I have learned a lot from ffrr posts and they have helped keep my 2004 4.4 V8 L322 going for the last few years - but I haven't see this particular battery drain issue - so here is my problem.

The other day I woke to a very flat (7.5volts) battery (never had it so low the key wouldn't move in the ignition). Trickled-charged the battery overnight to 12.5 volts, checked alternator is working at 14 volts and then saw there was a small (0.16amp) drain across the battery.

Went and bought a lead from Maplins (fuse to multimeter lead - useful) to see which circuit was draining. The first few showed zero current but when I connected this to fuse 27 (interior lights, glove box, windscreen washers) it showed a 0.6 amp current flowing through the fuse after all the interior lights had gone off. When the glove box light is off this goes to a persistent 0.3 amps.

Has anyone had this problem?

I can't see any obvious cause - am I missing something? Is there something unannounced on this fuse that needs to go to sleep? (When I reconnect it there is a short whirr/hum from the lower dash).


Thanks (hopefully)

That little buzzing noise will be the hvac unit. Sleeps about 15 mins after locked. I'm Ocd and have sat in the car to see if it does just that.


As long as the hvac is working as it should, could be a tired battery or the famous headchog resistor aka final stage resistor.

Thanks for that - the HVAC shut down as you said!

I pulled fuses 27, 17 and 49 (Nav unit) and when settled they showed the same 0.16 amp current that I saw across the battery.

After sitting in the locked car for an hour and a half in our temporary heat wave, I am determined to solve this! I guess the 160ma current is not a battery killer, and I have read enough on the forums to see it is not an easy problem to solve..... but has anyone come across a problem with this level of drain?

Thanks,