My 2005 roadster draws the battery down in about 2 weeks with everything off and not driving. It shows a .25 amp draw and when I pull the #9 fuse (roof light, horn, anti theft alarm, trunk light and tire pressure control) the amp draw is a more normal 17ma. Any ideas?

 

Rather than spending a lot of time tracking down a 17ma (.2W) load I would install a quality cutout switch in series with your ground lead to the battery. Your battery is either old, has dirty connections, is damaged, or is poor quality.

 

Unplug the siren under the wiper cowl. Siren battery corroded and damaged the circuit board. New replacements are nearly impossible to find. Search feature is your friend. James

 

REad his post again, this is not about 17ma, its about the 233 ma above that.

 

There are only a handful of items that fuse feeds. The primary suspect (as you have already been told about) is the good ole, USLESS, alarm siren. Unplug it and see what your current is then.

 

If I had a dollar for every word mentioned in parasitic draw threads due to the siren I would be very rich. Maybe the search feature should be discontinued then everyone would ask for it and maybe use it.🙄

 

I do things the "technician" way: I measure the current like this guy did and logically track down the source. But I gotta admit - if your battery is running down and you KNOW you have current flowing (that is, its not just a tired battery), I'd bet the chances are, for about 6-8 years now, the alarm siren is your problem.

It's getting to where, when I had a drain issue, I went for the siren as soon as I saw the current level, which was around 200ma. In my case, it was the alternator, but I would have almost BET it was the siren and in hIS case, since it's fuse 9, I'd certainly go there.

 

My 2005 coupe also has a parasitic drain. Here are my finding after digging into it this morning: With the car locked the drain was significant and fluctuating. In unlocked state the draw settled down to .25 Amp with all fuses in place. After checking all fuses I found Fuse #35 (instrument cluster) accounted for .05amp drain and #9 (int lights, horn, alarm) accounted for .17amp drain. Remembering that the RCM had been updated allowing the horn to work independently I'm removing fuse #9 to reduce the draw to .08amp, when unlocked. I did not check the draw by locking manually. Not ideal but an improvement

 

Fuse #9 also includes your alarm siren, which is the number one draw in these cars if it hasn't been removed or replaced.
The internal batteries in the siren leak over time and short out the internal circuit board causing a draw.
Here's a post I did on how to replace the alarm sirens and clean the drains. It's in 2 parts due to picture limitations:

LINK Alarm Siren replacement & Drain cleaning Part 1

LINK Alarm Siren replacement & Drain cleaning Part 2

 

If the major portion of your 550ma parasitic draw is primarily related to the alarm siren then disconnecting it will reduce the parasitic draw considerably. You never mentioned the condition of your battery or the frequency of useage. I would install a battery disconnect switch which completely eliminates parasitic draw.

 

I wonder if your measurements are accurate. A BIG misunderstanding is that you can measure the current quickly. You cannot.

Once you connect your meter, (which means you are connecting your battery up to the car after a period of time where it was not connected, that is, while you were opening the battery cable connection to insert your meter) you MUST wait for the modules to "sleep".

You CAN NOT just read the current and think that is the actual standby current. The time it takes the modules to 'sleep' seems to vary as to what modules were "woke up" by your actions. That means that ALL modules must "sleep" after batttery re-connect.

NOW, say you wait and things settle down. You then hit "lock" or "unlock", this wakens the SKREEM, BCM and CLP/SSM. They must sleep before you know what current you have - this will take a lot less time than in the case of a battery reconnect.

What I tell people is to wait three minutes - just to be safe.

Yes, being methodical and patient is why I can find the problem when others can't. It's just current flow, if you MEASURE IT ACCURATELY, you can always find where the current is going.

If you take the time, you can always find it. I spent over three decades doing this kind of work, before I learned how to make money teaching and writing.

Attached is my procedure.

 

More notes:
Fuse 35 feeds a LOT more than the IC. It also feeds the "FOB Receiver" in the SKREEM, the Keyless Entry Relay, part of the Climate Control module (part that does the REST function), Hazard Warning lights, and the "Key is in the ignition switch" sense circuit. That line should show less than 12mA, not the 50 you are showing.

And if you are in the USA with a USA car, its' like this:
Fuse 13: BCM, Homelink, Dome Light, Anit-tow Sensor
Fuse 9: Siren and Intrusion Sensor
(Based on my 2007 SE and the 2007 manual - I dont' have the 2005 manual here but I think it agreed, altho I do know some changes were made for 2007/8 and this might be one of the changes. Use my text here with caution as it may not apply to 2004-2006.)

 

ONE MORE THING:

Congratulations on doing what almost NO ONE DOES: You actually measured the current.
You have already done more to fix your issue than 99% of those who cry about "parasitic battery drain".
I am so impressed, I won't scold you for using the awful phrase "a parasitic drain".