2006 Chevy 3500 with a duramax battery drain

[bod]

 I have a 2006 Chevy 3500 duramax that will drain the batteries after 3 days of not being started anyone else experience this or know how to troubleshoot it. I just put new batteries in it, and they are good.
  Thanks Scott

[jeffro]

It should already have a block heater wired in, just add a battery tender to the circuit and plug it in??

[HntnFsh]

It should already have a block heater wired in, just add a battery tender to the circuit and plug it in??

That wont fix the battery drain.

[HntnFsh]

Thats a pretty good drain. I'm not much help but am sure others on here can steer you in the right direction.

Heres another forum with a lot of very knowledgeable people when it come to the Duramax powered trucks. Try looking around and asking there.
https://www.duramaxforum.com/forums/

[dyhardhuntr]

Unhook the positive cable on one of your batteries. Install a test light between the cable and the post. Have someone watch the test light while you pull fuses. Whichever fuse causes the light to go out investigate that further. Do you have power seats or heated seats? I’ve had a power seat motor cause a drain.


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[cem3434]

Have the same issue with my 2005 2500 and never have figured it out.  Just wired in a battery disconnect that I shut off after shutting the truck off.

[jackelope]

With a meter or test light as mentioned above, start pulling one fuse at a time till the draw goes away. Make sure you wait 30 minutes or so after shut off for any modules to go to bed so you’re not seeing that as a draw.

[Westside88]

I agree with Jackelope to use a meter to find the circuit causing the problem.  I had this come up recently on a different vehicle and ultimately found my problem was in the trailer plug connection. It had a bunch of corrosion within the plug body. It also was causing blown fuses on the turn signal and brake light circuits. I mention this only because you may wish to begin your troubleshooting with circuits that are in involved there.

[MR5x5]

..or as an alternate method as more modern computers, 06 is borderline, can invalidate the old method of simply inserting a meter in battery circuit...

key off.  Tape door "open" button switch (if it has one) closed.  Drivers door - trip the latch as if it was closed (and don't forget you did this because you will need to "open" the door latch via the handle/lever before closing it again or ouch!) - all other doors closed.  Wait 30 minutes.

Back probe any/all fuses you can find (look at a fuse and you'll see the back probe access holes), under the hood, fuse panel, wherever.  Ideally the voltage should read zero, but some circuits do have minor current in the vehicle off state. Note any fuses with current, the voltage reading and the fuse size.  In theory you should only find one or two active circuits.  When done, pull the fuses that had voltage across them and measure their resistance.

Calculate current for that fuse/circuit; I=V/R

Be suspicious of anything over 0.050 A (50mA), my guess is you have something on the order of 150mA going on.

Assuming you get a hit - it is off to the circuit diagrams.

Somewhere around 2006 Chevy started putting micro computers everywhere! Door latches, everything... That vintage did not go well...

good luck

[Stein]

It can be pretty trick these days as there are several things on the truck that may be drawing current even when off under normal conditions.  The alarm will, radio, some computers, who knows what else?  That said, you can check the things you think shouldn't be drawing anything to find the culprit.  Draining the battery in 3 days should be a decent draw that you should be able to detect.

[jackelope]

There’s an accepted amount of draw, measured in milliamps. You’d have to refer to a shop manual to know what that is. If you have a massive amp draw, likely it’s a circuit that is still awake. Even the draw will usually be milliamps in size.

[dewandgin]

Normal draw for most vehicles these days is between 50-85ma. That being said when you say drain the batteries do you mean stone dead or just enough to not start the vehicle? Like others have said they can be tricky to find. Couple of questions though--1. Have you owned the vehicle for awhile or is it a recent purchase? 2. If you have owned it for a bit has anything changed or been added recently? Radio? modules? power running boards? tuner? 3. Any aftermarket accessories on the vehicle?
Also minimum wait time to do a proper draw test is 30 min but sometimes it can take alot longer for modules to go to sleep. Also set your meter to min/max because I have had modules that go to sleep but then randomly wake up. 

[bod]

Dead no entry lights nothing I hadn't locked the truck so I don't know if the remote door lock was working.

[timberfaller]

Aftermarket alarm system??

Know someone who was having draw down problems, found it to be alarm system wiring had gone bad.

Electric problems can get maddening and costly!  Good hunting!

[bod]

No aftermarket alarm no canopy

[ALLTERRAIN]

How about lighted vanity mirrors in the visors? Have seen soo many that have flip up covers that stay flipped up and visor folded back up!! Also check to see if the alternator is good, bad regulator can keep it powered up draining the battery with engine off.

[deerlick]

we see quite a few of those with the heater control head causing your problem