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SOLVED 04 XC90 another parasitic draw

2688 Views 32 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  ORBrickDude, 
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Hang on here with me,, sorry for the long post... Hey guys, kinda new here so please be lenient. I work mostly on German and American cars. This is my second xc90, first was a 2011, current is a 2004 T6. Long story short, when I got the car it needed the CEM repaired due to water damage. Got it done through xemodex. Car started and ran great with a new battery but has srs, brake assist, anti skid and bulb failure messages on dash. Also occasionally has security alarm system message. Driver door window and mirror doesn't work, also won't unlock unless you use the key in the door. Driverside rear door doesn't lock/unlock at all unless inside using the little knob on top. Idk if my DDM is bad or if it's electrical issues causing my multiple driver side door issues. Any advice? But the MAIN ISSUE is I parked it over the weekend and now my battery is dead. When I put the key into the ignition the rear cargo relay RMA3 (for my rear window defroster) clicks like crazy and the power in the entire car flickers and then just dies. Now my battery only has 9.67 volts and the car has no power what so ever. NONE. Turn the key and nothing, no dash, no interior lights, nada. The car makes a buzzing sound from the CEM area while just sitting there that freaked me out so I disconnected the battery in fear and it stopped. Obviously it's getting power but not in a good way...Battery is currently charging, there was no change when I set the charger to jump start and tried to start the car. Same thing happened. WHAT IS GOING ON????? I haven't found any blown fuses yet but I did discover an old blown 10amp fuse near the cargo fuse/relay box laying underneath...no fuses missing or blown in the fuse box. Any help is greatly appreciated.
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Also, my radio randomly changed stations on its own a day before this all happened...could my ICM cause any of this?
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Thanks for the response. I've read many posts, I've dug into the forums and prayed I have issues that can be identified. When it comes to getting a Vida/dice I would agree with you however it seems on most occasions it cannot diagnose the draw and/or damage. It seems I have some different symptoms, most likely due to multiple problems. I would get vida/dice if the link for free download would work, Id rather not have the dealership charge me for nothing to get fixed. I'll take a look at the siren module as soon as my battery gets done charging after work.
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Update, so today I got my battery fully charged and tested at autozone. Slapped it in and it started right up. Let it run for a few minutes then shut it off. Opened the trunk and driver door and closed their latches so the car went to sleep. Waited bout 15minutes and started pulling fuses. Ended up pulling out ALL the driver side interior fuses. None fixed my parasitic draw of 0.19mA. I pulled all the fuses and relays in the rear cargo fuse panel one by one testing in-between and no drop in draw. All I have to check now is the fuses under the hood, CEM relays, and I guess the alternator right? Ran out of time today so I pulled the battery and will be back at it tomorrow. Is there anything elsewhere I would find more fuses to pull/test?
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Thank you for the help!! I figured the low voltage caused the craziness of the electronics. I thought that .19ma was low as well for it to drain a brand new battery over 5 days of short trips and sitting over the weekend. I read a post where the alternator was "caught red handed" after driving 45min and then testing the car for draws. I'm starting to suspect my alternator diodes. However, I am also suspecting my SCM because my siren doesn't work at all and I was getting the dash message (would go away after resetting and has been off since battery has been recharged). I also noticed upon getting the car back from getting new keys that the car alarm had been set off randomly as it sat with no sound but flashing lights and would go off after hitting the key fob buttons. Would the SCM draw enough power to kill my battery as described earlier? Everything else works, sunroof, etc. I should also note that I can only unlock the doors from inside if I open my drivers door and hit the button or simply use the key fob. Is that normal? Tomorrow I will test again with some help.
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Is there a specific way to test for the alternator? I'm getting about 13.6v while running so it's charging, but how do I test it for draws? I've looked around and some say you can use the ACv setting on a multimeter and some say no. I'd like to pinpoint the issue before I throw parts at it because they are both rather expensive.
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Battery is brand new gold series from autozone, dates 08/21. I have a document from the dealership for the inspection that I took a photo of, pardon the quality. There's are no check engine light currently on my car. Currently, only messages on dash are bulb position sensor, anti skid service. The ABS light is on the dash. Occasionally the brake assist will come on as well as the alarm system needing service.
