Battery Drain Problem

[Joshua TheHouse Schreder]

2002 Lincoln LS V8 - Recently did the valve cover gaskets along with coils and plugs. Also purchased a new battery. I am having battery drain issues, if I leave the car sit for a few days the battery goes completely dead. just curious if this could be something I did wrong when I did the valve cover gaskets or something unrelated? If I jumpstart the car it runs fine, but there is something that is draining the battery at somewhat of a rapid pace.

 

[joegr]

Probably not related.
Are you sure that it is draining as it sits, instead of it just not being charged by the alternator while running?
Have you tried disconnecting the battery when you park it, and then reconnecting it a couple of days later when you need to start the car again? (To see if the battery drains by itself.)
Also, how old is the battery? Have you had it load tested?

 

[jrand]

he said new battery.
follow the battery reconnect procedure buddy. its in the owners manual.
doing a drive cycle while youre at it is prolly smart too. thats in the shop manual, but its been posted here. search for it.

new battery will kill itself if you dont follow the procedures bc it will save a bunch of parameters and sh_t to the pcm after the car turns off the first few times you fire it up with a new battery. if you do a drive cycle it saves most of the sh_t while the car is running instead of trying to do it all on battery with the car turned off.

following the above advice still doesnt rule out the myriad of other thigns that could also be contributing to battery drain.. but if you didnt have these symptoms with the old battery then the above advice will probably cure the problem

 

[1LoudLS]

new battery will kill itself if you dont follow the procedures bc it will save a bunch of parameters and sh_t to the pcm after the car turns off the first few times you fire it up with a new battery. if you do a drive cycle it saves most of the sh_t while the car is running instead of trying to do it all on battery with the car turned off.

never once have I ever seen a new battery kill itself after being installed without there being a pre existing drain problem (which 99% of the time that is the case is what caused the prior battery to fail and need replacement)


I get it, parasitic draining problems can be a b!tch to find and may confuse a lot of people, but he is not having a dead battery symptom because he didn't fukcing follow a drive cycle precedure. he clearly said that this happens if the car sits "for a few days". there is no way that his computer is staying active long enough to kill a battery (especially a brand new battery) simply because it is "saving parameters". thats just total nonsense!


this is one of those instances where you really should know something about how a car functions before you offer advice to someone, especially a newer member who doesn't have the benefit of being around long enough to actually see what members know what they are talking about and which members either make sh!t up or give the same answer no matter what the symptoms are... (with the exception of coils lol)

following the above advice still doesnt rule out the myriad of other thigns that could also be contributing to battery drain..

your right, it is clearly a test to rule out the possibility of the new battery being defective with an internal problem... as mentioned right after said advice...

 

[LS4me]

never once have I ever seen a new battery kill itself after being installed without there being a pre existing drain problem (which 99% of the time that is the case is what caused the prior battery to fail and need replacement)


I get it, parasitic draining problems can be a b!tch to find and may confuse a lot of people, but he is not having a dead battery symptom because he didn't fukcing follow a drive cycle precedure. he clearly said that this happens if the car sits "for a few days". there is no way that his computer is staying active long enough to kill a battery (especially a brand new battery) simply because it is "saving parameters". thats just total nonsense!


this is one of those instances where you really should know something about how a car functions before you offer advice to someone, especially a newer member who doesn't have the benefit of being around long enough to actually see what members know what they are talking about and which members either make sh!t up or give the same answer no matter what the symptoms are... (with the exception of coils lol)

your right, it is clearly a test to rule out the possibility of the new battery being defective with an internal problem... as mentioned right after said advice...

The ignore feature is quite useful. Especially when the answer to everything is some mythical drive cycle that, in my 43 years of driving, I have never heard about. Seems to me were it so important the manufacturer should do the procedure before offering the vehicle for sale!!

I had an apparent battery drain that I resolved by replacing the starter relay. If that is of any help.....

 

[jrand]

never once have I ever seen a new battery kill itself after being installed without there being a pre existing drain problem (which 99% of the time that is the case is what caused the prior battery to fail and need replacement)


I get it, parasitic draining problems can be a b!tch to find and may confuse a lot of people, but he is not having a dead battery symptom because he didn't fukcing follow a drive cycle precedure. he clearly said that this happens if the car sits "for a few days". there is no way that his computer is staying active long enough to kill a battery (especially a brand new battery) simply because it is "saving parameters". thats just total nonsense!


this is one of those instances where you really should know something about how a car functions before you offer advice to someone, especially a newer member who doesn't have the benefit of being around long enough to actually see what members know what they are talking about and which members either make sh!t up or give the same answer no matter what the symptoms are... (with the exception of coils lol)

your right, it is clearly a test to rule out the possibility of the new battery being defective with an internal problem... as mentioned right after said advice...

you either didnt read my post or you dont understand the difference btwn the battery reconnect procedure and the drive cycle procedure.. they are two different things bubbie. i dont care how many posts you have, if you just popped in a battery and did nothing else, you didnt do it right. go read your owners manual. there is a specific procedure for installing a battery and you can drain it if you dont follow it, especially in cold.if there is a small parasite drain it can be exacerbated by the stress from not following the directions.

