SOLVED - 92 300TE - pulls 1A when off, draining battery
 

After a little more searching I found some threads on antenna and/or radio/amplifier causing problems. Disconnected amplifier, current draw dropped 600ma, the disconnected radio connector (module on top of amplifier) and it dropped another 300ma or so. Draw is now 30ma.

Editing for the search archives.

Brian

I replaced the battery on our 300TE a few weeks ago, it was not holding a charge and it was 5 years old so I went ahead and replaced it. Now the new battery has done the same thing, lost charge over time. Alternator provides 13.8VDC when running, that seems fine.

I have measured 1A DC current draw with ignition off/key out, between battery negative and ground. I pulled every fuse in the fuse box, and the two underneath it, and I'm still getting 1A. This sounds high, and seems to be the root cause of the battery getting drained over time.

Any experience on other places to look? When I pulled the clock fuse the current draw dropped 0.1A or so, which seems reasonable. An amp seems like a lot of current for me not to notice something else 'on' all the time -

Thanks in advance for any suggestions -

Brian

This is a shot in the dark, but is there an aftermarket stereo/amp installed?

Hi Zeus - there is an old school analog phone installed under the rear seat, but it is powered from under the fuse box, they attached the leads by screwing into one of the 25A circuits. I unplugged it at the phone module, and anyway when I removed the 25A fuse powering the phone there was no change.

Weird.

Brian