Electrical draw with key off

[aarolar]

I am having one of those PITA electrical problems that we all dread and need some opinions on where to be looking, I have a draw with the key off of 87 mA which is causing my truck to be harder and harder to start every morning. I charged it this weekend and barely got it to start today when I got up to go to work.

While keeping the meter hooked up I pulled every single fuse one at a time and none of them but the big battery fuse caused the draw to go away. One strange thing I noted was that when I pulled fuse 15 in the cab fuse panel it caused it to jump from 87 to 197 mA and then returned to 87 once I returned the fuse. On the same note the DRLs stopped working out of the blue about the same time I started having issues with the battery draining. What confuses me is why the amperage jumps up upon pulling that fuse and what could possibly be causing the DRLs to not come on. I absolutely abhor trying to run down electrical gremlins and this is one of the worst possible issues to me, on top of it all I am supposed to be going camping in an extremely remote area on the 21st of this month for my 5 year wedding anniversary and now I don't feel like I can trust this truck anymore.

 

[90W7]

Try pulling some relays while watching the amp draw if you haven't.

I just fixed a F250 a month back where the A/C clutch relay was the cause of a high parasitic draw.

 

[aarolar]

I did didn't think to mention it, pulled everything in the fuse boxes.

 

[90W7]

Hmm.

Battery cables/posts look ok? No nasty corrosion that could cause a volt drop/parasitic draw? And are you letting it sit long enough to where the computer powers down?

I'm sure you have, I'm just trying to weed out the stupid easy fix problems that I myself overlook sometimes.

 

[aarolar]

Not sure about the computer but to check the amps I'm unhooking the positive battery cable and checking between the post and cable. The connections are spotless and well coated in protectant.

 

[badazzbulldog]

how old is the battery? could have a bad cell in it

 

[aarolar]

Less than a year, it's not debateable that I have a 87mA draw even a new battery will eventually go bad

 

[90W7]

That's what I'm thinking too. Having pulled everything I would think you would have got rid of the draw but perhaps your battery just won't hold a charge anymore.

 

[badazzbulldog]

do you have access to a battery load tester that would give you the answer.

 

[aarolar]

do you have access to a battery load tester that would give you the answer.

Yes I'll check it tomorrow.

Where is the DRL relay I see it's in the convenience center under the steering wheel but which one seems theres two a small one and a large one...