04 Tahoe Battery Drain

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49er

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My 04 Tahoe is drawing 3 amps when everything turned off. Here's what I know:
1. I pulled fuse LBEC-2, and after waiting 20 seconds current starts to drop, finally reaching 0.007W (7mW)
(LBEC-2 = Left Bussed Electrical Center, Door Modules, Door Locks, Auxiliary Power Outlet-Rear Cargo Area and Instrument Panel)​
2. With all fuses back in, I remove DDM fuse and wait 10 sec. it drops slowly to 7mW.
(DDM = Driver Door Module)​
3. With all fuses back in, I remove "Radio" fuse and it drops to 1A after 2 sec and then after 20 sec it drops again to 70mW (not 7).
4. With all fuses back in, I remove IPC/DIC and it drops from 3.0 to 2.5 immediately.
IPC/DIC = Instrument Panel Cluster/Driver Information Center.​
5. I removed every other fuse and relay under the hood and in the driver side fuse box and nothing else has an effect.

None of the fuse removals causes an instant current drop.
The slow current drops upon fuse removal indicates to me that a digital circuit is turning something on and when the digital controller circuit is powered off by fuse pull, its capacitors slowly bleed down, turning off whatever devices it has been wrongly running.

Any good ideas on what's wrong here??
 

jkhayes

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I'm not very handy when it comes to electrical diagnostics but I recently had my gauge cluster rebuilt and did notice that on his website it states that he rebuilds due to some parasitic draw coming from the gauge cluster. Might be something you can look into.

To add to this I didnt not have this problem. I had mine rebuilt because my oil pressure gauge was reading crazy! I also added a trans temp gause since I am using to tow a travel trailer.

Good luck!
 

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Kobedog

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Just reading this a year after you posted, but perhaps it could help others...

I have an 04 Z71 Tahoe (now with over 300k miles!) and had ongoing dead battery issues, to the point that I bought a portable battery charger to jump my car when needed. I used it A LOT! A new battery didn't fix the problem, so of course the issue was parasitic draw.

A concurring issue was an instrument cluster possessed by satan! Would turn on and off regularly, and sometimes remain off for a week or so, then magically ignite again. If you have read any of the posts regarding instrument clusters, you'll know they are total POS. The solder used in the Mexican factory is crap, and heat will eventually melt and loosen contacts, causing the problems we see. Instead of sending mine in to be re-rebuilt, I decided to do the work myself, having previously replaced all of the stepper motors (another issue with these). I simply cleaned up the sloppy solder joints with a small wire brush, contact cleaner and a little soldering, not expecting it to work. Well damned if it didn't work perfectly!!!

Not only has my cluster NOT acted up once in 2 years, but my parasitic draw/dead battery issue is gone too!

So, if your older Tahoe/Silverado/Yukon is having any kind of cluster malfunction, like gauges not working correctly or fully possessed like mine was...get it rebuilt! Will only cost about $125. They will resolder all contacts, replace stepper motors and even change out all lights if you want that option. The problems will NOT get better if left unfixed and will cause you more grief as it gets worse.
 
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