Okay everyone, looking for some help. For the last two years, my car has been suffering from a mystery battery drain. Multiple shops and a dealership have been unable to find anything, but I suspect they have not been looking hard enough (gotta be something, right?).

I know for sure there is something drawing a lot of power as soon as the car is turned off, comes down after a few minutes but lingers for about 45 minutes before it returns to a normal, idle draw. This means every time I park my car the battery drains a little more each time, and eventually it doesn't have enough to start up again. Alternator has been cleared of issues and does recharge the battery if I drive it far enough, but my town is little, and this is usually not possible. Mechanic tells me it is my fault for not driving the car enough (not a solution, so get outta here...).

I do not think this is the same issue as the emissions valve or clutch position sensor as I've heard others complain about because it isn't about the number of days the car sits before it goes dead, but about how many short trips I can squeeze in, how many times I can turn the car off before nothing is left. It holds a charge. It has a new battery, bigger than what was in there before.

What do you think? Should the shop be able to detect where the draw is coming from?

 

The way to diagnose is to put a current meter on the battery, and start unplugging fuses until the drain stops. Might be multiple sources of current drain. Labor intensive but you can do it without a mechanic.