We Wanted To Show Another Tool To Test Parasitic Draws Then This Happened!

This was supposed to be a simple video showing how you can use thermal imagers to find draws, but we had no idea it would become so much fun! You'll see the benefits of the imagers very quickly, but you'll also get plenty of other tools along the way and see something that the Professor has yet to see as far as a diagnosis goes. You can see the joy in his face as he gets the answers on this one! We hope it helps. Enjoy!
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[@waffles418]

The diagnostic mind is an inspiring thing to witness.

[@johnrpizzaguy]

Great video Sherwood, I’m a 40 year master mechanic who found out very early to really focus on auto electrical diag and repair although I’m a bumper to bumper technician, I love electronics and it’s allowed me to earn a good living and stay clean ( I know I don’t like greasy stuff including my hands) again thanks for the video.

[@AndrewMorgan666]

This was an excellent tutorial. Thoroughly enjoyed, easy to understand explanations throughout.

[@spelunkerd]

Fascinating story. When the switch was turned off, a weak thread of high resistance connection to power was still coming through the switch, but downstream that voltage had nowhere to go. So on the meter you read 12V. The test light resistance is much lower than the corroded bad connection within the ignition switch, so voltage is drained off by the test light between the two, with tiny current still moving. Downstream electronics noted that drop in line voltage and put the module to sleep. It becomes a simple Faraday's law example of two resistors in series. Effectively all of the voltage drop was eaten up by the upstream high resistance bad connection within the switch, but when the test light is removed the voltage will trickle back and the problem recurs. It's pretty cool the way you proved that with the test light.

[@USCG1990]

Very good troubleshooting skills. I was an electronics tech in the US.Coast Guard and you did a very good job troubleshooting this problem.

[@rayp.454]

Great real-time diagnosis Sherwood, you are exciting to watch and learn from. Your cameraman (son) is outstanding as well. Thanks!

[@psubond]

If i were a betting man id say there was some tiny shaving of metal from putting the key in or some other wear and tear. Maybe pocket junk. That probably made contact enough to turn on a fet that controls the relay or sends logic signal to computer. When you put the load on it it burned up the short. That is an old trick with nixie tubes when they short (turn up current till short melts). The contamination on nixie tube burns WAY before you hurt the elements of tube. Very nice troubleshooting, really enjoyed it. When you said "this is a good one" i smiled cause i totally understand that feeling

[@jnorton772]

It is really refreshing to see someone whom is 1 training others 2 as fastidious and humble enough to ask someone who knows more than me , most are wanting the quick fix and on to the next instead of doing the job right first time hence they replace multiple parts which works and costs but they don't learn and then they teach others to do same , WELL DONE SIR

[@SouthMainAuto]

Great video Sherwood👍🏼 Cool "accident" bumping the wiper switch on. Good piece of the puzzle for sure!

[@robertdiogenes2655]

Absolutely phenomenal diagnosis! Thank you for fantastic videos! You use amazing common sense and patience. God Bless

[@advancedleveldiagnostics]

Wow, that's a great case study. You're really lucky you had the wipers on! On the Pico, you can just type zero in the box, and the cursor will move to zero.

[@ihavethedocuments2580]

God made him bump the wiper switch so we could all learn 👍 This was a good one

[@psubond]

I spent 17 years as an Aviation Electricians Mate on Hornets and Super Hornets. I dont say this about many people but you would have made an EXCELLENT AE. bonus points for mentioning the engineering (the reason for and the bane of a technician's existence). 🍻

[@generationxdad]

This was one of the coolest parasitic draw videos I have watched to date for the tools and methods you used to chase it down and find it👍. What I love about watching case study videos like this is my learning process from them. I try to put myself into the situation and think during it what I would do at each step of the way it if was me with the problem vehicle in my bay. There were definitely a few times during this video I realized I would have got a snag and had to stop and rethink my path or do more digging, and it is in those snagged moments of the video where I am humbled and learn new diagnostic methods. Thank you gent 🙌👍. I also have to say that when you made the "I'm on a struggle bus with this ting" comment, I died laughing. I have not heard that term in quite a while, but I am now going to use it any chance I can whenever I find myself struggling 🤣😁.

[@speedy_pit_stop]

Learned a little bit about one of my own cars here today. I'd open that switch up to look inside and see how they manage to make ignition switches that fail so early. I have 45-50 years old cars that most likely still have their original switches.

