Electric Leak - How To?

Nishan.dj · October 3, 2011

Hello friends,

I just went through the procedures of this URL to find any electrical leaks because I found that when the jeep (4DR5 J44) is idle for few days the batteries are getting weak. So the result I got is 3.3 which would be a problem according to the above post. (I have mentioned the steps that the above post has said to find an electrical leak below).

I removed the fuses one by one to see what is the problem but even after removing the last fuse i got the reading as 3.3 Amps. It means (Lets hope) the problem is in between the battery and the fuse board. I am sure anyone of you have gone through this problem before or at least know something about it. So please kindly post your answer which I really thank you in advance.

STEPS

Step 1: Setting up the volt meter. Connect the test leads to the appropriate spots. Negative in the negative spot and positive to the 10A spot. Set the meter setting to 10A on the dial as well. I used the full amp setting for this test but you can use more accurate settings if you preffer. Your battery must also have a charge when performing this test. You can use the volt meter to test this by connecting the positive and negative leads to the positive and negative battery terminals respectively. The reading should be somewhere around 12.6 Volts if the battery is 100%.

Step 2: Disconnect the negative battery cable from the negative battery terminal. As per bluej511, this test may require that you connect the leads to the terminal and cable before disconnecting them (see step 3). This is because the draw might be coming from a relay that might close when the terminals are disconnected and the circuit is broken. This wasnt necessary in my case but your case may be different.

Step 3: Connect the negative lead to the negative battery terminal and the positive lead to the negative wire (ground wire) and check the reading. If there IS NOT an electrical leak, the reading should be around 0.01. Might be from 0.00 - 0.05 depending on the vehicle. You can always call the service department at your local dealership like I did to get the specification. This small current is to keep small things running such as ecu memory, stock alarm ext. The reading I got was anywhere from 0.15 - 0.21 so there was definitely a problem.

Step 4: Begin to pull fuses one at a time until the reading drops to where it should be. Keep in mind that there are fuses that must be screwed in that will channel all the electricity from the battery (100A and 40A in my case). Removing these will result in the reading dropping but these are not the source of your issue. It is a good idea to start with any fuses that would most likely be the cause of the problem. Aftermarket things such as decks or if you recently replaced your headlamps as examples

Edited October 3, 2011 by Nishan.dj

Ripper · October 3, 2011

number one is to see how the batteries are. as the batteries get old or have developed some sorta problem with them...they will not hold charge.

when the the vehicle is parked and kept...if you can hook up a meter(set to measure amps and not volts) between the battery post and the vehicle wiring, you can see how much of drain is there on the battery. Meter positive to battery positive and meter negative to vehicle wiring positive. Basically the meter sits between the battery and the vehicle

If your battery is 12v...if you were to multiply the amp reading by 12...you'd get how much of watts the drainage is causing.

Usually your stereo system will take a bit of power to keep it's memory, if the vehicle has an ECU that too will take a bit of power....

Other than that...there shouldn't be any load on the battery.

If you are seeing any abnormal loads on the battery... only way to fix it is to check and eliminate all other components. Since your model doesn't have a lot of complex wirings it shouldn't be too bad.

A few beers and a days work should sort it out

Or just take it to a good auto electrician chap...they can get things done a lot faster

Sylvi · October 3, 2011

Hello friends,

I removed the fuses one by one to see what is the problem but even after removing the last fuse i got the reading as 3.3 Amps. It means (Lets hope) the problem is in between the battery and the fuse board. I am sure anyone of you have gone through this problem before or at least know something about it. So please kindly post your answer which I really thank you in advance.

'Nishan.dj',

According to your post the problem is not on your fuse board wiring or fuse board connected circuits.Remove all wires from your alternator and check up.

Still there is a current draw. It is some where else get a electrician to check up your vehicle, there may be some unit is drawing current from your batteries.

3.3 Amps if a unit is drawing current battery will go down in few hours, after 12 to 18 hours stop you will have difficulty in starting

Sylvi Wijesinghe.

Nishan.dj · October 3, 2011

number one is to see how the batteries are. as the batteries get old or have developed some sorta problem with them...they will not hold charge.

when the the vehicle is parked and kept...if you can hook up a meter(set to measure amps and not volts) between the battery post and the vehicle wiring, you can see how much of drain is there on the battery. Meter positive to battery positive and meter negative to vehicle wiring positive. Basically the meter sits between the battery and the vehicle

If your battery is 12v...if you were to multiply the amp reading by 12...you'd get how much of watts the drainage is causing.

Usually your stereo system will take a bit of power to keep it's memory, if the vehicle has an ECU that too will take a bit of power....

Other than that...there shouldn't be any load on the battery.

If you are seeing any abnormal loads on the battery... only way to fix it is to check and eliminate all other components. Since your model doesn't have a lot of complex wirings it shouldn't be too bad.

A few beers and a days work should sort it out

Or just take it to a good auto electrician chap...they can get things done a lot faster

Thanks Ripper. You are right. This model does not have any automatic stuff and complex wiring and therefore it should not consume that much. There is a stereo in the vehicle and I removed the wire of it and all other 12V appliances (Reverse light + Roof light) as well to check whether any of those causes the problem. But bad luck. They did not consume. May be something else.

Nishan.dj · October 3, 2011

Hello friends,

I removed the fuses one by one to see what is the problem but even after removing the last fuse i got the reading as 3.3 Amps. It means (Lets hope) the problem is in between the battery and the fuse board. I am sure anyone of you have gone through this problem before or at least know something about it. So please kindly post your answer which I really thank you in advance.

'Nishan.dj'

According to your post the problem is not on your fuse board wiring or fuse board connected circuits.Remove all wires from your alternator and check up.

Still there is a current draw. It is some where else get a electrician to check up your vehicle, there may be some unit is drawing current from your batteries.

3.3 Amps if a unit is drawing current battery will go down in few hours, after 12 to 18 hours stop you will have difficulty in starting

Sylvi Wijesinghe.

Thanks Sylvi. I did not check the alternator and surely I am going to check it as you said. And also what you said is true. 3.3 Amps is not a small one and I get the problem of starting in the following day morning if I forget to remove the terminals in the evening. (To be honest ) Anyway thanks to you guys I am going to check all and find the problem. But before going to an electrician, I like to find where the problem. Thanks.