Another battery/electrical issue!

[USautobailout]

Hi, I've read through several battery/electrical discussions, but haven't been able to come up w/an answer so far. Figured I'd try here: 2011 Edge SEL, 60K, drive 2 hours daily, car runs great, but over past 2-3 months have developed issues w/battery dying repeatedly, usually after parking overnight. In addition, random interior lights, instrument panel, and Sync screen tend to light up at odd times when the car is off and should be asleep. Bosch battery is about 8 months old and has been tested a few times and comes back as fine. Took the car to the dealer and they could not find a definitive answer. Their best guess was a bad shifter and related module. I had them replace, but the battery has gone dead 3-4 times in the 2 weeks since. I also have the Door Ajar issue, but that has been there for 18 months or so and the battery issues are more recent. Finally, up until recently, this was happening primarily on Sat/Sun mornings. I doubt that has anything to do with it, but perhaps there is a software issue since the car has generally been running fine M-F (and again, I drive about 2 hours daily on the highway).

[akirby]

The BCM (body control module) has also been know to drain batteries.

[enigma-2]

These intermittent electrical problems are a real dickings to track down.

Here's the process I would follow to find the culprit: using a multimeter, disconnect the positive cable from the battery and place the meter in series with the battery. With everything off, your shouldn't see more then than a few milliamps of draw (say <50 ma).

 

If you do, find the fuse panel and start pulling fuses until the draw drops to just a few milliamps. If this doesn't discover the circuit, next try removing the positive cable going to the altenator and see if the draw stops (alternators are also a possible source of draw).

The above process should find the source, but before this I would allow the car to sit for awhile and then (without opening any door) look inside the car in a dark garage (or driveway) to see if there is a light still buring.

My wife's Sebring had this problem and it turned out to be one of the interior lights. We determined that whenever she adjusted her rearview mirror, she was accidentally bumping the light switch (convertible, the interior lights are on the rearview mirror and the switches are on the underside of the mirror). She usually shut the car off while it was still light outside or in the garage where the interior garage lights automatically turn on and never noticed the light staying on. It can be something just as simple as this.

Edited January 9, 2017 by enigma-2

[USautobailout]

Thanks. I scheduled another appointment at the dealer who did the shifter module replacement for next week. In the meantime, I will run the above test myself to see if I can find the problem.

[macbwt]

This was my experience.

[macbwt]

Verified with another tester.

[USautobailout]

Thanks. Going to check it out.