Batteries draining down

Try cleaning up all ground points. I had something similar happen to me in a Taurus I use to own. Hooked up all new ground wires and moisture sealed them after with a rubber compound. Not sure if this will be the same situation as yours but it's a starting point. Power flows to ground and then back to positive.

Thanks, I'll try that. What makes it tough to find is that It worked just fine for 4 days after they replaced the GEM module ( not the ECM), but then it started its problem again. So I took it back to the shop, but it started just fine for them after it sat there overnight. And they say they tested it and can't find a draw anywhere.

if that is happening then my advice is dont use any electronics while you are driving... that kind of heavy duty engine will only run a few kilometers then the battery dies out...

I would start replacing ground wires to anything electronics then in the engine bay and upgrade your negative battery wire to a 1 gauge. That seems to be the area where power is discharging. You should find all the braided wires and replace them but clean all the contact points first and ensure a good ground.

yeah but what happens if there is still no ground and the battry is losing it's power? happened to mo once, so i was jumped with a different battery and when i started only the headlights were on (night driving home) and no A/C or radio... my car ran barely 3-5 km then engine went dead again...

Well, electronics and battery drainage are a bitch to diagnose my friend. I've had my share of them over the years and it takes a real smart mechanic to really find and diagnose the problem. If you can find a Ford shop with some top notch mechanics, I'd go there and let them have a go at it. They may have to have your truck for a week to really find the cause of the problem though. So maybe you can arrange a loaner from them.

i agree...besides only the shop mechanics have the equipment for that kind of problem...someone with a know-how on car eletronics would be a big help too...

Thanks for all the ideas. They've had it at the shop for a couple of days now and can't find a draw anywhere and its holding a charge fine. So whatever it is its happening intermittently. which makes it even harder to find.

Well you have to think back as to when this anomaly starts occurring and the shop has to try and duplicate it. Was the truck sitting out in the rain or heavy downpour for instance before you drive it around. We're you going offloading in mud and muck or just driving urban roads. Just some ideas to think about.

Hi, Did your mechanic/ shop finally figure out what was draining the battery?

you might want to disconnect the ground cable from your battery then put your battery charger on it to bring it up to full charge then re-connect the ground cable. If your battery is reasonably good and you start / drive your vehicle reasonable distances every couple of days, it should hold. If you only use your vehicle every few days, do lots of short drives, stopping & starting, it could drain your battery. The alternator is a "battery maintainer", not a heavy duty battery charger. Hope this is useful...

Not offering a solution, just want to share what happened with my car. The driver's side window power motor stopped working so I had it replaced at the local Ford place. When I got it back, if the windows are set on a certain setting (to go all the way down or up with only a slight short touch) it will drain the battery but if I use the setting where you have to hold the button down to get the window up or down, it does not drain the battery. Have no idea whats wrong but I do know for a fact that it is that certain setting on the power windows that drain the battery. I don't use that setting so I just keep it turned off.

Mechanic found that there were some marginal cells on both batteries and said it could only be fixed by replacing both batteries. I bought a bobble tester and found 4 of the 12 marginal even though after charging both, they read 12.8 and 12.7 after charging. After 3 days, voltage was drained.

I am currently having the same issue. I have an 2003 F250. They can not seem to find anything wrong. It started happening after i had my Gauge cluster replaced. My gauge cluster, power windows, power locks, and radio all stopped working. I got that all fixed and now the truck dies after about 20 minutes.

i have the same problem and after lots of time trying to diagnose the problem i figured out it was the ecm and the main harness plug had some corrosion, i figured it out by grabing the main plug and moving it around while running and it shuts off, im still trying to figure out how to clean the female part of the harness plug,

In my 01' F250 V8 5.4L Triton I was showing a pretty strong, pulsating draw off the battery. Fuse was showing it was the multi function switch (turn signal/wipers) piece so I replaced that and then it was still showing. Unplugged the radio during trouble shooting... and the RADIO with the key off, and the radio off, was causing the power drain. Not sure how common this is but may help. It was also triggering a clicking sound coming from where the headlights are turned on and off (the illumination of that dial and the radio share a fuse).

