Volvo 850 Battery Drain - Fixed!

1997 Volvo 850 with a battery drain issue. Tracked down and fixed in this video. Chronic battery drain of 150+ milliamps killed the battery in a few days of inactivity.

[@napieraustin]

Great way to diagnose the problem

[@houseofbrokendobbsthings5537]

BraaapAllDay Thank you very much for watching and commenting. That technique is very solid and has saved me grief for many years.

[@user-ss1se8fr3q]

I glued a penny to the glove box door to stop the parasitic drain on docs 850 , he was happy😊 .😊

[@notabot3518]

Good application of the scientific method

[@mikec8679]

hmmm i got a 96 850 and im having some issues as well. I opened and closed the glove box the other day maybe that triggered the issue because it happened to me last year and with making sure everything was powered off and in off posistion it seemed to resolve itself. Now the problem has returned. Im going to have to check this out.

[@bubbyj86]

Best one yet 🙏

[@chriskeep9461]

There is a huge draw at initial hook up of the battery that would fry the 10 amp fuse in the multimeter, its the initial power up of the computer. so I dont know how you got around that unless you made the multimeter hook up on the live circuit and then separated the battery. that way the computer is already running.

[@houseofbrokendobbsthings5537]

Good point, however I did not see that in practice. I switched everything off for external lamps etc. and climate control. The 850 did not spike much more than few amps. This is a gas motor so no big glow plug draw as would be the case with a diesel variant. On my S60 the draw is much more than the 850 but still manageable below 10 amps. If this was a bigger problem I would switch to my inductive ammeter. Thanks for watching.

[@bertvanzoest]

Thank you!

[@colmone5592]

Well diagnosed.

[@houseofbrokendobbsthings5537]

Thanks! I was very lucky. _Dan_

[@hectorsparadise]

Thanks 👍

[@star417]

Counting in Korean in a Swedish car in an American driveway.

[@houseofbrokendobbsthings5537]

Yeah - I had to just to make sure somebody watched to call me out.... LOL!

[@mbalfour]

Taekwondo?

[@handyhistorian]

It's not visible but it looks like you just have the positive lead clamped to any part of the negative terminal?

[@houseofbrokendobbsthings5537]

Yes. Since the amp meter must be part (in series) of the current path, a simple connection as show is fine for the low current. The caution is to not trigger any high load items like the wipers or blower motor. Otherwise, the internal fuse in the amp meter will fail. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@handyhistorian]

@@houseofbrokendobbsthings5537 Thanks for the reply! I will try this tomorrow, already went through 3 batteries in the past few years with a little-used car thinking it was just from not being moved often enough. This time we noticed how quickly it drained and I'm troubleshooting.

[@houseofbrokendobbsthings5537]

@@handyhistorian Usually a system (all powered down) load of 50 milliamps or less will take many weeks to deplete a battery in good condition. The lower the load - the better. Just one interior incandescent bulb will draw more than 50 milliamps. Good hunting to you!

[@sanders2strong]

my 95 t-5r sedan manual swapped dies after sitting 4-5 days

[@houseofbrokendobbsthings5537]

The milliamp draw method will work as shown. Caveat is to make certain that any large amperage loads are not present. Based on your description it sounds like you have a small sustained draw. The milliamp meter will help you quantify the level of current draw as well. After seeing the glovebox sensitivity, I would look closely at this point. Any modifications like a radio change etc. Small interior switches for small bulbs. Let me know how you fair. There are so many potentials it is tough to give a direct answer with certainty. Thanks for watching.

[@levie.9792]

Brilliant!