2-2.5 amp draw. WTF

[adidas_coin]

last few days after sitting overnight the battery in my 91 is dead. its pulling 2-2.5 amps with everything off, pulled every fuse and relay in the car, it never went down. It has aftermarket HID's but i unplugged every plug and still no change. And 2 amps is allot to not notice anything, cant hear a solenoid on, or see any lights staying on, I know this is impossible to diagnose without being in front of the car. But does anyone have any idea what would pull so much current and not be noticed. i know .2 amps is normal but this is far from .2 amps. Anyone have any idea lemmie know soon, thanks guys.

 

[Bohrn]

you are correct, 2500miliamps is HUGE!! it should be around 12-25 miliamps if everything is "asleep"

that huge a draw must be something like a pinched wire somewhere. But if you pulled all the fuses that is odd.

Did you do any work recently whre you moved something or bolted something on? Look, maybe a pinched wire?

maybe its something with a larger electric motor that is stuck and cannot spin? Say a heater blower motor or a fan motor or an ABS motor?

just tossing out ideas...

 

[steve]

My ISC motor make all kinds of noises when its plugged in now, with the car off.

That would imply that the MPI relay is still turned on and everything else that goes with it.

Steve

 

[Rob10_99]

something is on for sure,
how about your radio's auto entenae(sp?)
blower motor sounds like a good one, that should humm if its not spinning, or vibrate.
there should be something getting warm, feel around everywhere after the car has been sitting a while and you should find it!

 

[Bohrn]

if your ISC is doing that, I strongly suggest you check your ECU and the capacitors. If you have someone near you that has the same car, see if you can borrow thier ECU. Try thiers in your car and yours in thier car.

My car did this before my ECU took a dump. It didn't get bad enough to cause that kind of draw, but it would stay on periodically. Fixing the ECU fixed the ISC "rattling"

 

[adidas_coin]

new devolopement. Got gas today and went to restart and it stumbels and wouldnt completely start, had to tow it home about an hour ago, and the afc reads 0 rpms while cranking, but when it tries to start it will start to read rpms for the few seconds it tries. Checked the isc and its loose as hell in there. How to you set that? i don't remember where it was set at. At first I thought it was bad gas since it was near empty when I put gas in it. On a side note I've been having some charging problems as well. alternator was just replaced by previous owner. And I have a red top thats fine, It also has a hyperground kit(thought that would help). Any more questions lemmie know. this thing is really pissing me off lately. But thats what dsm's do.

 

[adidas_coin]

Antenna is disconected, My rear defogg switch keeps coming on while driving even though i keep switching it off, that should be only key on though. And just to be sure i disconnected it. iono it seems Its ###### a short to power before a fuse. (god i hope not) can anyone tell me what the fusible links off of the battery are,my 90 has 3 with a cover saying what is what but this one(91) has 4 and no cover, I assume that the extra is abs since my 90 has no abs but my 90 is also 5 speed where as my 91 is an auto. So that sould be a great help as well. ok thanks guys hope to hear from you soon.

 

[steve]

Steve I don't think its the relay, my fuel pump doesn't have its ungodly whine while this is going on.

Fuel pump is the other side of the MPI relay. Same package but independant parts.

I know I'm good at fixing things but sometimes stuff breaks. You would be the first but the ISC has to have power to chatter, That comes from the MPI relay pin 4 and 5 and the relay won't normally turn on unless pin 8 is grounded by the ECU.

If the ISC is getting 12v then the MAF, CAS, BSC, Purge, EGR, FPS, injectors and ECU will also have power.

adidas, you really need a wiring diagram to debug this or your going to waste a lot of time.


Steve

 

[adidas_coin]

gonna say this then checkout the diagram, ok as for the no start= it wants to start with starting fluid so i was thinking fuel,i pulled the return line and cranked it, I got fuel, ok then I hooked up a noid light to an injector, No flash ECM has issues, ok i have a m/t 90 tsi ecm, can I try that or is that onother "1990 bastard year" issue, ok well im gonna go look at your link, btw names jason

 

[adidas_coin]

crap, another thing, from the left of the fuseible links, the second was damaged yesterday its destroyed, its one of the links thats bolted in, I assumed it was abs because the car still started, i made a 5 min. drive to the gas station then turned it off, it hasn't started since. ok, sorry I didnt mention that, better late then never though, according to this diagram(if its true to looks) It says that that one is for the injection, and i started it without it. how did I make a 5min drive if thats the one thats missing, it has to be the fan link. ok lemmie know about the ecm.

 

[steve]

Ok i have a m/t 90 tsi ecm, can I try that or is that onother "1990 bastard year" issue?

Yes the ECUs are different and you'll have to swap pins 6 and 14 if you want to driver the car on that ECU but you can start the car without swapping the pins. The locations of the Idle Position Switch and the MAF reset wires exchanged between 90 and 91 on the ECU connector. Since you just trying to see if the car will start it won't make any difference. Once it starts they run poorly until you swap the wires.

Steve

 

[Auto RS T]

Yse the ECUs are different and you'll have to swap pins 6 and 14 if you want to driver the car on that ECU but you can start the car without swapping the pins. The locations of the Idle Position Switch and the MAF reset wires exchanged between 90 and 91 on the ECU connector. Since you just trying to see if the car will start it won't make any difference. Once it starts they run poorly until you swap the wires.

Steve

What exactly does running poorly mean? Could you give more details? Would I be able to look for evidence on a logger? I guess the point is I have a 90 ECU with a "91" Engine harness (do to catastrophic meltdown by previous owner) would I need to swap these two wires? Thanks

 

[steve]

would I need to swap these two wires?

Why do I have to keep saying this?

Yes. the locations of the Idle Position Switch and the MAF reset wires exchanged between 90 and 91 on the ECU connector so anytime you put the one type into a different type car you have to swap those two pins (6 and 14). Yours might be already done. My car will hardly idle if the wires don't match the ECU.

Steve

 

[adidas_coin]

ok, steve. is the cam sensor the reference for the injectors? 'cause like i said there not being pulsed. That obviously could be ecu related but a cam sensor would be the easier to try, though I'd have to dig through the garage for one. I just cant remember if that is what is used as the signal for the ecm to pulse the injectors.

 

[adidas_coin]

ok, plugged in the 90 ecm and it fired, but the thing is it idles great, so i took it for a drive around the block and it seemed ok for awhile then it began to studder just a bit @ 2000rpms while cruising with steady throttle. also the MIL is comn on and off briefly so i do have to change the pins. For a second I thought I lucked out and got a 91 with an early chassis break, . also on a side note, this car had an (auto) ecm with 450cc's off of a manual and used to run rich and shoot fireballs out the tail pipe on decell. now with a m/t ecm made for 450cc's will i stop running so rich? are the fuel tables actually different between the two ecm's?

 

[steve]

I'm sorry, is this a new car differrent than your profile?

Steve

 

[adidas_coin]

I this is my other car, a blue 91 gsx auto, the profile car is donating the ecm

 

[steve]

If you have 450s in the auto the manual ECU will have the right settings.
Swapping the pins on the big ECU connector takes me less than 30 seconds with a tiny jewlers screwdriver to release the pin.

Since the CEL keeps comingon check the codes and let us know.

Steve

 

[adidas_coin]

Ok, sorry it took so long, been busy, it was the TPS causing the CEL, somehow the screws got removed all together.