Battery Going Dead

[tooling17039]

Hello, I'm new to the forum. I have an 04 Sierra 1500 2WD 4.3L 5 Speed Manual. I bought it new in 04 and it's been a reliable and loyal truck for all that time. The truck sat for almost a year with a only a start up every so many months. I recently put a new battery in the truck and started using it again. It seems to really draw the battery down if it sits a few days.

I recently noticed two things. I cannot turn the headlights off before starting it and I cannot override the dome light and turn it off like I used to be able to do. I do not know if any of those are related but I had the standard cluster issues in the past and the failure mode of my cluster was the clusters computer not going to sleep which would kill the battery.

I'm wondering if I'm having a similar issue with a different computer in the truck. Any insights or thoughts will be greatly appreciated I did a search through the forum and didn't find anything like this so I thought I'd post the question here and see how it goes.

Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[99Sierra2500]

Welcome from Indiana! How is the alternator?

 

[tooling17039]

Thank you for the welcome and reply. Great question, I should have included that, 14.2V according to the Fluke 87.

I found it really odd I can no longer overide the headlights off nor can I manually turn off the dome light. Those are things I've done routinely on the truck over the last 21 years I've owned it.

 

[stutaeng]

Do a voltage drop across the fuses to determine if you have a parasitic battery drain (or amp draw test on the main battery battery.)

Pay extra attention to the IPC fuse, in case you have a cluster draining the battery. This kinda common on the 03+ models it seems to me.

You should only have around 25mA draw after shutting the truck off, although a lot of resources list 50 mA as maximum.

 

[ORVietVet]

You said it sat for a year. I would be checking wiring for circuits that are hot and can turn on when key is out and truck is not on. Rodents eat insulation.

 

[99Sierra2500]

Thank you for the welcome and reply. Great question, I should have included that, 14.2V according to the Fluke 87.

I found it really odd I can no longer overide the headlights off nor can I manually turn off the dome light. Those are things I've done routinely on the truck over the last 21 years I've owned it.

It sounds like the switch in the dash is bad, does it ever feel hot?

 

[tooling17039]

Do a voltage drop across the fuses to determine if you have a parasitic battery drain (or amp draw test on the main battery battery.)

Pay extra attention to the IPC fuse, in case you have a cluster draining the battery. This kinda common on the 03+ models it seems to me.

You should only have around 25mA draw after shutting the truck off, although a lot of resources list 50 mA as maximum.

Thank you for telling me what spec is I will check this out and see what I find.

 

[tooling17039]

You said it sat for a year. I would be checking wiring for circuits that are hot and can turn on when key is out and truck is not on. Rodents eat insulation.

Good call. I haven't had issues in the past where the truck was but it definitely doesn't hurt to check. Thank you

 

[tooling17039]

It sounds like the switch in the dash is bad, does it ever feel hot?

Not from what I can tell. It's interesting I played with it a little more. With key on engine not running I cannot override the headlights off like I used to be able to do. With key on engine running I can override the headlights off. I cannot impact the dome light at any time no matter the keys position.

Something definitely seems off with the circuit. Do you know where the headlight switch and dome switch go to as inputs?

 

[99Sierra2500]

Not from what I can tell. It's interesting I played with it a little more. With key on engine not running I cannot override the headlights off like I used to be able to do. With key on engine running I can override the headlights off. I cannot impact the dome light at any time no matter the keys position.

Something definitely seems off with the circuit. Do you know where the headlight switch and dome switch go to as inputs?

The Body Control Module under the dash. The other sensor is the ambient light sensor in the dash, though that shows up if the lights in the cluster get dark.

 

[Tonimus]

Welcome to the forum. I'm afraid I can't offer any additional help, just wanted to say hi!

 

[tooling17039]

The Body Control Module under the dash. The other sensor is the ambient light sensor in the dash, though that shows up if the lights in the cluster get dark.

Thank you, I'm going to dig into this on the weekend.

 

[tooling17039]

Welcome to the forum. I'm afraid I can't offer any additional help, just wanted to say hi!

Thank you, the previous posters were very helpful and gave me a few things to work through this weekend.

 

[AuroraGirl]

Do a voltage drop across the fuses to determine if you have a parasitic battery drain (or amp draw test on the main battery battery.)

Pay extra attention to the IPC fuse, in case you have a cluster draining the battery. This kinda common on the 03+ models it seems to me.

You should only have around 25mA draw after shutting the truck off, although a lot of resources list 50 mA as maximum.

mind the class 2 sleep time , about 25 minutes needed to put modules to sleep