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Been fighting this issue for 3 months now - I'm at my wits end! I could really use some direction
So here's the story:
- Vehicle drives fine, no issues
- I put the vehicle in park, shut off the engine and I do not activate the parking brake (I never use my parking brake - not in years)
- As soon as I shut off the vehicle the red parking brake dash light becomes illuminated and stays on all night, even after I've lock the vehicle
- When go to start the vehicle in the morning the battery is dead (completely dead - won't even turn over)
- I recharge the battery, start the vehicle
- As soon as the vehicle is running the parking brake dash light goes off
- Comes on again when I shut down the vehicle
- Left overnight, the battery drains again - down to nothing
What I've tried:
- Brake fluid level - OK
- I've pulled the brake fluid switch and checked continuity - it's functioning perfectly in high/low positions
- Pull codes (see attached)
In regards to the battery drain:
- Completed a parasitic drain check across all small fuses with a multimeter and nothing is jumping out
- Completed another check running the multimeter across the battery, my draw is 500A in full sleep mode and pulling fused FL17/FL18 made the most differecence but I couldn't get the amperage down below 170A, still far too high for a vehicle sitting dormant.
My question is: What other systems can trigger a parking brake dash light to come on and stay on while vehicle is off?
Low brake fluid level is the obvious one, but that checks out ok.
I don’t think your issue is the EPB. I think that the EPB module is not activating due to low available voltage and current.
As you have stated…. the battery runs flat by morning and there is no decipherable parasitic drain.
Of course, the vehicle takes 25 mins to shut down…. and if you are opening doors, etc it may take longer.
Drain should be in the order of 10s of mA once shut down.
If a battery can’t hold a charge of 12.6v, after resting for 24 hours, (not connected to vehicle) the battery is done.
A battery that can only hold to 12.3v is capable of only 50% capacity…. and that is not enough.
Moreover, not using the EPB would imply that it is probably all ceased up. If you accidentally set it, you may have issues.
I should have clarified. I have replaced the battery already with no change.
The car does drive without impediment leading me to believe the parking brake isn’t ceased up in the closed position. It does seem to activate/release ok.
Ok,
But for giggles, disconnect the battery at the end of the day, and test it the next day before reconnecting. Anything less that 12.6 is not good.
(This is step 1 in the pinpoint tests in the workshop manual)