I am having a similar problem right now as the battery is being drained while sitting up. In my case, I have had electronics training and I can tell you that most of these solution replies are worthless. That seems to be the problem with searching for solutions anytime now. Answers like scrape the terminals, take it to the dealer, etc show that this is worthless information and only makes the problem solving more difficult. In my case it is caused by a malfunction in the AC circuits. I like most drivers will drive up to a parking place with my AC, Heat, etc on and blower motors running. When I turn off the ignition it kills everything and I don't bother to shut off the AC switch etc. After one of my battery failures and when I hooked up the charger my AC blowers came on. Ignition switch off. I found that I had to turn the AC Select switch off to charge the battery. It worked somewhat. A repairman replacedone of the AC Relays and it came on once but then cleared up. Now it has happened again. This time both the fan speed switch was in the on position and the AC select switch was also in the on position. I turned both off, chugged the battery and everything tests out working. Until I find the problem I will have to make certain that I don't leave these switches on when leaving the vehicle. As you should know, all of the devices powered up by the ignition switch are not powered through the switch The switch only supplies voltage to energize a relay, You have relays that have 12 volts applied to them all of the time. If they have to remain on then they have a set of contacts called latching contacts. That relay will stay on until the power is released by the lathing contacts. I am reasonably sure that I have a set of sticking contacts in a latching relay. To make it a little clearer think of your starting current. It couldn't possibly carry that current. Instead your battery cables stay connected to your starter all of them time. The positive cable goes through an open solenoid . This is nothing but a big relay. The ignition applies 12 volts to the primary and this energies the solenoid contact which allows the full battery current to get to the starter. Now in reading all of this I find nothing to help me with my problem but I can see that most of the problems here are most likely caused by relays are sensors. Hopefully a mechanics code reader might find the problem. If you can get to your local library, most of them now carry Chilton's On Line and there you can find the circuit diagrams and may be able to trace the voltage paths to and through the trouble site. The code readers are wonderful when they work but sometimes you just have to go back to the past and do some old fashion trouble shooting with volt meters and trouble lights. I will continue to search for my problem in the hopes that I might find where someone has the same identical problem and they can advise what their solution was.

Check your injectors. I had one bad injector and my truck would not start. I'd only get a couple of cranks out of it and then I had to jump it

Just reread your answer, it sounds like you have a moisture leak coming onto one of your electronics. If you have a cracked windshield or a leaky one, moisture could be dripping down onto one of your relays or electronics. I had a explorer with a cracked windshield go right down the middle so it wasn't really noticeable. My power windows stopped working after a while and I even changed the relays. After a very long time and much head scratching, me and my mechanic tore the dash apart and traced every single wire and finally found a set of corroded wires next to another relay box.

But as long as its running the batteries are charging an everything is working properly. The batteries only drain down after it sits for awhile and then it only does it once in awhile. And its a 7.3 Powerstroke desiel.

I also have a 2003 F 350 king ranch 4x4 7.3 L Turbo diesel and same problem. It acts like one phase is out on the starter and one battery fails tests. I'm pulling the starter to check it

I don't have answer, but I have a question;;;;; I have a ford f250 super duty 6.0 diesel. both batteries were replaced about 6 months ago. In the past month or so it has been taking a minute or so (it seems) to start it. Today I left home and the truck was sputtering some. I kept going about 10 minutes but it didnt clear up. My battery light came on. I turned around and went home, I turned it off. Then I tried to start it and it just clicked. What would cause that?

I honestly think something is going on with your injectors. Take it to a shop that can hook it up to test your injectors. I have an 06 6.0 powerstroke and have had numerous injector problems. I have already replaced my injectors twice in the last year.

@ sherrie, that would be your alternator. Get a fluke or multimeter and test your battery 1 at a time. 1 wire to positive terminal, 1 wire to negative. With the vehicle off, a good battery will read usually above 12volts. A bad battery is typically in 10 volt range. Now lets test alternator. Just start the vehicle and do the same test. A good alternator should charge ur battery so it reads about 14 volts. Anything lower is a bad alternator. On a side not before u do any of this, follow your negative battery terminal into the motor and be sure u dont see any visible signs of corrosion on anything thats grounded. This is always the culprit. Remove and wirebrush clean, reinstall, and spray w corrosion resistant spray. Hope this helps

@ sherrie, that would be your alternator. Get a fluke or multimeter and test your battery 1 at a time. 1 wire to positive terminal, 1 wire to negative. With the vehicle off, a good battery will read usually above 12volts. A bad battery is typically in 10 volt range. Now lets test alternator. Just start the vehicle and do the same test. A good alternator should charge ur battery so it reads about 14 volts. Anything lower is a bad alternator. On a side not before u do any of this, follow your negative battery terminal into the motor and be sure u dont see any visible signs of corrosion on anything thats grounded. This is always the culprit. Remove and wirebrush clean, reinstall, and spray w corrosion resistant spray. Hope this helps

Hey guys I have a 2000 F350 with a 7.3, 8 bought brand new batteries not even a month ago and something seems to be draining the power when it sits for a couple days. When it starts it runs amazingly! I dunno what's going on! Anything pop into your minds at all?

