smrtypants785

Hi!

I have had my Ford Escort for about 3 years and it has always been good to me until a couple of months ago when the battery started draining very quickly making me jump start it a lot.

I think I have found the problem area but I want to be sure since I am new to electrical stuff. Here is what I have done:

I had the battery checked out (it is new) and it is in good condition. I unhooked the ground to my battery and put my multimeter in putting it on the '10A' setting. It gave me a .18 reading which I am not sure if that is good or not so I started taking fuses out until I got it to read 0.0. I found that the 'Room' Fuse under the steering wheel when removed placed my reading at 0. I looked in the owners manual to see that what it controlled and it says this:

"Dome & map lamp, TWS unit, IG key illumination, luggage lamp, vanity mirror lamp, radio (memory), door lock relay, shift-lock system, EAT module, EEC module"

The only thing I knew how to check from there was the radio and that wasn't it. Is my process right? Can someone clue me in to other things to check? Or do I need to go get one of those batterybrain (batterybrain.com) things and give up?

Help! and Thanks!

Davescort97

Welcome to AF. You are on the right track. The way you checked the drain was right on. Good work. A .18 amp drain on the 10 amp scale is 1.8 amps. 12 volts X 1.8 amps = 21.6 watts. So something under the room fuse is pulling that much current. The presets on the radio would only pull 1 or 2 watts so that's not it.

I would be looking at the dome light, luggage light and vanity light. Check visually that they aren't on with the doors closed. The luggage light in the trunk could be on. Take the bulb out and check it then.

Check the door lock relay that it isn't pulling watts by leaving it in the unlocked mode. The shift lock and transmission module and electronic engine control all have electrical connectors that can be undone to check for power drain.

You may have to get one of those battery drain devices. A PITA, but easier than having to jump it.

smrtypants785

Would door lock relay imply that my door has automatic locks? All of my locks are manual so do I need to worry about that?

I actually already checked my light in my trunk and it is set to off, besides that bulb hasn't worked since I bought the thing! None of my dome or vanity lights are on when my car is off. What are those other things that were mentioned in my manual (TWS unit,shift-lock system, EAT module, EEC module)? I can't seem to figure them out by looking online!

Davescort97

Right! No power door locks. No problem there. The shift lock interface is a cable and electriical conduit that runs from the ignition down to the shifter on the automatic transamission. You can't shift out of park unless the ignition is in the run mode.

The TWS I don't know. The EAT module is the brain box for the automatic transmission and the EEC is the brain box for the engine controls. I'm guessing that the EAT is 4EAT auto transmission. If I"m wrong someone correct me.