[@gregrobsn]

Sometimes it's just easier to check out the obvious first. You have a relay that's powered by the auxiliary circuit and you know the ignition switch is in the off position then the auxiliary power should be off. The door switchs showed off so I would look at the ignition switch first. It’s a heavily used switch and they fail regularly. The troubleshooting methodology of tracking every possable fault is fine after you check the obvious. I'm a retired maintenance electrician with over 45 years of experience and after spending 35 years at a major brewing company I have seen people try to troubleshoot a simple problem by digging through hundreds of pages of programming, changing out input and output cards on the programmable logic controler and crawling under valve manifolds trying to track down a valve that was not indicating open on the main control board. When I was sent to help, the first thing I did was to pull the indicator cover and check the lamp bulb (Before LED lamps). Hours wasted over a burned out lamp. 39:46

[@Bob-pd9ge]

Priceless simplicity of content

[@davidbaker-d6p]

chasing a problem myself a lot of great info!

[@Amarillobymorning777]

Yes , it does . When u was hitting on it was changing status . 30:54 GR8 vídeo clip Señor.

[@windward2818]

You can disassemble the switch and perhaps repair it. Inspect the contacts and identify any electrical wear, mechanical play or damage. It might just be a dirty wiper track or a sprung contact arm. There is usually a spot on the track that wears preventing the wiper from making good contact. If the contact track is on a substrate or PCB and is actually worn away you can usually repair the track with a coating of solder. If it is just dirty you can clean with Deoxit D100L, then coat with electric grease like Deoxit L260D to aid in reducing oxidation and lubricating the track. Once you have done the repair using the current clamp approach, you can then put the DMM on current mode in circuit to get an accurate final sleep current value. After the battery is charged and the vehicle is asleep you can introduce the ammeter without breaking the connection. Its a little tricky in that you have to remove the battery lug with one hand while you hold a probe to the center of the battery post which feeds the ammeter and onto the battery lug using an alligator clip. This way as you remove the lug the meter will read the sleep current. You can get a DC current resolution of 0.01 mA on the 60 mA range of a Fluke 87V DMM.

[@jdesaavedra0432]

I once chased an intermittent battery drain on a 1991 Camry that had been hooked up to jumpers backwards. One night I was sitting by the fireplace and saw the lights come on the Camry outdoors. After a while the lights went out. I changed out the headlamp relay and it was fixed.

[@spiculum1836]

Nice troubleshooting. Even if the wipers were not on, you would have figured it was the ignition switch because you would have done the load and no load voltage test on that accessory wire. As a computer Engineer who troubleshoots computer hardware and software problems for a living, I know the feeling when you find the faulty component. Something that was not obvious from the start but smart, logical troubleshooting technique lead to finding the faulty part. Nice work. 🙂

[@luigirubino1487]

Excellent diagnosis, sir! Very-well executed plan.

[@dogdooley4495]

I have the Topdon. It's really all you need for quick, easy, temp imaging. Sure, there are better cameras, but for a DIY guy, I'm happy with it. I use it around the house for AC and heat vents as well.

[@harrylumsdon6773]

I do as well. Excellent stuff from topdon

[@generationxdad]

To add to my previous comment, moving forward I will defiitely now always put an easily-visible accessory like the wipers into the ON position after the key has been pulled so that if something like this does happen during a draw test, it is easy to see. Thank again for this guys!!! Such an awesome video!!!🙌🙌🙌

[@toms66gtstang]

Another great video! I really want to get a thermal imager for our shop, but I doubt most of our techs would use it.

[@alexanasta7578]

When the wipers moved, your expression was telling everything 😂

[@thomasriske1594]

Great video! Wipers being accidentally turned helped out for sure. Sometimes things just work in our favor

[@catfishsnagger3284]

Great video. These are the types of things that are so hard to diagnose when it is something that is in the process of testing and it fixes itself. Just wish it would have been caught on video.😢

[@michaeldiaz6308]

So helpful, guys! On Monday, it’ll be my first time using the Picoscope and I feel that after watching some of your scope videos, I have a pretty good understanding on how to use it. You guys made a video using the ATS scope for an APP sensor code which really helped me understand what to look for because that’s what I’m going to be looking into. A ‘21 Buick Encore with a P2138 is what I’ll be getting into and feel a little confident thanks to you. Trying to get our dealer to get one of the ATS ones. Fingers crossed! Can’t wait to see the next video!