just bc a battery is 'new' doesnt mean its fully charged.
if you get off the forums and go read your shop manual and the owners manual you will understand that the car does save a ton of parameters after dropping in a new battery. i believe one of the final steps of the battery reconnect procedure is to let the car idle for X # of mins before shutting it off in order to prevent an excessive drain on the battery... it saves the parameters to kam while idling instead. if you dont even follow the procedure it keeps trying to rewrite the parameters... so its just going to continue running big draws on the battery everytime you shut it off until it fully sets the kam... add in the fact that the car may not even go to sleep for what like a half hr after its done saving paramters to kam and youre looking at about one hr of running high load electronics, namely pcm, off the battery alone... if its cold the new battery has no chance in hell. so go READ something about this specific car before you go popping off about how youve never ever ever ever drained a new battery...

 

[jrand]

The ignore feature is quite useful. Especially when the answer to everything is some mythical drive cycle that, in my 43 years of driving, I have never heard about. Seems to me were it so important the manufacturer should do the procedure before offering the vehicle for sale!!

I had an apparent battery drain that I resolved by replacing the starter relay. If that is of any help.....

you clearly cant read either. it has been well established that you two cant read at all since you perpetually misquote me. OP needs to follow the battery reconnect procedure not a drive cycle to fix his problem. go back and read my post. go back and read your owners manual. its in there.

in 43 yrs of 'driving' how many cars did you have that had an on board computer controlling absolutely every aspect of the vehicle... just one?
your 43 yrs of 'driving experience' is completely useless in this case. any half wit who takes the time to read the picture book int he glove box knows more about this problem then you do.

 

[joegr]

Good lord, not that nonsense again...

 

[1LoudLS]

you either didnt read my post or you dont understand the difference btwn the battery reconnect procedure and the drive cycle procedure..

new battery will kill itself if you dont follow the procedures

may its not me who can't read but you who can't write, you clearly said procedures which is plural, meaning more than one, so you literally said that the battery willwhich for the record is not may, but will means absolutely...) kill itself if both of the procedures are not completed, not one procedure or the other...

if you just popped in a battery and did nothing else, you didnt do it right. go read your owners manual. there is a specific procedure for installing a battery and you can drain it if you dont follow it, especially in cold.

NO, it won't drain a good battery by not relearning everything right away, you keep clearly showing that you're not even reading the OP... his battery is not dying an hour or two after the car sits, its fukcing multiple days.

if there is a small parasite drain it can be exacerbated by the stress from not following the directions.

your an idiot, the problem IS a parasitic drain! it doesn't matter if it is exacerbated by anything. until the problem is fixed, it will continue to be a problem. period.

just bc a battery is 'new' doesnt mean its fully charged.

again, when giving advice on problem, listen to the symptoms before you tell him what's wrong. he never said that the car wouldn't start right after installing the new battery. it starts, it runs fine, but heres the part you're missing, "if I leave the car sit for a few days the battery goes completely dead'. this is not the PCM trying to save data.

if you get off the forums and go read your shop manual and the owners manual you will understand that the car does save a ton of parameters after dropping in a new battery. i believe one of the final steps of the battery reconnect procedure is to let the car idle for X # of mins before shutting it off in order to prevent an excessive drain on the battery... it saves the parameters to kam while idling instead. if you dont even follow the procedure it keeps trying to rewrite the parameters... so its just going to continue running big draws on the battery everytime you shut it off until it fully sets the kam...

oh do you mean this part straight from the manual?

"When
the battery is disconnected or a new battery is installed, the engine must
relearn its idle and fuel trim strategy for optimum driveability and
performance."

"4. Allow the engine to idle for at least one minute.
5. Turn the A/C on and allow the engine to idle for at least one minute."


or the only bold warning about WHY you need to follow the procedure

" If you do not allow the engine to relearn its idle trim, the idle
quality of your vehicle may be adversely affected until the idle
trim is eventually relearned."

never does it say anything about the reason being so that it can save data to keep from running the battery down while sitting and saving, its for optimum driveability...

so go READ something about this specific car before you go popping off about how youve never ever ever ever drained a new battery...

you can read anything you want to, but its not going to do you any good until you understand what you are reading... good luck

 

[jrand]

cry me a river bubbie...
theres an s in procedures bc i assume there may be a different procedure from gen 1 to gen 2... i dont have a gen 1. i was talking about the battery procedure. i was pretty clear when i told him if the problem did not exist before the battery install and nothing changed, this could be the culprit bc it will kill a battery esp in the situation he described... pcm runs down the battery saving sht, he lets it sit for days without starting it, but since it got worn down from the pcm/kam saving process its not going to be able to sit as long as it normally would. he might as well do the drive cycle bc its goin to continue saving sht after the car is turned off as well. he may have a small or sporadic parasite thats not worth chasing or hell it may be just the car's normal draw taking down his battery that has a low charge after it ran thru all the pcm/kam updates, which were cleared by the battery disconnect. im sure youre from the school of thought that this fckin on board computer from 2000 or 2003 updates itself with new kam in half a second but i got news for ya bubbie, it was a slow as fck computer then and after yrs of use its even slower now.