If you had to replace your injectors twice in the last year I would look for a new shop if I was you!

Pull your negative terminal and put an idiot light continuity tester between the negative cable and the negative battery post. When it lights up, go start pulling fuses, one at a time until you shut the light off. Mine was the radio fuse, and it would drain the batteries in a couple of days. Mine was the 7.3 diesel, so you have to pull both neg and pos on 1 battery, but leave the positive on the other. Works like a champ. Old school trick a mechanic taught me 30 yrs ago, but works perfect.

ZoFast how do you fix it once you figure which fuse it is?

Was there ever a solution found for the slow draw in the 7.3 ?

look guys before you check for a draw killing your batteries or battery. always find your gem module general electronics module it controls all electrical in the vehicle. also called wakeup module, if you don't then any door you open plug you unplug will wake up a control and draw of power sending you to the wrong place. so find gem first! unplug it then disconnect positive side of battery put a test light between positive cable and post. if! it lights up then pull fuses one at a time till light goes dim or out then you found your problem. ps watch out for cars like bmw, Mercedes, audi, they can have a lot of gem modules hope this helps Patrick kopyless.

2012 E350 battery drain problem. Dealer says nothing wrong. Engine computer finally failed to regulate voltage. I made my own regulator works excellent.

I will never buy a Ford again! I've had 5 of them and they are sitting in a junk yard! I will never buy a ford again! I have been offered money for them but I will never sell or even give them away! 3F250's, 1 gas 4.6, and 6.4's,. The End off them. Also 2 F-350's of course the 6.0's The end of them to. They spent more time in the shop than I COULD DRIVE THEM!!!!! So sad when you buy a vehicle for over $60' to $75'!!! The end. Enjoy your life please dont waste it on this. THE END.

This and more happens top my vehicle after it rains. After hearing from a friend and multiple sources that rain could be getting in, i checked. I found the ceiling at the top windshield edge if my 99 f350 sd was wet. Eventually i saw that it was somehow getting bff under the dash and wetting relays plus the fusebox. My first experience after a rain was a transmission speed sensor going on and off causing high gear to slip intermittently. Then one day, i discovered fuses missing etc so replaced them thinking it was great to get all my fuses in order but im a non gearhead dummy and didn't put 2&2 together when the radio, door alarm and blowers stayed on after removing the key, relays were clicking and battery was dying every few days. I pulled the overhead bulb and shut off radio and set ac blower to off thinking problem solved or diminished... nope. I just tolerated the problem with regular jumpstarts. But this week I'm going to pull radio fuses, replace windshield and take it to a great electric guy and see what it'll cost me for an electrical overhaul. Any ideas?

Ford f250 2000 to 2007 has this problem very common. First moisture gets into the wiring at the firewall that cause your battery to drain and also it will cut off engine completely while driving sometime. Second is your abs system keeps running even you shut off your truck and that cause battery to drain too if you park it more then one day. I had 2000 ford f250 with same problems. So everytime we parked for more than a day we pulled out the abs fuse and also put cover over or parked inside garage during rain. It solved my problem until i sold the truck.

I was having an issue very similar to this, I'm not sure if my starter was the problem or if the electrical issue killed the bendix in my starter. but after replacing the battery on the passenger side and my starter having left it sit for around 8 hrs the batts now sit around 12.6, before I would see around 11.6. If your reading this trying to troubleshoot by yourself disconnecting the starter may be a good thing to try. -Cheers!

