Electrical Fault on Friend's Accord

[Stevearcade]

Hey guys,

My mate's dad has a 2003 2.4 Auto Exec saloon. It's currently at Honda, he has a courtesy car. His Accord keeps draining the battery. Changed both the alternator and the battery and it's still doing it.

Anyone got any thoughts I could pass onto him to check out?

 

[vile]

This might be some kind of earth fault leakage Steve.
Have he added or changed anything with the car lately.

 

[Stevearcade]

Will ask and report back.

 

[Jon_G]

Has it got a Hands Free Telephone system... they often go wrong on Hondas and draw too much current constantly.

Otherwise, it's a matter of connecting up an ammeter and seeing how high the parasitic drain is. And then pulling fuses to see which circuit is responsible.

 

[Stevearcade]

Nice one Jon, that's proper useful. Will pass this on to him.

 

[Jon_G]

Search 'eric the car guy parasitic draw' on YouTube... a guy in a baseball cap holding a multimeter is the one to look for.

 

[Stevearcade]

Cheers Jon

 

[jayok]

Yeah, Jon's onto it.

I've seen this and generally found it to be 3rd party fitted devices drawing the power. Get an multimeter in series with the negative and measure the current draw. Don't try an start the car or you'll blow the meter!!

You should see approx 0.5A when the car is unlocked and it drop down to 50-60mA when locked. Anything higher and you have a drain.

Troubleshooting steps are to remove fuses until it drops back to normal. I'd start with anything hanging off the cigarette lighter then the audio system or car phone kit.

Patience is the key here!

 

[F6HAD]

Factory Honda Bluetooth kits are known to cause this. Otherwise as the guys have suggested any aftermarket electrical devices such as handsfree, amplifiers, even led lights.