2005 Battery Drain at #3 Fuse (under dash).

[Ohfiveexplorer]

Hello. I've been going through this forum for as long as I've been chasing down the cause of the parisitic drain on a 2005 Explorer XLT 4X4 with what seems to be every power option sans DVD player.. I've seemed to locate the drain at the #3 20A fuse under the dash, which powers the radio, amp and DVD. When I test the amp draw without ignition on at the power and ground at the radio harness - white/yellow (power) and black/orange (ground), connection it pulls well over 10 amps on my meter, I know this because I've blown two 10A fuses in my meter.

Before having to pull the entire dash to track down the short, is there any other place I should be checking for a short - GEM, other modules?

Also, there was an aftermarket remote start system on the vehicle which I had completely removed and made sure to cover any bare wires from that system with electrical tape. One interesting thing that would happen was before I removed the remote start, and while testing for the parasitic drain at the battery, the horn would blow as I would make contact with my meter leads between the negative battery terminal and the negative battery connection.

I unfortunately think I know my answer, but any thoughts or insight would be appreciated.

One final thing, The ADVTRAC "check" notice is now on and it cannot be turned off/on by the button on the consol.

Thanks in advance.