Parasitic draw, fuse 8 on 1998 Cobra

[Grizeg]

There was a post about this several years, however it didn't seem to give an answer. There was some good info to follow, however none of it helped me out. I messaged the user bit he hasn't replied.

Story:
I bought a 1998 Cobra a few weeks ago, it needed a battery, threw one in, did some needed repairs, took 24 hours, battery was dead, charged it up, next day same issue. It's an AAP battery so I thought maybe it was that, but since my wife is a GM there she told me to check for a draw, and sure enough the woman outsmarted me. I had a 0.253 draw. Pulling fuse 8 drops it down to an acceptable number. The car has an aftermarket radio, so I said it must be that, got that all unplugged wiring harness and all back to the facofac points, Big NOPE, still a draw. A buddy on mine said the dome lights have issues, so I completely unhooked it, big nope... I will say that the center dome light stays on, so I've got the bulb out. I read on that forum that the factory AMPS can cause a draw, so I unplugged them one at a time, BIG NOPE, I had high hopes for that one too... I jiggled the OBD wires around to no change. Neither of my door locks work by the key, only by the keyless entry... And the keyless entry runs on this fuse as well... So I can't lock my doors until this is fixed. Any help would be great. I have diagrams I guess I'm going to look at later, just thought maybe I could get a quick answer.

 

[98 svt]

There was a post about this several years, however it didn't seem to give an answer. There was some good info to follow, however none of it helped me out. I messaged the user bit he hasn't replied.

Story:
I bought a 1998 Cobra a few weeks ago, it needed a battery, threw one in, did some needed repairs, took 24 hours, battery was dead, charged it up, next day same issue. It's an AAP battery so I thought maybe it was that, but since my wife is a GM there she told me to check for a draw, and sure enough the woman outsmarted me. I had a 0.253 draw. Pulling fuse 8 drops it down to an acceptable number. The car has an aftermarket radio, so I said it must be that, got that all unplugged wiring harness and all back to the facofac points, Big NOPE, still a draw. A buddy on mine said the dome lights have issues, so I completely unhooked it, big nope... I will say that the center dome light stays on, so I've got the bulb out. I read on that forum that the factory AMPS can cause a draw, so I unplugged them one at a time, BIG NOPE, I had high hopes for that one too... I jiggled the OBD wires around to no change. Neither of my door locks work by the key, only by the keyless entry... And the keyless entry runs on this fuse as well... So I can't lock my doors until this is fixed. Any help would be great. I have diagrams I guess I'm going to look at later, just thought maybe I could get a quick answer.

Is your car all stock? Does it have a gear swap?
There's a current thread in this SN95 section where people are experiencing a draw from the Speedcal. Needs to be wired to a 12v switched wire, not a 12v constant.
https://www.svtperformance.com/threads/need-help-wiring-on-off-switch-for-speedcal.1170638/
Not sure if that's your issue, but it could be.

Do the Mach 460 Amps run off that same fuse as well? I assume no though.

As far as your key not working in the doors, I would say your ignition cylinder froze and was replaced with a new cylinder and key. It's pretty common, happened on my 98 Cobra and my old 97 GT.

 

[Grizeg]

Okay, I got the Wiring diagrams looked at, then pulled EVERY device and the draw didn't go away until the very last device... the Remote Keyless Entry.... so I know where the problem is, how do i fix it.. guess i need to see if there is a way to test it and find out if its this or if it is the wiring... thoughts anyone?

 

[Grizeg]

Is your car all stock? Does it have a gear swap?
There's a current thread in this SN95 section where people are experiencing a draw from the Speedcal. Needs to be wired to a 12v switched wire, not a 12v constant.
https://www.svtperformance.com/threads/need-help-wiring-on-off-switch-for-speedcal.1170638/
Not sure if that's your issue, but it could be.

Do the Mach 460 Amps run off that same fuse as well? I assume no though.

As far as your key not working in the doors, I would say your ignition cylinder froze and was replaced with a new cylinder and key. It's pretty common, happened on my 98 Cobra and my old 97 GT.

#1. I have 410 gears, but i would assume that's not related to the anti-theft/remote keyless entry...
#2. I unplugged the AMPS and it didn't change, Also according to ALLDATA those are not on fuse #8
#3. The key turns in both doors, however neither unlock... I'm hoping it's just the lock cylinder clip, but I wanted to resolve this parasitic draw problem first...

 

[98 svt]

Did you plug everything back in and then unplug the KE module first to assure it is the module?
If you have 4.10 gears, you either have a Speedcal or a speedo gear swapped in the cluster. I was just saying the Speedcal could be draining your battery.

 

[Grizeg]

whats a speedcal.... is that some sort of calibration... i dont know if this car has been tuned... i woul assume so but i dont know... i do own a snapon modis but dont know how to use it, if someone can tell me how to use it to find out if its tuned or if its even capable of telling u this thought would be nice...
i know it reports correctly according to GPS, also yes, everything has been reinstalled and im down to 0.018 amps with only the KE unplugged

 

[98 svt]

Speedcal is a calibration box used to correct the speedometer/odometer after a gear swap. It's usually installed under the shifter area.

 

[shurur]

There is a thread "somewhere" about the GEM module and having to snip a wire on that module .

Also degreasing or wd40 the door latches is sometimes the answer that is related to the GEM problem...it shows itself with the dome light not going out, but is not a dome light problem per se.

https://www.svtperformance.com/threads/battery-draining.975386/
https://www.svtperformance.com/threads/fuse-power-drain-help-needed.852160/
https://www.svtperformance.com/threads/wtf-is-gem-in-fuse-block-39.754088/

 

[ViciousBlack97]

There was a post about this several years, however it didn't seem to give an answer. There was some good info to follow, however none of it helped me out. I messaged the user bit he hasn't replied.

Story:
I bought a 1998 Cobra a few weeks ago, it needed a battery, threw one in, did some needed repairs, took 24 hours, battery was dead, charged it up, next day same issue. It's an AAP battery so I thought maybe it was that, but since my wife is a GM there she told me to check for a draw, and sure enough the woman outsmarted me. I had a 0.253 draw. Pulling fuse 8 drops it down to an acceptable number. The car has an aftermarket radio, so I said it must be that, got that all unplugged wiring harness and all back to the facofac points, Big NOPE, still a draw. A buddy on mine said the dome lights have issues, so I completely unhooked it, big nope... I will say that the center dome light stays on, so I've got the bulb out. I read on that forum that the factory AMPS can cause a draw, so I unplugged them one at a time, BIG NOPE, I had high hopes for that one too... I jiggled the OBD wires around to no change. Neither of my door locks work by the key, only by the keyless entry... And the keyless entry runs on this fuse as well... So I can't lock my doors until this is fixed. Any help would be great. I have diagrams I guess I'm going to look at later, just thought maybe I could get a quick answer.

As an aside to the dome light staying on, mine did the same thing forever and I was fed up with it till I figured out the headlight switch was rotated all the way to the left, which turns the interior lights on. I felt like a moron when I just turned it to the right and it went out haha

 

[Grizeg]

Now, I bought a aftermarket alarm, installed it and once i unhook the factory keyless entry modual the door locks no longer work and my new aftermarket keyless entry no longer works.... how do i bypass this thing