2000 Crand Caravan electrical leak

All right, I've been ignoring this, but it's getting annoying. Anybody have insights or experience?

I've got a 2000 Grand Caravan for utility duty. It's got about 60k on it and I'm the second owner. It doesn't get driven much; mostly just when we need to haul crap around. Battery is 1-2 years old, connections are good, and it charges both from the alternator and an external charger.

How long should it be able to sit without a jump start? If I leave the thing parked for a month, the battery will be down to the point where it will only throw the starter solenoid but not turn the engine over. I can jump it and it will hop right off, and in 15 minutes of driving it will start up again without issue. It's just that after 4 weeks, it won't start again.

Any idea where these things typically leak? Or am I expecting too much and I need to drive it more frequently? Thanks.

Once the weather warms up a bit, I'll put a meter on it and start pulling fuses one at a time to see if I can isolate the circuit grouping. I just hoped somebody might have a good tip on where to start.

It's a 2k model.... If you are going to let it sit "forever", pull the IOD fuse. That will shut off all the accessories that aren't needed to start the vehicle and make it run. Once it is running everything works sort of. To regain full functionality, just reinstall said fuse.

yes.. too much crap drawing power.

When I read leak.. I thought you had let the smoke out

No, the magic smoke is still safely contained. I guess I'll just take to pulling the IOD fuse, but does that mean I'll have to set the clock etc. every time?

Thanks for the info, guys.

If you want to get fancy take half an hour and put a switch into the iod wiring and mount the switch somewhere easy.

Vigo wrote: If you want to get fancy take half an hour and put a switch into the iod wiring and mount the switch somewhere easy.

So basically what we're saying is that this is a congenital problem and not likely a bad component sticking on.

Not a problem really, it is just the 20 modules that can be in a vehicle and on all the time that drains the battery. While they are supposed to "sleep", they are still drawing some juice.

All of thet "keep alive" stuff puts a drain on the battery. As for the clock, buy a watch.

What, you dont want to drive the caravan more frequently than once a month?

Why not just put a "Float Charger" on it ?

harbor freight sells a little .3 amp ( i measured it) charger for $5 that you could easily hardwire in.

They also sell some cheap battery disconnect terminals. Ive got one on my aries.

So basically what we're saying is that this is a congenital problem and not likely a bad component sticking on.

Probably. If one has a multimeter, one could disconnect the battery and measure current between the battery post and the disconnected terminal (other terminal has to be on) and figure out the off-idle current draw. If it's less than an amp it is pretty much normal, and most batteries cant do an amp for a month straight.

Well, the reason I don't keep the 'van on a float charger is that it's been parked in the street ever since I got the Miata, which took its garage spot. One more reason I really should convince myself to sell the spare project car - if the 'van was parked in the garage, I'd never have to replace it in my lifetime.

I'll check the ignition-off draw and see what it is. If it is within range, I'll just start driving the poor thing to work every other Friday or something. Thanks, everybody, for the input.

OR, just buy the harbor freight solar battery charger thing that plugs into the cigarette lighter, and throw it on the dash.

Problem solved. (probably)