2009 f250 6.4l battery draining over night This is more for info to all with a parasitic battery drain on probably 2008 -2010 f250 I had this issue, my batteries would be dead after a day or day and a half The way I found this was to perform the paracsitc battery draw test You will need the following Extra battery terminal is what I used to make jumper between battery post and negative cable. Alligator clip Home Depot sells Kline meter set with alligator clips and also meter with 10 amp mode which also Home Depot sells. I disconnected both battery negative cable and move them so they can’t ground out or touch negative post Place 10 gauge wires with exposed wires between battery post and new terminal and push down to set on post nice and tight With alligator clip clip other end to negative cable which was removed from batter. You only need to do one battery Then open doors and with screw driver rotate door latches so the doors will act like they are closed and locked later but do not close doors as they won’t close. Pull out bulb under hood for hood light Disconnect hood close sensor which is drivers side behind radiator With doors still open only drivers front and passengers front set truck alarm. This should place vehicle into sleep mode. While it takes about 15 minutes for truck to go into sleep mode I used another set of alligator clips which were attached to the Klein leads and installed in Klein multi meter from Home Depot also connect to negative battery cable and the new battery terminal which is also holding jumper wire to negative post If you have the meter set up early I would place on milk volts and you should be able to see milk volts drop as vehicle goes to sleep. When it seams like meter has reached lowest number it will go down to that is when you disconnect jumper wire. No I was lucky as I had to meter capable of reading amps so I was able to connect the other meter to passenger side after routing wires for leads from windshield down under hood and then connecting to battery. By doing this I could lay meter on windshield propping top away from windshield some so it was visible to me while I pulled fuses inside cab fuse box at passenger side toe kick. So they way I did this was I started under hood at fuse panel pulling each fuse and relay (use relay pliers as the tops of the casings will pull off relays. Watch meter as you pull fuses meter should be in 10 amp mode. If you pull a fuse and see a large drop in amp draw then you have found the circuit which has the draw on it. So to put this in a perspective my draw was 1 1/2 amps. I had installed an after ma rite radio using the maestro sterling wheel controller or mod I believe it was the F01 model. I imediately doubted my install and pulled radio out of truck thinking it was an install issue. The was a series of events that I was facing with my pro ales that you probably aren’t going to have to face. First I used to drive my truck daily. So if this was a problem I may not have noticed it since I did drive it daily. My truck had other problems fuel pump, radiator leak and oil leaks so I put it in a ford dealers shop to get fixed. Tedd. Britt was the dealer in Fairfax va. So they had truck for a month and between the truck bill 10,000.00 and a rental car bill for the month 3000.00 I figured I needed to get another vehicle to drive in case this truck has another issue any time soon. After I got truck back I went out and bought another vehicle to drive which was a 2015 Ford Explorer. I was now driving ford explorers and didn’t drive f250 at all really. When I went to drive it it would not start. I charged batteries and drove it. Again next time I went to drive it which was only days later batteries were dead again. I replaced batteries. Just so you know Costco has a decent deal on these batteries for this truck. Two interstate batteries for right around two hundred dollars. But yet again next time I went to drive it batteries were dead again. I’m ediately I was convinced that th e dealer had done something wrong. I chased very wire under vehicle and under hood since they were supposed to have pulled the engine. I figured they didn’t connect something back correctly. I found out it was something else. I changed out the alternator thinking that maybe it was bad. Nope. I changed both positive and negative cable on passenger side thinking this was it as they were corroded some in wire. Nope. I cleaned up ground connections under body and hood. Nope I then really set my mind on perusing the draw test. Meter setting are important in the testing as some of the fuses in these meters that test 10 amps can be quite expensive such as the Klein and craftsman meters. 10 buck a piece and some use two different fuses that aren’t just available in stores but you have to order online. So with that said it is important to under stand how you are performing the test and what setting you are in at what time of the test. Never connect meter while in 10 amp mode to positive and negative battery terminals. It comes almost natural to do so since that is how we tell what the battery voltage is usually. Doing this will blow the fuse in multi meters. So after I figured out how to correctly set up the testing equipment and when to remove jumper I statrted to pull one fuse at a time. I used the truck owners manual and marked the amp drops next to the corresponding fuse number in fuse chart in book. I found three different fuse with draw. One was for th e climate control head unit. The draw also went down when I actually pulled the fuse from the radio harness. And lastly when I pulled the fuse which controlled a couple things one being the sync module. So when you find which fuses have a large draw which by marking them in the book and fuse panel it is easy to keep track of which is which then you need to disconnect each item on that circuit one at a time seeing which one when disconnecting also reduces the amp draw.. For me I found that my problem was the sync module which is located to the right of the glove box. When I unplugged it I noticed that the connector had some green corrosion on it which I was able to see while using a flash light to do my work. So then I got a mirror and while shinning the flash light in mirror and positioning mirror behind glove box so it was facing back side of sunk module I notice that the module also had been corrosion. So I pulled module and opened it up to find out it had corrosion inside as well. Apparently it had gotten wet at some point between the garage service a nd my trying to drive after I had bought the Explorer. I used to have another bihicle that I also drove not too long before it went into service but I gave it to my son and I also have a motorcycle so before it went into service I often drove another vehicle since the other vehicle was better on gas. So for those of you reading this I hope it she do some light on this issue and helps you to under stand the testing procedures for the testing and how to figure out what you have to do after you find the bad draw circuit.

