On both our Crossfire and E350 there are the two positions to the left of off that operate the offside parking lights. Try as I may, when the boss parks the car about 50% of the time one side ends up turned on and since I don't drive every car we have often we end up with dead batteries. Neither car will likely ever be parked curbside in the city, we live in the sticks and might see big city/curb parking once or twice a year and typically use one of our more "beaters" for that duty. Has anyone disabled those switch positions? Thanks!

 

Why bother. Just be careful.

 

Unfortunately I haven't been able to instill that in the primary operator, sometimes the fairer sex can be difficult to deal with in matters such as this.

 

That did not work.

 

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Find a way to stop the switch from turning left of vertical. That (sans a huge battle) would seem the only outlet you have. I was going to suggest not letting the boss drive but then I read #3 and understand... Good luck (or have a new spare battery standing by as it happens).


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Well, after spending some time with the wiring diagram I found the offside parking lights have their own independent power source coming off the ignition switch, a green/white wire. After removing it from the purple connector on the headlight switch the offsides are nonfunctional. Now if I can find the damn Lojack and get it disconnected maybe I can finally conquered the electrical issues!

 

"Lojack" ?

 

The vehicle recovery thing, our car has it from a previous owner and I suspect it is contributing to my electrical draw.

 

Sorry, none the wiser.

 

You might try replacing the incandescent bulbs with leds they don't draw anywhere near the power as the stock bulbs. Get the canbus type they won't activate your light out system

 

Sorry, didn't realize Lojack wasn't offered in Canada. It is an aftermarket system that utilizes a hidden transponder that can be tracked by some law enforcement agencies. It was very popular in the mid 2000s. It is supposed to be a lifetime thing but they require semi annual testing, and have a backup battery but is wired into the car. As they age the battery dies and can cause a draw. Since I'm not the original owner they want me to sign up for a couple hundred bucks, bring it in for a 79 dollar inspection and pay 125 an hour to have it removed. They absolutely will not tell you where it is so it a hunt to find it. I will never buy another car that I know has it. One of those things that sounds like a good idea to begin with that turns into a mess later.

 

If you can find which fuses have draws on them with the ignition OFF you can eliminate those that do not have enough current through them to cause the battery to go flat. When you find the high draw you would have to trace through that circuit.