Spent 6 hours chasing a parasitic drain on a 2012 Civic yesterday

I had this 2012 Civic come in with a dead battery every morning. Pulled the fuse box and started testing each circuit. Everything looked normal until I checked fuse 19 under the hood, the one for the interior lights. Turns out the glove box light was staying on because the switch was bent. Took me from 8am to almost 3pm to find it. Any of you guys had a dumb little thing like that eat up your whole day?

2 comments

2 Comments

daniel_lane3015d ago

Had a Jeep Cherokee once where the rear wiper would randomly come on and drain the battery. Spent two days tracking it down, finally found out it was a bad ground strap from the hatch to the body. Sometimes the simplest stuff drives you nuts.

ray36315d ago

@daniel_lane30 That ground strap thing bit me on a different car once but with the dome lights. Took me a week to figure out why they'd come on at random times. Finally found it by wiggling the wiring harness near the hatch hinge. Something about how the body and the hatch complete the circuit through that strap.