How to fix a parasitic draw?

Asked by Guru3Y7RX Jun 30, 2020 at 06:11 PM about the 2007 Kia Sorento EX

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

There is a parasitic draw that is killing my battery within a couple of days. I
watched a Utube discussion and the guy took out his 40 amp B3 fuse and
solved
the problem. Unfortunately, now I have no electric door locks or seat
adjustments. This is a 2007 Kia Sorento EX. A different uTube described the
problem as being because of proximity to a bad fob. Kia told me it was because
of my aftermarket remote start system and they sent me to a separate
electronics store which removed the old system relay. So now I am stuck with
out power locks and power seat adjustment until I plug back in the fuse under
the hood. But of course then, my battery will die. Can anyone straighten this
out?

2 Answers

26,245

Plug everything backin and then put an ammeter (or multimeter on a low amperage setting) with one lead attached to your positive battery terminal and the other attached to the battery cable you took off the terminal (series connection) and it should show the current draw that is killing your battery. That was the easy part. Now begin removing fuses until the current stops. This tells you what circuit is causing the problem. Once you know the circuit, you need to check each device on that circuit until you locate the source. Good luck.

2 people found this helpful.
101,595

Keep in mind with modern cars, there is always going to a higher than usual draw when the door is opened. Every time you open the door you keep one or more computer modules in an active state, it can take 10 to 20 minutes for a module to go back to "sleep". You could pull the fuse(s) for the doors then opening it wont affect your amperage reading. Of course if you're only pulling under hood fuses then the above would not be necessary. That said, pulling fuses until you eliminate the parasitic draw is only the first step in remedying your problem, you still have to actually repair the circuit itself. You seem to already know which circuit is causing the problem, but to fix it you will need to trace that circuit looking for shorts. Having a wire diagram is a big help, as is having a good meter.

2 people found this helpful.

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