01 Monte Carlo Parasitic Draw

A

Anonymous

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Hi all, was telling some family about my problem child and they mentioned this forum so I figured I'd give it a shot.

I have an 01 Monte Carlo SS that seems to have a parasitic draw. Unfortunately I'm not terribly car savvy and need a little help to hunt down the source. I got under the hood and tested with a multimeter.

With all relays/fuses in place the draw between the negative terminal and post read around 6 amps. After a few seconds, I think I heard a relay kick in and it dropped down to just over 2 amps.

Started removing fuses one by one, the only fuses that made a difference were three rated at 60 amps - "Left I/P", "U/HOOD #1", and "RTIP #3" with draws of 0.43, 0.67, 0.88 amps respectively.

The manual was incredibly unhelpful with identifying what these fuses powered for the most part and a cursory google search didn't turn up much.
I would really appreciate any insight you guys could offer.
 
A

Anonymous

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Rear defroster is definitely off, no heated mirrors, and left everything for a good ~20-30 minutes. Relays were regular temp.
Radio is stock, but I cut the power to it for good measure. Again no dice.
I have heard that some Monte's have an issue with their BCU, but I don't know that that falls under any of those 3 categories.
Any and all thoughts are appreciated!
 

Turbocharged400sbc

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ive had a bad alternator regulator cause a drain, the BCM, hidden/broken "mood lighting", alarms/remote starts. horn stuck on but horn was corroded internally that it wouldnt make noise.

intermittent short on an injector ground, rubbed through harness at the radiator

you either have 3 seperate issues or all 3 are related.

since youve pulled the maxi fuses and the problems lie in the left and right IP fuses bozes as well as the underhood id start with an alarm/remote start as the alarm tie ins would be at both sides of the dash.

if no alarm youll have to start narrowing down which of the small fuses in the L & R IP and underhood fuse boxes are the actual parasitic draws.
 

Turbocharged400sbc

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the alternator check wont tell you if the regulator is bleeding current.

youll have to unplug it while your current probe is connected and wait for the car to "go to sleep" and see if the draw goes away. if not youll have to start fuse by fuse.

it takes a while...bit of trial and error.

which is why it always pissed me off when id only get an hour book time to diagnose those fuckers

alarm fuses are typically near the feed to the box. look under the drivers and passengers dash for an aftermarket alarm module.

this a new issue or since you bought it? panda has a point about the gps tracker
 
A

Anonymous

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I picked the car up for free off a friend because of the issue, the cars mechanically solid he just didn't have the time to figure it out. I've got all the time in the world right now lol..

I went fuse by fuse for both boxes under the hood and the box on the drivers side. I'll try the passengers side. Ill try unplugging the alternator as well.

How would one find out if there is a lojack or something on there?
 

TommyGloves

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^^^That's James BTW.

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A

Anonymous

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Eventful day.

Long story short I managed to rule out the horn, alternator, and security system.
As I feared it looks like both the BCM and PCM are causing the draw.
I'm not looking to spend the $500+ I know it costs to replace these, anyone have a work around?
 

10sec

I haz dat teddy bear smile.
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Hook up a trickle charger to the battery and plug that in every night after you have parked the car? I'm not 100% sure that'll have the necessary juice to keep the battery charged, but it's a minor inconvenience if it does.
 
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