[@timmorgan2533]

Had my topdon over a year. Use it on my generator work. For the price it's awesome.

[@mrcogginsgarage7062]

Great trip through the logic process there. Will you also be replacing the control relaythat has been overworked?..

[@pwk879]

Great diagnosis. I have an S197 Mustang, and they're known for having water intrusion issues on the passenger side of the cabin that can allow moisture to get into the SJB and wiring harness. I thought for sure that was going to be the issue when this video started. As you said - have to be data driven and open to follow what it's actually telling you.

[@Toyotatech86]

This was a great video!!!! Love how you take us through every step!!!

[@davidmiller1938]

Intelligence, persistence and luck combined to get a good result. How many customers get that fortunate?

[@samheumann5640]

Interesting diagnosis......thank goodness you accidently turned the wiper on and you got to observe the issue. Nice job, thanks for sharing.

[@DavidChewning-mr4jp]

Video recommendation: a video on battery memory savers, if you use them, and why or why not. I see a lot being sold and then see shops not recommending them.

[@troypattison8044]

Good job in figuring it out. I need to point out one thing. I have a Honda Odyssey with a draw. I take it to Honda they spend 2hours doing what you did with equipment they are not familiar with learning the wiring diagram and trying to recreate the problem. then charging me $200 for a $50 part. plus the $500 diagnosis time which they spent 2 hours on and probably charge me for 4. I literally have took my Semi to International and they took it into the shop at 8 am and out by 4 and then put 10 hrs diagnosis time on my sheet. I said how do you do that when you only had it in for 8 hours. Anyway so I'm in for $700 , you learned something at my expense. If you used to working on things and know what your doing you could have ingition switch in your box and plug it in and boom fixed. charge me out the ass for the part but i save hours of Diagnosis time. Not saying you did anything wrong I'm just saying there is a reason I take my semi to international and not to just a heavy equipment shop. But most of the time those greedy bastards do shit like the only look at it for 2 hours and charge for 4 . Rates have doubled in the last 5 yrs its bad enough and they usually double the real time it takes . just feel pretty ripped off and untrusting. That being said it isn't the mechanics that rip me off its the service people selling the shit that are crooked as hell.

[@paulbrown3180]

This was a master class diagnosis indeed !!!!

[@Arthur-sz7uf]

Great find..! That was a good one..! Good job, and thankfully it was the ignition switch instead of the relay control side from the gem module.

[@JessClearyAutoRepairLLC]

I hate when a problem goes away during a diagnosis. It would've been nice to have an opportunity to pull fuse 3 out of the "smart junction box" to isolate the switch and rule out something on the circuit backfeeding voltage to the switch (the windshild wiper motor also has a hot at all times feed). It seems strange that the small load from the test light pulled the voltage down, but the previous time, it carried enough current to supply the wiper motor. Nice video, I really like my topdon imager, it's saved me a ton of time.

[@Michael-yi4mc]

4:00. Shop dog. Cute 🐶

[@Mr2004MCSS]

Great video. Definitely a weird one. I have the Topdon TC004 thermal imager and it's pretty nice as well.

[@kismofer1]

This guy is very good to diagnose...that's why I subscribe great work 👍🏼

[@kevinbosse8866]

For the pico, for your voltage cursor you didnt need to have both cursors since on the left side the cursor marker was indicating you the voltage you set your cursor to! For the amp clamp it was simply a "zero drift" since you had it on for quite some time, normal on must scope clamps. Nice diag! Thank god you bumped those wipers 😅

[@gskjr01]

Very well done Sherwood Perfect time because I just purchased a thermal camera to teach parasitic load diagnosis. Received it yesterday but haven’t had time to experiment. Thanks

[@Ibonic]

One of the reasons why the pico might have been misreading, unless I'm just not understanding what you were saying earlier, is when it would go to sleep and you'd wake it up by zeroing it, if it was reading a draw and actually DID zero, that would skew the readings... no? Again, I don't own and haven't used a pico before but I do use a test light and multimeter.

[@drewscarcare4998]

Thank you Sherwood!

