Help...battery drain, not HFL related?

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Old May 12, 2014 | 12:31 PM
  #1  
ZRatedDog's Avatar
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From: lutz, Fl
Help...battery drain, not HFL related?

Hello to the TL community

I have 06 TL with 42K on it. Bough used with 20K. Otherwise runs like a champ. No aftermarket parts whatsoever (to my knowledge, went through the booklets of what previous owner had done. Bought it at Ford dealership, so no history is available)

Problem: Battery drain, apparently its a common issue for TL. However, it does not appear its HFL related...I pulled the sucker out (actually the whole overhead console is currently disconnected and I still get drain)

What I got so far: Drain is of a odd pulsing nature. Did the usual prep - car off for 30 min, door and hood closed. Multimeter shows steady 0.2-0.3 A drain, with spike to 0.6+ every 30 seconds. Its like:

0.2...0.3...0.2...0.6...0.2...0.3...etc

To me it looks like some RF module is "hunting" for signal. I pulled the HFL out w/out result, then I disconnected the whole overhead console - no result, still pulsing drain.

I manage to narrow it down to interior fuses #6(Int. Light) and #7 (back up). But here is the puzzling bit:

Pulling the fuse #6 the drain goes to steady 0.2
Pulling fuse #7 I get pulsing drain of 0.3 every 30 seconds.

When both fuses are out, drain goes to 0.04

Any ideas?
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Old May 12, 2014 | 02:33 PM
  #2  
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Yo ZRatedDog
I also have an '6 TL. I had the HFL problem and unplugged the HFL without removing it. Things were OK for months.
Now the battery is dying again. Pulling fuses under the hood, I found that Fuse #15 under the hood is drawing 620mA, which drops down to 240mA after 10 seconds. Did some Googling and I found more comments on http://www.sparkys-answers.com/2012/...goes-dead.html
He says fuses 5,6,7,8 & 9 in the interior fuse box are all powered by fuse #15 in the underhood fuse box. So I plugged in Fuse #15 and pulled these interior fuses one at a time. I found that
Fuse #6 (Interior lights) draws 290mA
Fuse #7 (Backup lights) draws 360mA
I am stuck here. I saw another post on Acurazine saying you had to wait put the ammeter in series with the battery ground and wait 15 minutes for the 'ECM' to go into sleep mode, and do a few other things to make sure nothing else is drawing current. So I am waiting to get a battery clamp to make the connection to the meter...
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Old May 12, 2014 | 02:38 PM
  #3  
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From: lutz, Fl
^ Exactly what I have. And I've waited 30 minutes for ECM to go to sleep, and I still have the same thing. My multimeter is HarborFreight cheapo so it doesnt read mA but the numbers are close enough with what you have on yours.
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Old May 12, 2014 | 04:32 PM
  #4  
ZRatedDog's Avatar
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From: lutz, Fl
Fixed!

I must say if it wasnt for the link provided by Smirkle, I would be still scratching my head...aparently what I disconnected was the Home Link...the HandsFree unit is actually buried above it, close to the roof

Disconnected -> battery drain dropped to 0.04 amps

Thanks!
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Old May 15, 2014 | 10:49 PM
  #5  
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I am still looking for that leak. I noticed after 10 sec the current drops down to about 220 mA
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Old May 16, 2014 | 03:34 PM
  #6  
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I looked at this '06 Acura TL battery leakage problem again today. I found that leakage drops to 40mA (good) when I pull either F15 under the hood or F6 in the cabin. F15 feeds F6, apparently. Acura manual says F6 is for interior lights. With F6 in, current is 230mA. So the extra current draw is about 190mA. With F6 out, the interior (dome) lights are out. I don't know what else is fed by F6. I need a real wiring diagram.
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Old May 17, 2014 | 12:51 AM
  #7  
MarcoNorthPolo's Avatar
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From: Nova Scotia, Canada
You guys are having the exact same discussion in two separate threads. You're splitting your potential audience by doing this, as some members might not read both threads. Best to keep it one place so all the info is available there. Hope you guys get your drain problems fixed. I've been fortunate thus far.
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Old Jun 1, 2014 | 08:19 PM
  #8  
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Well I thought I had figured out what is draining my battery, but I was wrong.
It's still draining at a rate of around 1.45 amps!
Did everything I think of except remove the Xenesis car alarm/remote starter, because I can't really tell how it was installed in the first place. However I did remove the two fuses feeding it which shut the unit off as expected.

Under hood fuses 15,18 and 22 are all drawing 1.45amps, fuse 7 is drawing 1.27 amps.
So I remove the whole overhead console HFL, lights and home link.
Still drawing same amount of power, with no lights on.

Remove in car fuse #5, it's drawing 1.1A, fuse #6 1.5A. Didn't check 7,8 and 9. Instead I pulled fuses 5,6,7,8 and 9. which supposedly are fed from under hood fuse #15. Put the meter across fuse #15 expecting no power draw. What I got instead was a draw of 1.43A !

So I'm thinking I must have a short somewhere, what's your thoughts?
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