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Electrical issue

miked440

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November 17, 2024
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City, State
San Diego, CA
Year, Model & Trim Level
2014 Ford Explorer Limite
Hi. I'm new to the forum. I'm having a problem with my electrical system on my Ford Explorer 2014. The battery will die overnight. When I put a new battery in and measure the voltage it reads 6.3 volts. Anyone have an idea of what I can do to diagnose? I have checked the fuses and relays in the engine bay fuse box. Measuring the voltage while removing and replacing one by one. The voltage remained 6.3 while I did that.

Any help is apriciated!
 



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A fully charged 6volt battery reads 6.3v

A fully charged 12volt battery reads 12.6v
 






Unless your "new" battery is not the issue (meaning, that it could be defective for some reason, and if it is, it cannot hold a full charge as intended), my guess then is that something is probably allowing current to flow when you don't want it to. The tough part is determining just where and what that something is.

First, however, make sure that your new battery can hold a full charge, by removing it from the vehicle and putting it on a battery charger overnight; then put a voltmeter on it and see if the voltage reading is in the range of 12.6 volts. IF it is still in the 6.3V range, the new battery is likely defective, and needs to be exchanged with another new one, before you can really proceed with any further troubleshooting.

Once that issue is confirmed and resolved, you can then employ the time-tested trick of disconnecting the positive cable from the battery, and then connecting a standard 12v incandescent automotive bulb in between the positive post of the battery, and the positive cable that you just removed. If the bulb comes on, it would indicate some kind of current-drawing connection... somewhere. The key is to finding and resolving that "somewhere", obviously, but at least it kind of identifies the idea that something IS allowing current to flow when the car is turned off.

As you tried before, pulling a fuse one-by-one should, in theory at least, give you a visual method to help identify the offending circuit. If the light goes out as you did so, then at least you'd know which circuit appears to have the offending, battery-draining problem within it, and you can limit yourself to investigating all of the possible items that operate on that particular fuse.

Good luck to you!
 






^ That might find something but it could be difficult. When the battery is initially reconnected, several subcircuits will wake up and be in a higher power state than if it were parked undisturbed for... guessing time period here... 45 minutes or longer.

It's normal for a few hundred mA current during this state, though with the resistance of the bulb in series with the battery, it's going to drop voltage so a variable condition as to whether some of the electronics work or act in unpredictable ways. That state should settle down to a few tens of mA once the body computer times out, but if something keeps current high then you can get the excessive battery drain.

The way I'd do this, depends on whether the fuses have the access holes in the back, and if they do, then use a multimeter with probe tips narrow enough to fit in the fuse holes.

Disconnect battery positive, charge battery fully, leave disconnected for a few hours to see if it holds 12.6V or more. If not, need a new battery.

Reconnect good charged battery, open driver's door, flip down the driver's door latch so the body computer thinks the door is shut. Wait at least 45 minutes. If there is a hood switch, similar may need done to it, put it in the hood-closed position and wait ~45 min.

Use multimeter to measure mV drop across each fuse until you find the offending circuit, remembering that there will be phantom power to some logic circuits and the radio to keep the clock time and station presets. There are charts online that show the amount of mV drop for each fuse type, versus how much current is flowing through it. Example:

You have to be using major brand fuses for this test as the generic chinese fuses are often not as resistive as their current rating should result in, causing a lower mV reading than a major brand fuse would.

You might also want to get the 5th gen 2014 workshop manual linked in my sig below, and among other sections in it, take a look at section 414-01, "Battery Drain Test". The same download for the workshop manual also contains the wiring diagrams which could come in handy.
 






Very good, tech-savvy information, and some great additional points! Hopefully he can put them to good use and solve his dilemma!
 






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