I've seen this discussed over the years, both here and in the Colorado forum. My problem sounds eerily similar, but I'm having a problem 'fixing' it.

My 2008 H3 can't sit for more than two days without the battery dying. Battery and charging system check out ok.

Fresh charge, everything off for 12+ hours, draw is 1.2A (opinions vary from 40mA to 600mA as to what is 'normal'). Infamous fuse 13 (RDIO) shows 570mA, so that's, at least, part of the problem and its removal would put me back into that curious range of 'normal'. I've seen recommendations to remove the XM/OnStar fuse behind the battery, but I can't find it. Did they move it in '08?

FWIW, XM quit working right around the time this started, though I can't say for sure that it was exactly at the same time. I suspect this could be my smoking gun. The radio cycles through FM1, FM2, AM, then back to FM1. No XM bands show up. Since I don't subscribe to XM, this would be no big loss. FYI, this is the factory non-Monsoon radio and OnStar works fine. The car is completely stock -- no aftermarket accessories.

Suggestions?

 

Easy stuff first. Open the back door, look under the chassis between the bumper where the wire harness goes to the license plate lamp and trailer hitch plug (if you have one). A bunch of them had the harness or part of it rubbing the chassis wearing through the insulation causing a ground short.

Years ago, killed my battery several times when it was like 6 degrees outside until I spotted the problem, moved the wires away from the chassis and hit them with liquid electric tape.

Good luck.

 

normal, i find is .110 amp. 110 milliamps.
a meter will read 2 amp for about 30 seconds,then drop to 110.
thats in series with one batt cable,

 

Pull the suspect fuse and use your multimeter in its place to measure the draw. The best possible way to find the parasite.

 

Yeah, did that. Much simple than disconnecting the battery cable and measuring it that way, since I have to pull the fuses one by one anyway. I also think it's more informative, since you're reading the actual draw on each specific line rather than having to do Math on each one ! I think I've isolated the problem to fuse #13 (RDIO), which shows 570mA, even after an overnight rest. I hope to find time over the next day or two to pull the individual components and see what shakes out.

 

the batt cable test is a reference for "normal".
after repairs you should check it for "normal"!!,,,a final check or you wont know if its really fixed.

 

'Normal' at the batt cable was 1.02A. I checked the draw across the fuses individually to see which one(s) were responsible. Fuse #13 (RDO) showed 570mA. I disconnected the factory radio and it went to zero. 'Normal' at the batt cable is now 450mA - still higher than intuition would suggest, but a far cry better than 1.02A, IMO (but I'm a tinkerer, not a pro, so what do I know? ). I'm going away for a week, so we'll see what happens, though, frankly, I'm not real comfortable with 450mA. I would expect something under 100. That said, I don't believe in coincidences, so I'm hopeful that this is not reflective of a second fault but, rather, an acceptable 'normal'.

 

trust me,,,110ma,,, .110amp is normal. ive tested more than one STOCK h3, no added junk.

110 ma is normal