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Crown Victoria, Marauder, Marquis

2008 Police Interceptor battery drain

7 posts 4 contributors 4,462 views
HA

hangarcatOP

  • Member since Jul 2012
  • 4 posts
  • Miami, FL, USA
Jul 10, 2012 at 2:48 PM
This car which I use as a taxi has a parasitic drain on the battery even when all my taxi radios, credit card processor, etc. equipment is disconnected. I swithched out the LCM to another used one and the problem persists. It's OK for about 12 hours but drains the (new) battery to death in 18 hours. I measured the drain at 225 ma. Anyone else have this problem?
JD

jdmeaux

Jul 10, 2012 at 5:51 PM
Check to see if a wire was caught between metal parts if anything was changed lately; starter, alternator. It is easy to catch wires when you get in a hurry. I had one a few years back where the shop who replaced the starter caught a wire between the starter and block. It had a slow 18 to 24 drain. Also, if any lights were added could do the same thing.
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It's just a SUPER-DUTY Mustang GT Sedan. 198K miles and still rolling HARD.

1997 Crown Victoria P71 SVT *** ex-US Marshall service (the CAR)
STOCK?? I bet it was modified.

13.26 @ 107.24 MPH 1/4 mi w/ me, tools, & full tank of 93 octane

I added CAI, NICHE 19 X 8.5 " wheels with 245/45ZR 19 rubbers, and completely rebuilt the front end with poly bushings, Kooks headers, 2 1/4inch exhaust, TCI 2200-2400 rpm Stall converter

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HA

hangarcatOP

  • Member since Jul 2012
  • 4 posts
  • Miami, FL, USA
Jul 11, 2012 at 12:45 AM
Thank you jdmeaux.
CE

ceptor1

  • Member since Jun 2012
  • 12 posts
  • Huntsville, AL, USA
Jul 11, 2012 at 11:46 AM
Try this also, park your car as you normally would, and then later on that night, go out and look for any illumination you might not see during the day or sounds you might not hear during working hours, just a suggestion. I used to repair lift cranes and was dispatched to a busy work site to repair a crane that the battery was going dead. at the end of the day when every body was gone the work site was quiet and I heard a motor noise, turns out it was an over head wiper motor with no wiper blade on it. Very stealthy during the day. Come to find out The idiot crane operator turned it on to run the battery down so that he would not have to operate the crane and still getting paid while the crane was being worked on. I know the Vic is not a crane but still it could help.
HA

hangarcatOP

  • Member since Jul 2012
  • 4 posts
  • Miami, FL, USA
Jul 11, 2012 at 3:08 PM
Ceptor 1,
I suspected something similar because once when the battery failed the headlights pulsed two or three times. Incompletely uninstalled anti theft or police equipment? Bad LCM? Also the dome light does not operate when the doors are opened although the door switches operate the door ajar dash light.
WO

woodyp71

  • Member since Jul 2011
  • 1 post
  • Hockley, TX, USA
Jul 14, 2012 at 8:53 PM
There are numerous videos on you tube under battery drain tests. I used to do these all the time and loved it The easiest way is to get a clamp on meter put it on the positive batt cable set it to amps normal draw with pcm memory,radio memory,stereo memory,varies if i remember right less than an amp is normal you should see your draw on the meter have a helper watch the meter start pulling fuses have your helper yell when the amps drop.If your dome light normaly comes on when you open the door this will show on the meter as well also the trunk or hood light I would pull that fuse first., alot of times its the stereo. We had an ambulance at the fire dept that would drain a battery in a short time. It turned out to be one of the two way radios the radio worked fine until turned off it would draw 6 amps. So you may want to pull power from them as well if they are trunk mount radios pull power from the control head as well when you pull radio power.I prefer to do this with a regular multi meter its more complicated but i think it works better Let me know how you make out Walt
HA

hangarcatOP

  • Member since Jul 2012
  • 4 posts
  • Miami, FL, USA
Jul 15, 2012 at 12:53 AM
Thanks Woody.
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