Im dealing with electrical gremelins here. Ive read the posts on parasitic drains but cant find this similar issue. Its a 95 4runner with the 3.0.

One morning its a dead battery. Of course AAA says its no good and they can sell me a new one. So I decline, drive 15 miles to work after a jump. Sits for 8 hours and starts f7ne. Drive the 15 miles home and it sits for 12 hours, no start. As long as I disconnect the battery over night it starts fine.

I hooked up the multi meter set on the 10 amp scale and after the ecu quiets down it reads .01, doesnt sound like a big drain. Disconnect the aftermarket alarm, no change. Pull all the dome lights, no change. Pull the fuses one at a time and no change.

Put new batteries in the meter and repeat, still .01 amp draw. Change from the negative side of the battery to the positive and repeat with no change.

The only change is after pulling the dome fuse and replacing the meter reads .17 for a few seconds then back to .01. Yes I am pulling fuses from all three fuse boxes.

Is .01 amps enough draw to drain the battery overnite?

Two shops have tested the battery and oked it, just AAA said its not ok. New battery needed?

What am I missing here?

 

Any stereo equipment or other aftermarket electrical equipment that may be pulling the draw?

 

Just aftermarket alarm but I have disconnected it at the battery and fuse panel.

 

That's a normal reading. Assuming your meter is good and you're testing right (which it seems like you are since you do see changes when pulling the one fuse), it sounds like you need a new battery. Keep your receipt, just in case.

 

It will always start if you remove the ground cable overnight??

I would look at the ground terminal the post on the battery the whole ground system.

Is it just a no crank issue ??

Have you measured the battery voltage when this happens??

Just how old is the battery a slight drain like that would take quite a few days to drain to a no crank condition

If there is a drain other then the radio presets and the clock and your not hanging the charger on then your not getting the battery fully charged.

 

Yes it starts each morning after setting with the positive cable disconnected, not the ground.

I changed the terminals as a precaution and replaced the ground to the body. The post looked good and solid.

Yes its just not engaging the starter, just clicking but I still can power the radio, dome lights, headlights etc.

The battery is just about 4 years old, but zero previous issues. I havent measure voltage yet as its my daily driver, but this weekend I will letnit go and measure it. AAA gave me a read out when it first happened showing 12 plus volts a 390 amps, but Im doubting that as the motor should have cranked over with 390 amps.

 

did the shops actually load test the battery? not just measure voltage?

go out there at dusk/dark, turn the headlights on, and try to crank it over.

if the battery is indeed holding a charge, the lights shouldn't dim too much when you crank the engine over.

 

What you are missing is whether AAA person or other shop actually load tested the battery. 4 years is about the time that most batteries go bad. 01 amp should not drain a good battery.

 

On the 84-88 the key will come out in the ACC position leaving your clock and other things on when worn enough. It is a fairly common problem on the earlier generation. Your key switch is in the dash and may not have this problem. Make sure you are in the OFF position before pulling your key out. Seen this a few times.

 

After you replace your battery. If it's still happening, check if your alternator has a bad rectifier (draining battery to ground).

Disconnect thick "B" wire from alternator screw terminal, and measure resistance to ground. You should get meg-ohms or greater, not kilo-ohms or less, if alt is good.

 

Thank you for the good advice. I hate electrical gremlins. The strange part was no parasitic drain and the battery holding a charge. The resolution was to charge the battery fully and its fine after 3 days. I still dont know what caused it, but here is what I found chasing it down.

The battery ground was working but a little iffy. A new cable and connectors fix3d that future problem. At some point the previous owner installed an amp im guessing and left the wiring from battery to behind the seats, thats gone now. The wiring harnnes under the battery box was open due to previous acid leakage so its cleaned and rewrapped. Every bulb in the vehicle was dabbed with dialectric grease and the socket treated with corrosion x. Switches and fises also cleaned and greased where possible and I seviced the speedo cable while the dash was apart.

Now I will try to get a few months out of the battery and change it as a preventative measure.The maintenance never ceases but 265,000 miles and I still is as reliable as anything out there.

 

Good job! A clean, robust and uncluttered wiring is very important. Good idea to remove add-on wiring that could further confuse you or whoever is troubleshooting the truck.

Quite possible that one of those left-over wires was intermittently shorting to ground. Great that you removed them.

 

The two biggest issues I find with these truck wirings is stereo and trailer lights that have been spliced into them. I correct those issues first and then see what kind of problems are after that. The next step is to clean all of your grounds to bare metal.

You have some on your inner fenders and one by your fuse box in the drivers kick panel.