on a small DIY multimeter, this is the bare minimum you will probably need). Some multimeters will require you to plug the red lead into a different socket when you are reading Amps, please check first.

Note: If the current drain of your car is as high as I suspect it is, this next step may cause the multimeter to go off the scale, blow a fuse or heat up it's wires. Be ready to disconnect it.

Connect the negative lead of the multimeter to the negative battery terminal. Connect the other lead of the multimeter to the ground lead you removed from the battery.

You should now have a reading in Amps indicating the current drain. If you pulled all the fuses and relays before beginning the test it should be reading below 0.1A and probably zero. If the value is still high then I would first suspect the ignition switch is not disconnecting the power correctly when you turn the ignition off (based on your observation that the dash computer has remained on with the key removed).

You should now be able to remove/replace fuses and relays and disconnect components until you locate the culprit. You may see very small fluctuations in the readings but this is normal. What you are looking for is a larger change, say 0.2A and above. Good luck and let us know how you get on.


As a rough guide, a 12 watt trunk bulb will draw approx 1 Amp, a 60 watt head light bulb 5 Amps (Watts divided by 12(volts) = Amps)

Batteries have a power rating printed on them.
A 70Ah (Amp hour) battery, for example, is rated to provide 1 Amp for 70 hours (at approximately 12 volts for the whole time). If the current drain is 2 Amps then it will provide 12v for half the time (35 hours) and at 3 amps it will provide 12v for a third of the time (23.3 hours). If your car is draining the battery in two hours then there is a very large current drain (somewhere in the region of 35 Amps depending on the battery rating), larger than most fuses can handle.

When the car is turned off and depending on the equipment installed in the car which is permanantly on (e.g. alarm, immobiliser) you should be aiming for a current drain of less than 0.1A (4 weeks using a 70Ah battery).

[Too Stroked]

Steve pretty much nailed it - as usual. And as for dealerships first blaming any aftermarket electronics, yes, they do. Since my son worked in that world, I can also tell you that 95% of the time or more, the aftermarket stuff was the culprit too. Just do what Steve suggested - when it's cold outside - and you'll easily find the problem.

I recently discovered a similar problem to yours on my Tacoma. Brandon & I immediately did the parasitic draw test. We pretty quickly found that the relay for the halogen rotators in my overhead light bar had gone bad. (It was less than 1 year old.) Yup, the aftermarket stuff did it.

BTW, when I traded my 2010 F-150 in, it was doing the same thing yours is. Hopefully they fixed it for the new owner.

[Blown F-150]

Steve pretty much nailed it - as usual. And as for dealerships first blaming any aftermarket electronics, yes, they do. Since my son worked in that world, I can also tell you that 95% of the time or more, the aftermarket stuff was the culprit too. Just do what Steve suggested - when it's cold outside - and you'll easily find the problem.

I recently discovered a similar problem to yours on my Tacoma. Brandon & I immediately did the parasitic draw test. We pretty quickly found that the relay for the halogen rotators in my overhead light bar had gone bad. (It was less than 1 year old.) Yup, the aftermarket stuff did it.

BTW, when I traded my 2010 F-150 in, it was doing the same thing yours is. Hopefully they fixed it for the new owner.

Giving Steve credit before he even posted! I know he is good, but I don't know about THAT good! 

[Rollingrock]

Steve pretty much nailed it - as usual. And as for dealerships first blaming any aftermarket electronics, yes, they do. Since my son worked in that world, I can also tell you that 95% of the time or more, the aftermarket stuff was the culprit too. Just do what Steve suggested - when it's cold outside - and you'll easily find the problem.

I recently discovered a similar problem to yours on my Tacoma. Brandon & I immediately did the parasitic draw test. We pretty quickly found that the relay for the halogen rotators in my overhead light bar had gone bad. (It was less than 1 year old.) Yup, the aftermarket stuff did it.

BTW, when I traded my 2010 F-150 in, it was doing the same thing yours is. Hopefully they fixed it for the new owner.

Giving Steve credit before he even posted! I know he is good, but I don't know about THAT good! 

ZING.   Well played

[sscully]

Giving Steve credit before he even posted! I know he is good, but I don't know about THAT good! 

Wow, I am so good, I gave an answer while I was correcting the CRV via TK 
- That is some serious ninja skills right there...

[Kitzy]

You gotta give the man a break.  Did you see the length of that post?  One would naturally assume that came from Steve. 

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[sscully]

You gotta give the man a break.  Did you see the length of that post?  One would naturally assume that came from Steve. 

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

LIKE !!!