Hey guys, I'm pretty sure I have a classic parasitic draw problem on my 2007 Honda Civic. At first, I thought since its seen about 120,000 miles I could be having some alternator problems. But the car runs fine all day and only refuses to start after sitting all night. Anyone have any insight as to where I should start looking to find the source of the draw? Thanks a lot.

 

have you looked at your battery?

 

Yeah, my battery is relatively new, less than a year. If I disconnect the battery when I get home at night and reconnect it in the morning it starts fine. But if I leave everything connected, then it dies. Thats why I think its a drain problem.

 

Have the battery checked first, then if it's OK that will eliminate that completely.

I suppose you don't have any obvious lights on, that you can see, so look for ones that you might not have noticed truck lights glove box etc.

Then do you have a simple test light, if so take the neg battery cable off, then hook the clip on the test light to the ground cable, then stick the probe end and stick it into the battery post.

You need to eliminate the stuff that go's on when you open the door chimes, interior lights etc you can pull the fuse on those.

Now if the test light is glowing after you eliminate the open door stuff that is your power loss, then start pulling fuses one at a time until you come to the circuit that puts the light out.

That is the old fashion way but I suppose you can use a meter to do the same thing.

 

Usually, a parasitic draw should be no greater than .05 amps. Advance Auto parts or any auto part store can test your system for you and give you a print out of your battery condition, starter test, charging system test and of course, a drain test.

Have it checked out and you should narrow your root cause of your battery dying.