Well that’s awesome, I went out to go drive the truck and the battery is dead. It always seems to have a slow start like the battery is weak but at this point it is no longer holding a charge. I have replace it multiple times. If I don’t drive the truck every day it usually ends up dead. And apparently just rebuilding the engine and changing nothing with the electrical did not fix it. Meh.
Oh Youtube! How to find a “vampire” power drain. That brought up some strangeness but one good lead with the correct term “parasitic” power drain. It is a pretty decent video and the guy walking you through it can speak relatively clearly without annoying the crap out of me. The process seems pretty simple.
- Make sure everything is off
- under hood light unplugged
- door switch closed
- key in off position
- Check the large fuses under the hood by putting the negative lead on one side and positive on the side of the two small holes on the top of the fuse that connect to each metal leg.
- If the Ohms present don’t drop to 0.00 then there is current flowing through it. If there is current note how much it is showing. There is a chart that shows how much current drop is acceptable for the size of fuse. For me this is unnecessary since the blower is not on there should not be any draw going through the fuse.
- See what circuit it is for and check any fuses “downstream” of the fuse.
In my case the only fuse that had any significant current was for the Blower.
I reached into the truck and removed the blower switch that I had previously purchased since it had melted. Ah, I never looked to see what caused it to melt. Apparently it was drawing too much current. This is clearly what is killing the damn battery. At this point I feel pretty good that I am on the right track to fixing the issue. I am not going to get it done today, since it is 105º again and I am already soaked in my clothes. I am going to retreat back to the air conditioning.
With this new knowledge I am just going to slightly change my plans for fixing the AC. I will expand it to replace the ac controls, the fan motor and the fan resistors. I will also be careful to check the wires and replace any damaged ones. I can get a new harness for it but $150 is stupid steep for two feet of wiring.
Betty is back among the living and with a new diagnosis will be better than she’s been for a while.