just bc a battery started the first time doesnt mean its in shape to handle the high load of the pcm kam update bubbie, esp if its cold and esp if its gonna sit for days afterward as well. in that sense 'new' battery tells you nothin bc a new battery isnt necessarily charged correctly either

and way to quote the owners manual too bubbie... im so proud of you for admitting there IS a procedure.. youre makin progress.. now if you dry your tears and quit your cryin maybe you can go find a SHOP MANUAL and a PCED and read bout the high drains on your battery while its saving to kam with the car turned off... you know bc thats a bit too in depth for an owners manual on a model that produced thousands of cars without a voltage gauge

 

[jrand]

Good lord, not that nonsense again...

'i dont get it, so its nonsense' -joedrt

 

[1LoudLS]

well OP sorry for the derail, all I can tell you is that there are people that know a lot about the LS and people who think they know a lot about the LS. unfortunately, you're gonna have to decide for yourself who to listen to (luckily, it usually doesn't take too long before people show which category they are from)


if I can offer you any advice, it would be that Joegr knows as much (or more) about the LS as anybody you will find on here, his knowledge base on other cars is also pretty in depth, if there is only one person here that you listen to, make sure its him...


likewise, anybody that argues against him, probably has no actual knowledge base to back themselves up...


good luck.

 

[jrand]

haha worst 'advice' ever... 'the joedrt way or the highway'... bc theres NEVER two ways to do the same thing. the op didnt even give enough information for anyone to actually help him... hence joedrts multiple questions and all of the "if's" in my response.

it wouldnt be the first time joedrt said 'nonsense' or 'bs' and was wrong. wouldnt be the first time he gave bad info either... guy aint jesus, no matter how many of you bow to him religiously.

its fckin hilarious to see him get owned on other forums too...

he knows a lot of sht, no doubt about it. but he is not always right, no one ever is.

just bc he doesnt agree with me or understand something i say or do, doesnt make him jesus and doesnt mean im spewing blasphemy.

 

[Joshua TheHouse Schreder]

So small update...... I recently disconnected the positive terminal and connected a multimeter and it was showing a reading that it was drawing 1.36-1.50. I had it set on 20Miliamps (I believe). When I pulled fuse 20 it dropped to .75 and stayed stable... Also I did recently replace my driver side window regulator and the driver speaker stopped working, and my horn no longer works. Not sure if anyone can point me in the right direction, but it is much appreciated. As mentioned above I had a brand new battery and just recently replaced valve cover gaskets, coils, plugs.

 

[1LoudLS]

when doing a parasitic drain test on the LS, it is very important to let the car sit long enough to allow the computer to "fall asleep" (and do not do anything that will wake the car back up or you have to start the wait over again) before you can take any readings, also be careful not to do anything that will draw more amp than the meter can safely handle (usually 10 amps) while its hooked up inline.

 

[jerrym3]

Similar problem wth my 2003 TBird. Battery (installed 12/2013) draining.

Went to a dealer today. After testing, dealer says the charging system is fine, but the HVAC module is hanging up and draining the battery.

So, I figured, here we go, "we can fix it for a million dollars" blah, blah, blah.

But, to my surprise, dealer says he can't even get the part. Nothing he can do.

Only two options:

1) drive the car more frequently (it is a bit of a garage queen, but it was a garage queen for the first ten years with no battery drain problems

2) install a battery disconnect switch for long periods of little use

With today's cars being mini computers, I'm starting to see why many just lease a car and go for a new model when the lease runs out.

 

[NickT88LSC]

I dont know if they tried or you can try to disconnect both battery cables from the battery and hold then together for a few minutes, sometimes the modules do funny things and that will clear them sometimes.

Also, damn in the 7 years I own my car and 2 batteries I installed I must have done it wrong by just changing it and driving away, no wonder why they only lasted 4 years (sarcasm)!!!!

Similar problem wth my 2003 TBird. Battery (installed 12/2013) draining.

Went to a dealer today. After testing, dealer says the charging system is fine, but the HVAC module is hanging up and draining the battery.

So, I figured, here we go, "we can fix it for a million dollars" blah, blah, blah.

But, to my surprise, dealer says he can't even get the part. Nothing he can do.

Only two options:

1) drive the car more frequently (it is a bit of a garage queen, but it was a garage queen for the first ten years with no battery drain problems

2) install a battery disconnect switch for long periods of little use

With today's cars being mini computers, I'm starting to see why many just lease a car and go for a new model when the lease runs out.

 

[joegr]

... but the HVAC module is hanging up and draining the battery.

...
Only two options:

...

Third option (assuming their diagnosis is correct) - Replace DATC (HVAC module) with one from a junkyard or ebay. They aren't that expensive used.