Parasitic battery drain.

[rockymountain]

Been off here a while, but may be back more and more as my lift has about had it with 110 K on it. Anyway, I have a battery drain issue that I can't pinpoint. I've hooked up a multimeter with a nifty gadget I got online to test the amperage going out of the battery.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RGN5UAY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I opened the driver door and triggered the latch so the interior lights shut off and I could get to the fuse panel. Got it hooked up and it shows approximately .5 amp draw constantly and never changes. I took out every single fuse one at a time. Even under the hood in the fuse box in front of the battery. I'm stumped. Symptoms are basically almost dead battery after a few days. Battery is good, only about 1 year old Redtop.

Oh, and I also disconnected the hot side of the alternator.

Any suggestions?

 

[renegade 04]

Try replacing the ignition switch, I know it may not seem like the issue. Everything is told to go to sleep by the ignition switch and if the ignition switch is bad some modules will not go to sleep.

 

[smittyfromPA]

Same issue with me, been dealing with it for many years. My fix was to install a battery disconnect knob on the negative terminal. Of course if i forget to use it my Odyssey battery goes in 3-5 days. My ignition switch is original so maybe a replacement is in order.

 

[rockymountain]

Well, maybe I will I guess. I posted in my ordeal years ago when I replaced it then.
http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/f196/how-start-broken-ignition-51549/


Probably should get an OEM this time and do it. I hate to just through parts at it too.

 

[rockymountain]

Ok, so that was not the actual switch. Sorry, after getting familiar with it again I realize I can change out the switch. looks like this will work and I may try it after the weather get a bit warmer. till then, I'll have to charge my battery if I don't drive for a few days.

https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Mot...eep+liberty+ignition+actuator#customerReviews

 

[renegade 04]

I had to replace my ignition switch twice before I got a god ignition switch.

 

[Billwill]

I don't really see how the parasitic drain gadget from Amazon works....generally you disconnect one lead of the battery and with the meter set to milli-amps you put the meter in series with the battery....do not start the engine!

If you suspect the ignition switch then leave it disconnected for a while...some in-fused wires do go through the ignition switch.
If you are getting .5 volts drain ie 500 milli-amps that is very bad....you expect no more than 30 milli-amps with everything switched off and the doors closed.

You need to use the wiring diagrams for your Jeep if you do not have them already then download the 2003 Service Manual here...includes the wiring diagrams. Unfortunately most years are covered but not the 2004 model but 2003 should be closer than the 2005 year....check the wire colors of the manuals to see which more closely matches your 2004 model.

Then you need to start isolating which branch of the wiring harness is causing the problem...if you have all the fuses out then it is possible that the drain is caused by a cable fraying within the harness to chassis/engine or to another wire.....very difficult to find!

Get the battery tested first but that would not cause a 500 ma parasitic reading...a bad battery generally loses power due to its internal parallel resistance being high.

Once you have the wiring diagrams...check the 2003 against the 2005 diagrams....whichever wiring diagram has the same color wires as your Jeep would be the better one to use!

Then you have to get a bit drastic...physically cutting lead of a major branch to see if that drops the current draw drastically.....if that does drop the draw drastically you solder the wire back together and use shrink tubing to insulate it. Then you carry on doing the same thing further down all branches until you hopefully find which branch is causing the problem.

The wiring harness on these KJs does not take to shortest route from point to point but goes right around the whole engine bay like the Beltway around Washington DC....a common point of failure is up front where the harness goes under the radiator through a metal tubing....at least on the CRD it does this!

I had several wring problems on my 2002 Export CRD due to my GF driving into a tree that jumped in front of her. The wires up front could not be accessed but if I disconnected all ends of the wiring and measured a low resistance from the disconnected wire to the chassis then I would tape off all ends of that wire...taking splices into account....and replace the suspect wiring with a new wire this time taking the shortest rout point to point. I had about 7 problem wires that I had to bypass in this manner!

Let me know which Service Manual matches your 2004 KJ closest and I can go through the pages with you to give you advice!

 

[LibertyTC]

Did you remove the cartridge fuses like #15? This is the power distribution main power fuse.
Also known as the 21+ day storage fuse.
It has it's own storage spot in #11, move it one forward and back one to restore power.
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