View Full Version : Headlight motor battery draining
stedi
05-17-2009, 10:12 PM
It seems that my battery gets drained somehow. I think I pinpointed it to the headlight motors. When I remove all my fuses from fuse panel and disconnect battery, there is a stronger than average spark when I brush the contact wire to the battery terminal. I also hear a click noise from the headlight motors (only upon innitial contact with battery). When I disconnect headlight motors and then brush the wire again to the terminal, no more spark and no more click. My motors work perfectly and they don't overheat. Any suggestions or comments?
Thanks,
Steve
368zr1
05-18-2009, 02:21 PM
That's normal. When you reconnect the battery, the headlight control module applies voltage to both headlight motors to close them. That is why you hear two clunking sounds.
Unplug the under hood lamps. and place a multimeter in series with the negative battery terminal. Set the meter to read at least 10amps DC. After the interior lights time out (assuming the doors and hatch are closed). The meter should read around 35-50 milliamps. If it reads more some is wrong with one of the electrical circuits.
gbrtng
05-19-2009, 06:52 PM
There's a headlight control module that provides the motors with reversible current to run the motors up and down. Current is provided for about 10 seconds (guess) each time the motors run. The motors stall out, the timer times out and the current drain drops to nil.
If this module is flakey, it could be providing continuous current to one or both motors.
Do you know how much current is being drained? (I'm looking at FSM 8A-102 for the 91 model year.)
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