Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

You put a multimeter inline, set to amps, you should only see a fraction of an amp, depending on what you have, ie, live feed to the stereo pulling .05 amps, or the light on saying the door is open pulling something similar, I can't remember what the bulb is, but it should be hardly anything over all, if you are seeing more than an amp, or just even close to it, something is draining it that shouldnt be.

yojimbo wrote:You put a multimeter inline, set to amps, you should only see a fraction of an amp, depending on what you have, ie, live feed to the stereo pulling .05 amps, or the light on saying the door is open pulling something similar, I can't remember what the bulb is, but it should be hardly anything over all, if you are seeing more than an amp, or just even close to it, something is draining it that shouldnt be.

Very true; however I've found in practice that most consumer-grade multimeters aren't very accurate when trying to measure in the milliamp range.

Certainly something to compare with the volt/resistance test to give a second opinion.

Turtle started no problem with a full battery yesterday and today.
i removed all the POS connections and measured -9.8 with the multimeter set to 20m ohms
i removed every fuse one at a time, including a couple in the wire cluster that goes up the steering wheel, the 6 behind the glove box, and a couple that i added for various veggie oil kit stuff, the value did not change

with everything hooked up again i measured amperage and got .001


what gives?

ari

Why are you looking for a amp drain? What make and how old was your old battery?

Dustin

looking for amp drain because that was suggested as something to do. the old battery was motomaster, as in Canadian Tire, and about 2 to 3 years old i think

They have sent you on a goose chase, you said before it would hold its voltage over night, it just did not have the power to turn it over once and awhile. That is not an indication of a parasitic drain. Relax it was the battery.

If you are ever in the Duncan area and need a quick peek at something PM me.

Dustin

I agree with the battery being suspect.
I have 3 motorcycles. As many of you know, the batteries in MC's are marginal at the best of times. 99/100 times, if there is, what seems to be an electrical glitch, it turns out to be a battery issue (either bad battery or connection at the posts). Easy diagnostic test...... hook up a known, good battery, and see if the problem is solved. Even load testing a battery is not 100% accurate as I found out the hard way. Chased a bad starting situation for a bit after the battery "checked out" OK. Decided to put in a new battery and the problem went away. If your battery is 2-3 yrs old, there is a good chance it has failed. Recently my Delica would not turn over after sitting for a while. There was even a maintenance trickle charger on it. I tried boosting it. No joy. First thing I did was put a new battery in. Voila. No more issues. It seems that "modern" batteries have the ability to work fine and fail suddenly. No gradual (noticeable anyway) loss of function. Work fine one day. Total loss the next time you try to start.

Rod

okey dokey then... time will tell!

Yeah .001 is fine, no need to worry about the vehicle being the issue.

started fine monday afternoon after sitting since thursday with minor battery draws (lights etc)

Got to love that

yeah. ultimately i guess my old battery was pooched and very likely had a broken plate inside. so far so good with the optima

turtle rides again. hit the road !

I was having the exact same problem as you with my battery. Full charge, no action. Tighten leads - bingo, it works. A few days later, same thing. Decide it's a dirty ground terminal, clean it, reinstall, it works. A couple days later, same thing. Clean and reconnect positive terminal - works. A couple days later, same thing.

Then I read this thread and was inspired to replace the battery. Since then it has been smooth sailing. Thanks for sharing!

weeeeird.. i never heard of such a thing.. and now twice!