So i've been outside for an hour and connected the meter to the battery, after 25 mins the car is still pulling some amps.



Lent into the cabin and can hear a little fan behind the clock area, here:



This is a video clip:




Is it the FSR that controls this?

pretty sure it is Ian..

The fan behind the controls draws air over the internal air temperature sensor and comes on when the car is unlocked and door opened.
It's fed from the HEVAC ecu. Can't see it being an electrical load of any consequence.
Doesn't have anything to do with FSR.

Dave, if the fsr was faulty , 'could' it not run the fan when it shouldnt..

Don't think so Stan.
The FSR is on a separate circuit from the ECU and is essentially a stepped voltage output controller varying the speed of the main blower fan only.
I'd be guessing either the FSR is at fault and leaking current or the alternator is suffering failing diodes and leaking current to earth.
As far as I know the FSR can't be tested for performance unfortunately, the drain thro an alternator is fairly easy to check.
It could well be something else causing a current drain but the above two are fairly common and should be positively eliminated before venturing further imo.

thanks mate..

Why would it still be running 30mins after the car was asleep?

nicedayforit wrote:

The fan behind the controls draws air over the internal air temperature sensor and comes on when the car is unlocked and door opened.
It's fed from the HEVAC ecu. Can't see it being an electrical load of any consequence.
Doesn't have anything to do with FSR.

Can't answer that one, I don't know. As far as I know it shouldn't be running when the car is asleep.
I notice from your multimeter you appear to have a current drain of 740mA but I don't think the fan is responsible for this, can't see the fan being responsible for more than about 30mA.

Ok, i'll start pulling fuses, beginning with the one for the HEVAC. Don't happen to know which one it is?
I may get lucky

Don't have the fuse listing for 2008, handbook I'm afraid.

I can say that the FSR doesn't have anything to do with the hevac fan. I've been in and pulled the connector off, whilst there was a break in the rain.
I've heard of a software update for putting the car to sleep, anyone had this one on a TDV8?
So it's fuse pulling next I guess, at times like this I wish I had a big garage  Ian

The sun came out for a few hours and i got onto the testing. Having let the car sleep i was still losing 690ma. With the tailgate open and the latch closed on the u/tailgate, allowed the car to rest for 15mins until asleep.
With a fuse puller i started at the 15A tow bar electrics, pulled it and instantly the drain dropped to <100ma (my meter doesn't appear to read any less). Put the fuse back in and the draw remained low

Fired up the car after refitting the battery and removing meter. With the IID tool reading voltage, 14.8v and 12.9v loaded. A huge improvement, my steering lock has come back to life and all appears well.

Could it be this simple? Was it just a relay in the tow bar electrics stuck open?

I do hope so

Down side is, i have a perfectly serviceable alternator on the side board if anyone needs one at a discounted price. Ian

Lucky you got that result first go.
There isn't a relay involved with the toe socket electrics, possibly disconnecting the tow ecu when withdrawing the fuse and re-inserting reset it. Otherwise I've no idea.
If you want your multimeter to read in mA just insert the Red probe into the socket marked V1mA.
The Black probe should always be in the Common socket.
Be interesting to see exactly what the drain is.

Having fitted the tow bar kit on the FF and an X5 I can say that there certainly is a relay in the kit. Three years ago when I fitted it, I needed to rewrite it as the fridge wasn't working due to the relay being wired from the box incorrectly.
I shall get a snap for you. Ian