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Alright here's an update. Tested the car again today and now I'm baffled. I did this twice too. Reconnected the battery, let the car warm up and shut her off. Opened up the hood, trunk and driver door and closed the latches and the car went to sleep. Waited 15min, then carefully hooked up my meter and slid the ground off the battery. Read .002A. I may buy another meter... I then proceeded to pull every single fuse and relay in the trunk, driver's panel, and under the hood. No changes at all. I did that twice. So now I've got a random draw that is sneaky. I decided to investigate around the scm area, looks like someone may have been in there before. I didn't pull the tire but the rivets on the wheel well were drilled out. If they replaced the scm I'd have my alarm sound back correct? I also did some testing on my alternator which was interesting. Not sure if this is normal:
Alt charge cold idle 14.38-14.49
14.40ish warmed up at idle, max and min readings were 14.1 jumped to 15 (voltage went down to 14.1 then jumped to 15 and then evened out around 14.4 again). I tried to do that ACV test and here's what I got: ACV . ~.02-.03 bouncing and occasional jump to .1v don't know if that indicates anything about my alternator diodes. Anybody got a guess or a direction to go next? Posted some pics, that's my wife's hands FYI definitely not mine 😂 also if I'm using my meter wrong please roast me
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Capndirk, thank you for information!! So, your saying I should lock the car before I test it. I don't know why I didn't think to do that myself, it would be obvious to set the alarm system to see if my scm is the culprit 😅 I may have dug my heels in too deep trying to figure this out to think of the obvious. I'll try that out and hope I finally find the issue.
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Sorry for the delay, didn't get as much done this weekend. Went and bought a nice fluke meter. Haven't used it yet tho. Replaced a bunch of bulbs, got a better battery charger, and replaced a wheel bearing. Still need to swap another bearing and also fix the rear windshield wiper. I charged up the battery again and after hooking it back up with the switch and all I found that I had a .77A draw with the alarm set, and a .74A draw with it off. These were both taken well after the 15min mark to get the car to sleep. So now I have to go around yanking fuses again. Side note, I discovered that a larger square relay in the cargo fuse panel makes a buzzing sound typically when the car wakes up...what could be causing that? I replaced it, new one does it too but not as much.
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The new fluke meter I just bought can handle that, but not that junk autozone Innova one. I'm actually surprised I haven't fried that one yet. A couple days till dead matches up with how it's been acting. I didn't get the draw issue until I hit the lock button on the key fob and then started testing, so I think my scm is the cause. However, I'm still trying to figure out why my relay in the cargo area is freaking out when the car wakes up. Any help on that would be great. It's the top left one in the pic. Location MA1. Occasionally MA3 does it too. MA1 has been replaced since this photo was taken.
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Big update! Alright so I dug back into the volvo tonight and surprise! Nobody was right 😆 it was my DDM the whole time. Not sure why it was sneaky considering what I found. Amazed me tbh. Set the car up as usual, this time locked the car. Waited, pulled scm fuse. Not a big change. Repeat, locked/unlocked the car. Nothing. Not SCM? So I reset again, locked/unlocked and pulled all the driver fuses since I was still getting that .77A draw and lone behold she revealed herself. Fuse #5 was drawing .74A. So I tested again same result, pulled the door panel off and saw some tape on the harness! First thought "hmm this isn't original" pulled it off, found someone had jumped power from the main pos wire to a blue wire...why? What is this blue wire in the photos? Decided to dig deeper looking for corrosion and such, none. Looked brand effing new...my guess is someone replaced the ddm and refused to have it programed so they jumped the wire for something? (Driver door lock and mirror don't work all others do but rear driverside passender) any guesses out there or help on that wire jump someone did? Any observations on my ddm boards that I missed? Draw is down to .05A now. I believe that is acceptable right?
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Also, figured out the rear windshield wiper situation, it's toast! Pics followed, wiper motor armature melted into the plastic housing and burned up the board or vice-versa occurred. Wonder if water caused that?
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Update before I'm done, so I did end up finding a small spot of corrosion on the DDM. Can't see it in the pic earlier but it's behind the black block, just a tiny spot where some water fried two board pathways due to the cheap water proofing on the board missing. Since I've discovered the ddm issue I haven't had any major power draws and everything seems fine! Now just have to replace my ddm and get it to the dealership to get it programmed. Thank you all for your help!
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