Electrical Questions 2001 LS

N

nosinjcted

LVC Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Location
Mass
I have something draining the battery of my 01 ls v8. Came out to a dead battery the other day, charged it up, let it sit for a little while and it drained again. I put an amp meter on it and it would pull about 3 amps without anything turned on. I started pulling fuses to see if the amp draw would go down, when I pulled fuse #20 from the passenger kick panel the amp draw went down to .75 amps. I figure there is something wrong with this circuit, according to the manual this is the circuit for FEM, DATC, Cluster, Brake Shift Interlock, REM. I'm not really familiar with any of those abbreviations, and when I had the fuse pulled for a little while the headlights would turn on even though the switch was in the off position, once I put the fuse back they go off. Now I am lost, I'm not sure what to check next, any suggestions?
 
First of all, you have to put the meter in-circuit, and then wait about 30 minutes without pressing any buttons or opening or closing any doors. This is to allow all the electronics to go to sleep. Pulling fuses to test may not get you anywhere and that may cause modules to wake up. Troubleshooting can be a real pain and it often required the dealer level scan tools so that you can see what each electronic module is doing.
 
Is the headlights turning on with that fuse pulled and the switch off strange? Does that suggest anything that could be wrong? Is there any common issues with these cars that tend to fail? I've seen numerous posts about the clock springs failing, but my steering wheel buttons still work. Also, the horn relay was missing from this car, when I put another one in the horn works fine, but after a little while the horn will start blaring and will stay on until the relay is pulled. Wonder if the battery drain issue could be related somehow???
 
You need a brand new OEM ford/lincoln battery w/ required venting tube.

LS needs to run minimum every two weeks or it runs down on it's own.
 
BigRigLS said:
You need a brand new OEM ford/lincoln battery w/ required venting tube.

LS needs to run minimum every two weeks or it runs down on it's own.
Click to expand...

I was wondering if it's as simple as a battery, although the one in it checks out fine, however it is older. How old I do not know, it was in the car when I got it, then I did the timing chains.

I was doing some more research and stumbled upon some threads about the sunroof leaking, and come to think of it, last Tuesday it rained pretty good here and water was leaking from the headliner where it meets the a-pillar on the driver and passenger sides. Then I only took it to the store and back home Wednesday (about 10 miles all together), then I didn't touch it Thursday and Friday morning I found the dead battery. Could water have leaked and shorted something out? Or could it just be time for a battery as BigRig LS mentions?

Any thoughts?
 
nosinjcted said:
...water was leaking from the headliner where it meets the a-pillar on the driver ... Could water have leaked and shorted something out? ...
Click to expand...

The FEM is behind the driver's kick panel. If it got water in it, that could certainly cause a mystery drain.
 
Thanks joegr, I'll have to pop that panel off and see if anything is wet.
 
I took the drivers side panel off tonight, there has been some water trickling down there, some of the metal is rusted. I took the two grounds that are next to the FEM off and cleaned them but that did not solve the problem. Is there a way to test the FEM? I hate to just throw parts at things.
 
First off, 1LoudLS, I love that signiture....

So just a little update, I left the amp meter in series for roughly 30mins to see if everything went to "sleep", it was still drawing around 2 amps. I climbed under the dash and pulled the wires off of the FEM, repeated the amp test and no change. So I pulled the REM out and disconnected all the wires off of that, repeated the amp test and the amps dropped down to .65 or so. I reconnected the wiring and the amps where back around 2 again. I think I found a faulty part. I've read that if I replace the REM with the same part number that it'll be a plug and play and won't need any dealer programming? I'm hoping so as I don't want to sink much money into this thing, I picked it up as a "cheap challenge" 2 years ago and after a house renovation and a pregnant fiance I am finally getting it going, the timing chains although a pain went fairly smooth, so I was a little disappointed when this issue popped up. But, I don't like to give up. So, l'm gonna try the j/y route.
 
650 mA is still way too high. It should fall to less than 50 mA (0.05 Amps). The REM controls power to most of the rest of the car. It may not be what is at fault, especially if you still had a 650 mA drain with it removed. It may be that the module at fault is telling the REM to keep supplying power. You need to determine which SSP relays the REM is keeping on (after 30 minutes) and which loads/modules/systems are powered from those. The dealer tools would likely be able to tell you which module(s) aren't sleeping and might be able to give enough info to figure out why.
 
When you say SSP relays, do you mean the relays in the fuse boxes, engine, passenger kick panel, and the trunk? Do you know of anywhere I can download a schematic for this car? I can't seem to find one that has the info I need.
 
Just figured I would update this thread. The battery drain issue seems to be somewhat fixed, it still drains a little bit over night but the battery still has enough voltage/current to start the car every morning for the past week or so. I ended up subscribing to alldata diy to get some schematics. I then found a few grounds that I did not know about and cleaned them up. The metal frame behind the dash is pretty rusty, rustier then I've ever seen in a vehicle before, I'm guessing from the sunroof drain pipes. So, I guess the grounds where causing the extra drain on the battery.
 
joegr said:
The FEM is behind the driver's kick panel. If it got water in it, that could certainly cause a mystery drain.
Click to expand...

My car is back in the shop after only a couple weeks. Still having a dead battery issue. The guy at the dealer told me they was monitoring my car for a draw.??? BTW, what is the FEM? I have noticed water setting in the little door pocket at the bottom of the driver's side door. I do have a cracked windshield and guessing that is where the water is coming in from. Could this be the source of my battery discharge???
 
Front Electronics Module. It runs the front lights and interior lights and a few other things.
 
JaysLS said:
Yes
Click to expand...

well not saying that the cracked windshield is not your problem, but it would have to be a pretty bad crack fro water to leak through both layers of glass and the plastic, unless there is a huge chip missing from the very edge of the glass where it meats the seal

BUT the LS is known for the drain tubes from the sunroof coming disconnected at the top of the a pillars which causes water to leak down the a pillar, and fill up the front most door pocket and the floor with water! I would check that first, also you will want to make sure that your drain plugs are not clogged up with dirt and other debris.

there are many threads about this and show the best ways to attempt to fix it.
 
1LoudLS said:
well not saying that the cracked windshield is not your problem, but it would have to be a pretty bad crack fro water to leak through both layers of glass and the plastic, unless there is a huge chip missing from the very edge of the glass where it meats the seal

BUT the LS is known for the drain tubes from the sunroof coming disconnected at the top of the a pillars which causes water to leak down the a pillar, and fill up the front most door pocket and the floor with water! I would check that first, also you will want to make sure that your drain plugs are not clogged up with dirt and other debris.

there are many threads about this and show the best ways to attempt to fix it.
Click to expand...

Drain Plugs???? I didn't even know the car had such a thing. I will look up the other threads. Thanks
 
yes the sunroof doesn't make a perfect seal when its closed, there is a plastic tray that catches all the water that slips through, then there is a small drain hole in each corner of the tray, then a drain tube off each corner of the tray to allow the water to drain down to each corner of the car (one down each "A" pillar and one down each "C" pillar into the trunk)

of all the times mine started to leak, three times were to the drain tubes coming off (always the fronts, when the rears come off, they tend to come off at the end in the trunk) and the last time was due to the tube being clogged.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 268 (members: 2, guests: 266)
Back
Top