Impala 07 draining new battery!? help need
 

Dear all:

This is my very first post here! I bought Impala 07 recently! Its done 101k in a very good condition! been serviced every 3000 mile!

Got a problem recently! Battery drained! went to O'reilly for inspection, they told me battery is bad and needs to be replaced! they inspected alternator too and passed the test! So i bought a batter from the.. next morning i got a message on the display "battery saver active" I didnt know what to do! i ignored it, it disappeared after like 30 minutes!

Yesterday morning, the car didnt start, had to jump start it!! drove it for at least 3 hours around town. This morning car didnt start again!! jump started it and drove it a while all good. Went to O'reilly again and asked them to inspect the battery and alternator again, they did, both passed tests!

So I did parasitic test battery when I went home, and found one fuse was drawing about 3-3.3 amps!! labeled "INT LTS/PNL DIM" After removing it, reading on multimeter dropped to 0.26 - 0.30 and stayed that way!!

Now this fuse is for Interior Lamps, Instrument Panel Dimmer, trunk light!

I need your help here please, I bottled neck the problem to one fuse! but what tests do I need to do to find out the culprit?

Any suggestion, advice, and help is highly appreciated.

Thank you,
Yazen

Welcome to the forum :)

Check things like:
Vanity mirror lamps on the visors
Trunk light
Under hood light
glove box lamp
make sure you don't have something plugged into the 12v outlets
phone charger, GPS, satellite radio etc....

I know you may not have some of all of those things but those are the places to start looking...








.

Thank you :)

I removed the bulb in the trunk last night.

No accessories plugged in.

This morning car started it easily. BUT again its showing "battery saver active"

Last night i check voltage of battery, it was 12.60 and this morning it was 11.56! is that normal?

Where can I find wiring diagram of my car? I searched a lot last night but couldn't find one.

Is there a way for me to inspect the pieces that are connected to the culprit fuse?

Please help.

Thank you once again

Yazen

P.S When I plug in fuse back! and lock the car, I see no light stays on!! all lights turn off.

No it isn't normal.

http://www.justanswer.com/chevy/21pg...hat-leads.html

I've never used alldata.. I prefer to buy the factory service manuals from helminc.com. Just make sure you get the right model, etc.

It could be something like a stuck button on your seat motor.

Thank you for your message, sledge.impy :)

I double checked all the seat buttons, they seem fine!

I will buy the diagram and try and find out whats wrong.

One more question, when i lock the car, and im still sitting inside it, i hear the radio make some smoth noise, like the CD motor being on, for few seconds and it shuts! and when I open the radio, I felt heat on the bottom right side of it although the radio was off for days! could it be a faulty CD player too?

Thank you once again,
Yazen

Maybe that is what is draining the battery?

I will remove the radio fuse tonight and check voltage tomorrow morning and see if stays the same!

Thank you once again,
Yazen

your on the right track. just be aware that the radio fuse only supplies power for the audio functions not the illumination for the radio. So even if the radio illumination is the draw, pulling the radio fuse won't power down the radio lighting circuit.


totally disconnect the radio and see if the draw is slightly reduced. don't do draw tests with a dead battery... as the battery voltage drops, current draw can increase.

Thank you for your message. After removing both fuses [Radio and INT LTS/PNL DIM] battery voltage did NOT drop which seems good news! car started easily this morning! I will monitor it closely in the next few days. I will disconnect the radio totally and perform a drainage test. Will report back.

It seems there are two issues with the car, one with radio and the other is with interior lights. Is there a way for me to test the wiring and try and find out what is the issue?

I thought I'd buy the wiring diagram but it seems little pricy and I cant afford it at this time. Is there a way for me to get only that piece of diagram for the interior lights somehow?

Please advice

Thank you once again,
Yazen

My brother just had this type of problem with his 2009 Pontiac G6. It turns out the problem was the BCM on the car. He was told by the service manager that "normal" current draw for the BCM when the car is off is about 50 mA. His was drawing about 250 mA or about 1/4 AMP. While they did replace the BCM and current draw is normal now, he bought a replacement battery since it never fully recovered from bring brought down as old as it is. The car has been working fine since then.