98 X-90 (Sidekick) Pulsating Battery Draw?

[mayberry97]

1998 X-90 (same as Sidekick)

Trying to confirm if this behavior is normal, or if i have a parasitic battery draw.

All interior fuses removed (disabling radio, blower motor, dome and trunk lights, windows, etc...).

Test light between ground cable and negative terminal on the battery. The test light PULSATES. It flashes about once per second...continuously in a steady rhythm.

The only fuse that ceases the test light is the 60a IG fuse on the engine bay fuse box. Removing this fuse stops the light.

QUESTION #1
Is this pulsating draw normal behavior and not enough to kill the battery?

QUESTION #2
If it isn't normal, where where does the problem lay? The white/green wire that comes from the 60a fuse goes directly to the ignition switch. I tried different switch positions and it made no difference.

I recorded a video demonstrating this since it's hard to explain. Check it out please:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UU3GmKg...e=youtu.be



I really appreciate any help you can offer.

Thanks,
Jon

[fixkick]

easy, (mostly)
no that is NOT normal
and the 60 amp goes to the ignition switch and its an open circuit.
if the switch is bad then pulling that wire to that switch will stop the flash.
if not, then you have some hacking there, something added to that wire, by someone,,, inspect that wire end to end.

that pulsing is the ECU or some load on that wire trying to boot up and the lamp heats up , the voltage drops and cause what ever is there to reboot.

IG fuse is fender fuse #3
and is colored. white -green, and goes to all 3 ignition (inputs) switches, inside switch. one of the 3 is stuck closed,. or hacks there

the proof is here, 1998 (as you can see, key out, there ARE no loads on that fuse.)




to stop the flashing use a real ammeter, a real ammeter is 0 ohms (not a lamp ) and will send full power to the objects stuck on and stop pulsing..

keep in mind the loads are not designed to work with a series, lamp. ever. (causes them to malf)
but the lamp is a valid test, you see it does leak and is real, non the less.

how ever, we have seen the alternator regs short inside, and back feeds power (from the big hot alt wire) to the other side of the ign switch.
so unplug the alternator rear plug......the small plug.
also unplug gently the big alt wire. its hot all the time so do fast and tape the end quickly , to see if the drain ends.

yes, alternators short and some do so, in the most odd ways.

I wonder if its a double failure?? ignition switch and alt.? as the 60amp pull proves the ign switch is leaking... you will find that soon.

---

thanks for sharing...

[mayberry97]

       

Thanks for the quick response Fixkick....i appreciate your help!

I took the steering column covers off and found just what you suspected...HACK JOB! Sigh....i keep finding things that this previous owner did...just baffles me.

Looks like the white/green from the Ignition fuse becomes white/yellow behind the dash. I don't see this in the wiring diagrams, but i'm not sure how to explain it. The previous owner tapped into the white/yellow with an thin yellow wire. I traced that back behind the stereo going into another yellow wire. It doesn't connect to any of the stereo components, but from what i gather, the hazard/flashers use a yellow wire.

My assumption is that the pulsating test light was being triggered by the rhythm that the flasher unit generates...somehow. Not quite sure.

Looks like at some point he tapped into two other wires back there. See the photo. Not sure where these two connect or what he was intending.

Tomorrow i'm going to remove the splices, repair the wires best i can, and put everything back together. I still think i need an alternator because the voltage drops with the headlights on and it's making a bad bearing sound (whining). But that'll be another day's project...

I attached some photos here...hopefully they came through OK.

[fixkick]

great

my guess is he wanted radio to work key off.
nice photos.
my drawing is not x90 its plain, sidekick.

fuse 2 is white/yellow (marked lamps)
i wonder what he did there?

take due care around any yellow air bag connectors....

flasher, when the yell-white wire out of combo flasher/haz is dead (it is when) off, the flasher is dead. so that wire is hacked too.

my guess, when all those, 3m cannibal splices are out, all will be well.

---

maybe he added an alarm? (remote start?)

[mayberry97]

Thanks. I've everything just about back together. Measuring the draw with a meter this time.

I'm not exactly sure how to interpret these results. Not too handy with the meter and not really sure i'm using it correctly. Can you take a quick look?

Set on 10A. When first touching to the battery, it goes to like 0.20...then quickly settles down and fluctuates between 0.01 and 0.02.

Is that amount of draw acceptable or is there still something to investigate?

   

[fixkick]

sure, no problem glad to help. anyone.
the .2 amp is the surge current charging capacitors in the system. (very normal that)
then you get 10 milli amps, YOU FIXED It that is a perfect reading.
nice work !!!!

here is my long drain page. but your test is first. and easy

http://www.fixkick.com/drain/drain.html#FAST_TEST

no more dead battery..... CHEERS !

this is the best and cheapest way to measure drain.

[mayberry97]

Found one more curiosity....

Under the dash, towards the firewall...this thing is mounted. Looks like a relay of sorts, but not sure. The previous owner hacked into here at some point in the past.

What is this unit and what does it do (see photo     )?

[fixkick]

nice work, all.'!!

happy trails and cheers.