2004 Suburban Battery drain in 9hrs

D

davesl708

New member
Joined
Feb 13, 2015
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hi,
I am new to this forum. I am wondering if anyone has had their side impact air bag start draining their battery in as little as 9hrs?

I trace the drain to the passenger side side impact airbag. When I disconnect the wire under the seat the drain stops.

What in the airbag would cause this power drain?

Thanks,:confused:
 
how many milliamps are you reading after 1 hour? Systems including ebags can remain active after the car is turned off.
 
I do not know the milliamps but it draws .14 volts per minute. Battery is new and 675 CCA.
Drains the battery in 9 hours.
Unplugged it returns to normal draw.
 
how did you go about coming up with a calculation of volts per minute, never heard of testing any parastic draw that way. You need a milliamp meter and have to wait for all systems to shut down. Even new batteries can be faulty, why did you replace the battery?
 
I simply hooked up a volt meter to the battery and monitored it for a four hours.

Old battery was on a maintenance charger. The charger failed and when I recharged the battery it tested weak with the battery load tester. New battery was fully charged and within 9 hrs was dead.

Then I recharged the battery and retested with the battery tester it tested ok. Placed a volt meter on the battery and noticed a large drain. Started unplugging fuses and relays until I came to the air bags. Then started disconnecting the leads to the air bags and found when I unplug the passenger side impact bag the drain stops. Leaving it unplugged has caused no further drain on the battery.
 
zora said:
how did you go about coming up with a calculation of volts per minute, never heard of testing any parastic draw that way. You need a milliamp meter and have to wait for all systems to shut down. Even new batteries can be faulty, why did you replace the battery?
Click to expand...

After installing a new battery and load testing it I hooked up a volt meter to the battery post for four hours. You could watch the battery drain.

I started pulling fuses until I cut power to the air bags. Then started disconnecting each seat. When I disconnected the passenger side impact bag the power drain stopped. The battery has been holding a charge and starting fine for three months now with the air bag disconnected.
 
are you aware if this vehicles was ever involved in a side impact that would have deployed the air bags? The air bag system should shut down after a period of time. I believe the system would have to be scanned to determine why it is not shutting down.
 
You may have some corrosion or a pinched wire under the seat. Or maybe as mentioned, it was not repaired correctly after some prior event.

This won't help fix the problem but might help to speak the same language. As mentioned, there is no measurement of volts per minute. To measure drain you need an ammeter. A cheap multimeter usually works. Think of a battery as a water tower and the circuit as plumbing from the tower. The pressure from the tower is voltage aka potential. It's not until you open a valve in the pipe or close a circuit in the truck that you see current (amps in the elextrical world). To measure this flow you need the ammeter. With the valve (circuit) shut (switched off) there should be very little parasitic current/flow. If you have a leak, or a partially closed circuit the meter will indicate that rate in milliamps.
The capacity of a battery is measured in amphours (Ah), not CCA. If you know the Ah rating of your battery fully charged and the drain rate in milliamps you could see how long it should last. You are obviously exceeding the normal Ah rating of your battery right now.
 
VanGo said:
You may have some corrosion or a pinched wire under the seat. Or maybe as mentioned, it was not repaired correctly after some prior event.

This won't help fix the problem but might help to speak the same language. As mentioned, there is no measurement of volts per minute. To measure drain you need an ammeter. A cheap multimeter usually works. Think of a battery as a water tower and the circuit as plumbing from the tower. The pressure from the tower is voltage aka potential. It's not until you open a valve in the pipe or close a circuit in the truck that you see current (amps in the elextrical world). To measure this flow you need the ammeter. With the valve (circuit) shut (switched off) there should be very little parasitic current/flow. If you have a leak, or a partially closed circuit the meter will indicate that rate in milliamps.
The capacity of a battery is measured in amphours (Ah), not CCA. If you know the Ah rating of your battery fully charged and the drain rate in milliamps you could see how long it should last. You are obviously exceeding the normal Ah rating of your battery right now.
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter if I am measuring volts or amps. A large capacity battery is dead in 9 hrs if I leave that one air bag hooked up.
The vehicle has never been damaged.
The pinched wire sounds like it is a likely cause. I will pull the seat to inspect the leads.

I was not sure how the air bag is wired. I just assumed the wires went to the detonator and would not have any draw when shut off.

Thanks for your input.
 
Let us know what you find out. It's interesting. Hopefully your airbag doesn't go off on its own!
 
Ok. Finally tracked it down. The wires under the fuse box have been vibrating and wore through and touching. Found three wires that had rubbed though the insulation.

Hard to believe the wire bundles are just left laying under the fuse box and not restrained.
 
glad to hear you found the problem, electrical can be a real pain to track down
 
Well the problem continues. Lasted two days and now it is back to draining the battery. I will keep tracking down bad wiring.

When fixed this will be my last GM.
 
davesl708 said:
I simply hooked up a volt meter to the battery and monitored it for a four hours.

Old battery was on a maintenance charger. The charger failed and when I recharged the battery it tested weak with the battery load tester. New battery was fully charged and within 9 hrs was dead.

Then I recharged the battery and retested with the battery tester it tested ok. Placed a volt meter on the battery and noticed a large drain. Started unplugging fuses and relays until I came to the air bags. Then started disconnecting the leads to the air bags and found when I unplug the passenger side impact bag the drain stops. Leaving it unplugged has caused no further drain on the battery.
Click to expand...

There's a better way to isolate a drain. If your multimeter measures mAmps, use the instructions on this site. It would go faster with someone pulling fuses and someone watching the meter.
http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain

I wouldn't call this a GM-only problem.
 
I'm having the same problem. Still haven't found the source
 
Found three more wires worn through where they pass through the fuse box housing.
Now the radio is draining power unless you pull the 15 amp fuse.

The only two vehicles I have had trouble with wiring have been this 04 Suburban and my 03 Trailblazer EXT.

With 40yrs of driving these two vehicles have been the most trouble by far.
 
Daves,
Are you referring to the fuse box under the hood or the one inside the cab by the drivers door?
I'm having the same problems with my 03.
 
It is the box under the hood. Seems I am still finding wires that are worn through.

I will start tearing the dash apart to check there.

Can't wait to sell this thing off.:mad:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top