I have a 2011 F250 with a 6.7L diesel and had the same battery drain issue. I tried the recommendation from Zofast to remove the negative battery cable and connect a test light between the battery post and the cable. I have two batteries, so I disconnected one. I then started pulling fuses until the the light dimmed. Mine did not go off it just dimmed. It was the sub-woofer amp. the stereo shop did not remove it and with the aftermarket system it was running when the vehicle was off.

Some good answers some really silly ones. In many cases there may be different reasons for battery dying overnight etc. For temp solution i installed a battery disconnect switch on the battery (cheaper than a new battery as constant battery discharge will ruin your battery). THEN using a meter that tests dc amperage you can test the amperage draw with the ignition key off and the leads jumped across the open battery switch. (as suggested by at least one response). Anything over a few miliamps (typically less than 100 mA is definitely going to drain your battery over a short number of days. anything over 500 mA of 1/2 amp will typically kill your battery withing 1.5-2 days. More on testing - keep in mind that if the door is open (ignition key off) you will draw at least 1 amp due to the overhead cab lights. You can open an close the door to see exactly how much amperage to discount in the rest of your tests. DO NOT turn on the ignition switch with the amp meter connected across your open battery switch (or from terminal to cable assuming you have the cable disconnected or you will blow your meter or meter fuse). Assuming you have a amperage draw of around 500mA or more (1500 or more if cab light is on with door open) pull individual fuses while someone watches the meter. When the meter amperage drops significantly - note that fuse (test all other fuses). Again, keep in mid that with the door open and cab light on there will be around 1000 mA or 1 amp of draw for that circuit so pulling that fuse will shoe a drop in usage but not typically be a problem circuit unless the door switch is bad and the cab light never shuts off. Problem circuits - in my case (and in many) the radio memory, rear tv, etc is a common problem circuit. ALSO if you have a modern vehicle with lots of digital software etc, fuses related to those circuits will typically be your problem. In those cases, make sure you keep your car/truck keys away from the vehicle when no in use. Modern vehicles can sense your keys proximity and certain circuits will remain on and drain your battery. (sometimes this can be the culprit even after years of leaving your keys in the car with no problems - this is typically from a relay that fails to open after some duration) This occurred in my mothers vehicle when suddenly her battery started dying. After trouble shooting I told her to start taking the keys quite some distance from the vehicle at night - no more dead batteries for her. In the case of the E450 RV, it appears that the Radio Memory, Rear TV Camera, battery power saving relay etc fuse/circuit draws around 500mA which kills the battery over a day or 2. Having isolated the TV and Radio as NOT THE PROBLEM - I suspect it to be one of the relays since you can hear something way up under the dash power up when the fuse is put back in and the excess amperage is again being drawn. As I do not feel like contorting myself to figure which relay or item is powering up just yet, the "temporary" battery disconnect switch keeps my battery from dying till I feel like cramming myself into exceptionally tiny areas to get to them. As far as your fault, this method can help isolate which circuits are problematic. There will always be some amp draw for memory circuits etc but this should be well below 300mA (As far as my background - degrees in Electrical Engineering (BS), Physics(BS), Electronics(AA), and a few others with tons of troubleshooting and isolation experience on anything from cars and TVs to Satellites and Crypto.)

Ok a few typos, but I should mention that it is best if parasitic battery draw for memory storage, clock, etc is actually below 100mA.

My 2012 F250 6.2 L has sat for several days, (as fuel prices jump 10c daily) but started right up, drove into town and back 20 miles no problem, shut it off unloaded groceries, went to restart it to move into parking spot, turned over for about 1 second and cut out, dead as a nit. lots of other power, radio, lights, cab dome light, batter indicator came on. Going to meter it tomorrow in daylight see what gives

And it is the starter, Battery measured 12.04v cold. Lots of other power for accessories. Second starter in 2.5 years! Both times just quit out of the blue.

The spec for F-250 parasitic battery drain is allegedly 0.075 amp. Multiply by 24 hours to get 1.8 amp-hr per day. At spec rate, 30 amp-hr battery will be completely drained by parasitic current in less than 17 days, or 2.5 weeks. Since I drive my truck so rarely, I bought a 7.5-watt solar-power battery maintainer to recharge battery during the day. I am also troubleshooting what may be defective brake light switch. Brake lights current will discharge the battery in a few hours