I have a 99 mustang and have been battling a parasitic drain for close to a year now. The car has a new alternator, starter, and battery, but if I dont drive it for a day or two I will go out and the car will not start. I finally did the drain test by running an amp meter in series with the positive battery terminal and the positive lead and measured a drain of 39 milliamps with no lights or accessories on and the door closed with the key out of the ignition.

I started pulling fuses one by one and measuring the drain, and finally found a fuse that when I pulled it the drain dropped to 21 milliamps. My question is this, the fuse that dropped the drain, and obviously is causing the battery problems is the 40 amp fuse that in the manual says controls the console. The things that I could tell that are powered by this fuse are the dome light, trunk release in the glove box, power locks, and windshield wipers. How do I find what in this circuit is causing the drain and how in the world do I fix it. Sorry about the novel, but I figured that all of the info was necessary to properly describe the problem and I appreciate any insight to help get my ride back to being reliable.

 

Well, i cant think of a better way, so I would grab a wiring diagram to see exactly whats on that circuit, and start unplugging items to see what the culprit is.

 

You COULD, systematicly remove one componet at a time untill you narrow it down. Do what psyviperx said and get a wire diagram, there is one in the Haynes repair manuel. I would de-solder or cut one part at a time untill I narrowed it down and then try to trace/fix or replace what the problem is.

 

make sure what ever is plugged into you cigi lighter is unplugged too!