[@JOHNPHUFNAGEL]

For the pico just pull your bar close to zero and just type a voltage into the display volts and the curser line will snap to whatever voltage you type in

[@rodvan-zeller6360]

At 4:31 I think you need line of sight, removing the fuse box cover is necessary.

[@jdedgeington]

Lmao! My BMW with a power drain has a wiper issue. Apparently when the battery gets to a certain voltage the wipers start to run. Thanks BMW! As of the battery wasn’t low enough you say “oh zee battery is very low. Let me finish it off!”

[@billseay6399]

Hey thanks and wow great job

[@garysgarage3669]

Another amazing video. I have a dumb question. I have several Autel scanners and I have always needed the key on accessory to establish communication. How were you able to see ignition status with the key off?

[@stefanp8137]

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@keltecshooter]

If you play with the Topdon you can overlay the normal image with the thermal image for clarity. And buy icon wrenches with the money you save .....

[@viviantapp3870]

Excellent work ! Cheers!

[@paulsolovyovsky1702]

Great job figuring things out. You can always try to ping Ivan from Pine Hollow Diagnostics, he's knows his stuff and helps mechanics..even the techs at the dealer. It's a learned trait and he's a master with the 4 channel pico

[@saiautorepairs]

Good video thanks for all the diAg tips

[@MarzNet256]

Excellent. I'm thinking the draw being stuck at 500mA was due to modules being awake from active accessory position circuit. I think around 50mA is reasonable with new switch and modules being able to go to sleep and stay asleep. I'm just a DIY dude (just ordered an obd2 breakout box, a pico 2204a and some hantek leads for some hands on learning on a 2006 Matrix).

[@daveerrington5166]

Great diag

[@shepherdsfleetservicesllc8147]

Great video

[@jtjones4727]

This was awesome. Like you, when those wipers came on out of the blue, I thought what the heck is happening, we have a real life haunted Ford.

[@swampyfox8688]

If only us shadetree guys had access to all those wiring diagrams. Another great video Sherwood 2 & 3. Really appreciate you!!

[@djosbun]

You do have access. All manufacturers offer short term service subscriptions for a small fee.

[@davidsawyer1599]

Eric O. has a video explaining his cost per manufacturer as well as the aftermarket companies that offer diagrams and schematics. As stated above. There are short term usage fees available. One can download a specific vehicle for later availability. I believe Eric O stated he pays roughly 1500.00 to 3000.00 for access on a yearly basis. That's per OEM and aftermarket.

[@lyfandeth]

Many liraries also have subscriptions to those services. Ask the reference librarian. You can look for the problem, then print out the pages you need.

[@josevaldes846]

ALL DATA DIY has a subscription for 59.99 a year, per vehicle. When you purchase the 3- year plan they give you a discount, I believe there is a discount code available for further savings. I find it useful for diagrams and it also contains TSB’s that is constantly updated.

[@wadihakim5252]

Very good thank you

[@jamesnabower6751]

Is the gear shift fully in park sometimes that affects the ignition switch

[@jeli1347]

Didn't the other Mustang w a parasitic draw have an AC Delco Battery to, that's funny...😂 Thanks for the videos guys I can see this helping alot of people.

[@julesviolin]

⚠️Many ignition switches disable AUX power at the cranking position. It's to divert all power to help start the engine, so that bit can be normal on some vehicles

[@anthonysova7117]

Good diagnosis Second time where I never got a notification (any way) Glad you pointed out the difference between test light and DVOM always appreciate your knowledge CHEERS SHERWOOD

[@jtjones4727]

You can actually combine both a test light and voltmeter test leads together, so you can apply an electrical load and at the same time measure actual voltage. This can be very handy for some testing.

[@parkerassociates9864]

Thanks, great video!

[@mikeo610]

Hey Sherwood amazing video! Very informative, I appreciate the different ways to tackle them battery draws! My question is when performing a diag like this how to you charge the costomer? Do you start with 1 hour first or do you get the 2 hours up front? Just wondering something like this could some time. BTW I enjoyed meeting you at STX this year!

[@WeakPiggy]

You guys mentioned Joe Auto Electric, I'm guessing it's the new York guy with long hair? If that's right, how is he doing? Hasn't posted in 3years. I really enjoyed his content.

