What's an acceptable amount of current draw from an '03 GT? I thought my battery was going bad, so I had it tested at the parts store (hoping to get a warranty replacement), but they said the battery tested out as fine and that I have an excessive amount of current draw when the car is off. 34 millivolt ripple is what their little receipt thing that they gave me shows.
Acceptable current draw
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atv4life95
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What's an acceptable amount of current draw from an '03 GT? I thought my battery was going bad, so I had it tested at the parts store (hoping to get a warranty replacement), but they said the battery tested out as fine and that I have an excessive amount of current draw when the car is off. 34 millivolt ripple is what their little receipt thing that they gave me shows.
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Check to see if you have any open grounds in your car. Maybe stereo?
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Lol, that's a lot of grounds to look for! haha
I do a kicker subwoofer/amp in my trunk, but that shuts off when the radio isn't in use. Plus, my battery's been acting up on me like this since before I installed those.
I do a kicker subwoofer/amp in my trunk, but that shuts off when the radio isn't in use. Plus, my battery's been acting up on me like this since before I installed those.
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Yeah it will take some time to track it down but a bad ground could cause the battery to drain down.
electrical issues suck!
electrical issues suck!
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I hate em! I'll take a dozen mechanical issues to one small electrical issue. The PIA part of it is just finding the damn problem, and most of the time you're just testing a big circle only to find out that what you were testing isn't what's wrong. At least that's the way it's been trying to figure out why my airbag light is on.
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Did you mean 34 mA (milliAmp)? Typically 25-50mA is considered the limit as to what is acceptable. The lower the better obviously. It wouldn't hurt to do a little testing with a multimeter to see what is pulling that much current when the car is off.
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something stupid to try but maybe a little helpful just a little.....take a test light (if you don't have one they aren't very expensive) take the negative cable off the battery take the test light and clamp it to the ground cable and put the light (probe end) on the battery post. If it lights you have a draw....then go to your fuse panel. driver side left of brake or clutch pedal I believe and take the fuses out one by one and when you do this either have someone watch the light or get a little exercise and keep getting in and out, one of those fuses when taken out will cause that light to go out. That will at least tell you what circuit the problem is in, and point you in the right direction........I THINK
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Yeah that's what i've been told to do from a few people. I do have a test light. However, I got thinking about it, and wouldn't there always be current draw no matter what because of the theft system and the light constantly blinking, and other little things that slowly drain the battery to keep data, like the clock on the radio display?
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technically i believe you are right hahaha, pull the fuse for the theft system and the radio I believe radio is fuse 37 or 32. Don't know of the theft one. Pull them and then see if another one does what I had described. If not then you may be looking at the radio causing an overdraw which has happened before so don't be surprised, but I have had success with things doing what I described
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I would not call 34ma high nor would i call it low. A battery will last days(or more) before going dead. I would not unhook a battery and then do the test light thing. when a battery is first hooked up the draw is high and will take sometime to drop to the constant draw level.intial draw can blow bulb on test light(the cheap ones)
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For a more accurate test, I would suggest a multimeter between the negative post and cable instead of a test light. That's just me though. 
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^agreed was just giving a simple answer thinking maybe op would have thought of that on his own way to clear it up though
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+1 ^For a more accurate test, I would suggest a multimeter between the negative post and cable instead of a test light. That's just me though.
And 34mA is acceptable.
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