99 Windstar SE Battery Draining

[bcjs]

Help, something is causing the battery to go dead after the van sits for several hours. The battery isn't the problem, that has been replaced with a battery we know is good and then 4 to 6 hours later the battery is totally dead. Any clue what this could be?

[wiswind]

You could try checking to see if something is staying on...when you think it is off.....any after-market add on's would be the first thing I would check.

I do remember seeing something about a TSB for a PCM "reflash" (reprogram) that addressed battery drain. That would be a dealer action.

[meditlondon.com]

Our 95 Windstar did this about 2 years ago, it turned out that there is a major wiring harness connector under the driver's side carpet that gets wet and corodes.

[lewisnc100]

Link to TSB info:

http://www.cartrackers.com/Forums/li...star/1363.html

[jboler]

Welcome to my life! I am still having problems with this. Here's the steps that I have taken so far.

Number one: Battery Test. Tested Ok.
Number two: Alternator Test. Tested Ok.
Number three: With a multimeter, I tested the voltage between the alternator and the battery. I'm only getting 12.5 volts. Not good. Should be getting 13.5 - 14.0

Number four: Changed wiring between alternator and battery. No good.
Number five: Check all fuses and relays. No good.

I have a suspicion that the problem is with the rear blower motor switch, which already acts like it has a short in it.

Whatever it is....there's an open circuit somewhere taking the power.

[bcjs]

We have decided to take it to the dealership. There was nothing obvious and is worth putting the money in it. I will let you know what it ended up being. Thanks for the suggestions though, I appreciate your responses.

[Riordan3]

Hey, If you don't have this one fixed yet I have heard the relay for the daytime running lights will cause your battery to drain down. Intermittently it leaves the lights on after you turn the engine off. If you are driving in the daytime hours you may not notice the lights being on. Just a thought. Our company has a fleet of the Windstars and we have had this problem on many of our vehicles including mine. But I noticed it on mine. I pulled in the garage and the headlights stayed on after shutting off the engine. The relay is under the dash and is accessable. I pulled the relay on mine to get the lights out.

[bcjs]

We did get it fixed. We brought it to the dealership and it turned out to be the wiring harness the runs near the drivers seat. It had gotten wet and the wires were shorting out and causing the rear fan to stay running all the time. The wires were fixed and then super insulated so this wouldn't happen again. They spent over 10 hours working on it and only charged me for 8. So I feel like the $805 was well spent. Pretty funny though that parts were only $3.

[jacques116]

Originally Posted by jboler

Welcome to my life! I am still having problems with this. Here's the steps that I have taken so far.

Number one: Battery Test. Tested Ok.
Number two: Alternator Test. Tested Ok.
Number three: With a multimeter, I tested the voltage between the alternator and the battery. I'm only getting 12.5 volts. Not good. Should be getting 13.5 - 14.0

Number four: Changed wiring between alternator and battery. No good.
Number five: Check all fuses and relays. No good.

I have a suspicion that the problem is with the rear blower motor switch, which already acts like it has a short in it.

Whatever it is....there's an open circuit somewhere taking the power.

was wondering if you installed a trailer towin harness for the lights ? they use power all the time and can cause this problem

[wiswind]

You will need to verify this, but I remember reading about a problem with the PCM program required re-flash (reprogram) in order to correct a battery drain issue. It was for 1999 and newer windstar.
It was something that I read on another site, and my alldata subscription only shows me TSB's relative to my '96, so I could not verify it.

[searcherrr]

Originally Posted by bcjs

We did get it fixed. We brought it to the dealership and it turned out to be the wiring harness the runs near the drivers seat. It had gotten wet and the wires were shorting out and causing the rear fan to stay running all the time. The wires were fixed and then super insulated so this wouldn't happen again. They spent over 10 hours working on it and only charged me for 8. So I feel like the $805 was well spent. Pretty funny though that parts were only $3.

I know this post was a millennium ago.... lol... but can ANYONE tell me or SHOW me with a PHOTO where this illusive wiring hardness is under the driver seat carpeting??? Is it under the carpeting?? or under the chassis outside the van under the driver seat area???

I have seen mentions of this harness being corroded from being WET and I know I've never checked this on my van and I've had GROUNDING problems for YEARS with it and recently the dome/interior lights will not go off again... typically this has always been the driver door lock latch (WD-40 trick), but the van is doing other crazy electrical things pointing to a bad ground as well as misfiring again with no reason for it to be (because its driven lightly and not frequently).

MOST OF ALL DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE THIS WIRING HARNESS IS UNDER THE DRIVER SEAT CARPET OR NEAR THE DRIVER SEAT THAT COULD BE GETTING WET??? AND HOW DOES IT GET WET IF ITS INSIDE THE VAN? LOL

God I hope that someone replies, because this is causing such an awful problem at my parent's house and I'm remotely trying to help them fix it 300 miles away.

[12Ounce]

If you locate the inside fuse relay panel (just over the drivers left foot) ...you will also see the FEM mounted to the inside of the firewall. Nearby harnesses come through the firewall ... and join to the inside harnesses. You can follow the harness down by the LH "A" pillar ... it turns and goes along the floor pan to the rear, yes, by the driver's seat in a channel, covered by a pop-riveted metal cover. Hope this helps.
.
If the front water sealing on the firewall has been compromised ... I can see this area getting wet. All depends>

[meditlondon.com]

Ours was in a plastic channel under the carpet. The location was the same. The water soaks through the carpet and into the plastic channel.... where it corrodes the connector.

[searcherrr]

Yes, this is helping. Thanks Guys. I just have a couple more detailed questions.

What is a FEM? (Hopefully not a FEM-bot. lol)

The LH a pillar... is that basically the metal that runs along left of the driver seat and is where you'd step to get into the driver seat under the metal/plastic where it says windstar??

Basically, if I was sitting in the driver seat... is it LEFT , MID or RIGHT of the driver seat if I look/reach downward?

Pop-riveted metal cover??? Does that mean it easily pops up/out by prying it or does it need to be drilled/cut out to get the cover off??

Maybe I should post a photo of the flooring and have ya'll mark it with ms paint brush or some other graphic program.

[12Ounce]

The harness runs along from front LH "A" pillar toward rear, under the sheet metal cover, just left of drivers seat ... and a large "turn-out" (TO) turns and goes across the car just in front of both front seats ... this portion is mostly n a plastic protector.
.
Don't hold me to it, but I think I remember the sheet metal cover just being riveted on one side ... you can probably lift it.
.
There is a FEM (front electronic module ...on fire wall just over drivers left foot) and a REM (rear electronic module... just in front of jack storage under rear RH inner quarter panel trim).
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Also of interest are four Switched - System Power Relays. These relays allow a bit of delay feeding the various heavy lamp loads at engine start-up ... kinda slows the loading of the alternator. These relays can also be used to divide and conquer various wiring issues. Of course, they can also add confusion ... (I'm enjoying some of this right now on my '99). Anyway, SSP1 and SSP2 are in the battery fuse box ... and SSP3 and SSP4 are in the inside "fuse junction panel" ... near LH "A" pillar, fairly close to the FEM. During the key-off, these relays should not be energized. You can carefully pull them to see if they "click" .....when the key is off ...indicating problems.