[@hunterpinnell6254]

Man O man I could have used this video when chasing an open circuit on my Porsche 997 twin turbo. Something was staying hot and it would kill my brand new battery after 3 days of sitting in the garage. Sold the car never knowing what it was. Yes I disclosed the issue to the buyer and he wasn't concerns being a "car guy" but it sure was a hassle for me

[@roywhite7833]

Eric O from the South Main Auto channel uses the Pico machine frequently.

[@roywhite7833]

I see where all the Kroil Penetrating Oil has gone. 🤣 I counted four cans in the background. Amazon said they were out after I placed my order!

[@aarontyrrell2931]

Great video!!!!

[@1957cajun]

I really wish you would have taken that ignition switch apart so we could see what went wrong in it!

[@darkwake3k]

How are you reading data stream from the GEM with the ignition switch off?

[@overload3996]

Also click on TOOLs-Preferences has different setting. Change of back screen colors, chan colors, you name it for settings. Only other I can think of is ur PC settings sleep time in control panel.

[@robertgreen4050]

That was a great diagnosis excellent job one thing I can say for the average diyers without a wiring diagram you are screwed and information on these systems and how they operate or you will fall into that rabbit hole

[@hansvanrengs2642]

Hello Sherwood, To zero the first ruler you can fill in zero in de tabel en the ruler is exact 0

[@hansvanrengs2642]

I am dutch, I meant table

[@bulltexan1]

I would have loved to see the autopsy on that bad part. Lubricant going conductive?Half broke conact tang?Cracked separator?

[@dubmob151]

I always like to see how the failure occurred also-

[@floydwilliams3321]

Very cool video nice work man

[@johnweiland9389]

I wouldnt have figured this out. Your over my head. But I might have fired parts cannon and changed both the ignition switch and the housing. But the old switch would have tested good.

[@bywayz]

You are amazing! 👏👏👏

[@overload3996]

for zeroing , go to the rulers box above , and below #1 right click and type a 0. It will place your cursor at the zero line.

[@Bozemanjustin]

25:43 watching this guy who is an absolute professional struggle makes me terrified that I'm going to take my car into a local shop and they're going to charge me $3,000 and go. We don't know what's wrong with it

[@rwrobs777]

Waiting for Pico to make the TA189 with the BNC+….they said it’s coming !!

[@hectorvelez8907]

Sherwood is the best. Has a style similar to Chris fix but more detailed and easy clear explanations.

[@josephcipriano2382]

boy i should be so lucky looking for a problem on 1993 940. i need something to jump out at me like that!

[@KissTamas3]

The best diagnostic tool was... the wiper switch. :)

[@matttretheway5107]

Easy way to set ruler on Pico to zero is to click the ruler number in the floating box and just input the desired measurement. So in this instance you would click the box under 1 and type 0.

[@SouthMainAuto]

Was just gonna come write this 👍🏼

[@antaris8111]

@@SouthMainAuto Great minds and all that haha... I also watch pretty much all of your videos too Eric. It was in fact your videos that inspired me to buy a Pico 4425a (also many other tools)! I have learnt so much from watching you and your approach to diagnosis. Guys like you, Paul Danner, and Ivan from Pine Hollow are masters of your craft! Keep up the great work!

[@jnorton772]

Oh also love the creative use of new tech and your honest evaluation and inclusion of price , If your ever in west Australia my honor to shout you a beer or ? .

[@alanw5879]

type in 0 (zero) in the ruler section and it will bring the ruler right to the zero mark.

[@davidherrington4623]

Is there a rung in the logic that can be monitored to watch the sleep progression

[@Jpilgrim30]

Amp clamps drift over time. I always rezero any amp clamp after it has had some time to warm up.

[@MotorWorksWest]

We use that clamp with our escope

[@jameymccray7275]

What is that box you have connected to the obdii? My autel just has a wireless adapter. Does it give you more access?

[@AndrewHemstreet]

I had a Malibu classic that made a clicking sound from the turn signal relay, it would sound like a low battery makes a starter click. The contacts in the signal switch rubbed enough copper into the grease to make it conductive, perhaps this was something like that.

[@troypattison8044]

I would think the ignition shuts off all accessories to put all power to starter. So that is probably why it goes to off.

[@floydwilliams3321]

That’s a good video

[@chadwade5601]

Fords. Are great😅