Fahad786

Hi guys having issues with my battery dying. At first I thought it was a faulty battery so replaced with a new one but that died to. I've gone through the search engine but had no luck.

Symptoms I've noticed.

1- once the car is off the cigarette lighter still has power
2- the left side rear lights are dim when the car is running and was flickering and now has completely died
3- when the battery was dying and triggered off the alarm I could hear clicking coming from the fuse box area above the battery. Pulled relays/fuses but still clicking. Noticed another module behind the fuse box but the battery died completely before I could investigate if that's where the clicking was from.

Has anyone had similar issues? Is that black box behind the fuse box a Sam unit? Could it be a faulty Sam unit that's causing the cigarette lighter not to shut down when the car is off?

Anything to check to see what's causing the drain before I take it to a specialist.

Thanks in advance

bhamg

Good luck, I can't speak to your specifics. What I would do though is to disconnect, clean up and reconnect the chassis ground(s). It's a basic IMO that everyone seems to overlook when troubleshooting problems when there's systemic funkiness in the electrical system.

Mort

The lighter is always hot. That is not on a switched circuit or it is on a timed circuit. That is why it is on with the key off.

604 C63

I think my lighter goes off after dash finally fully powers down. Dont think I could keep charging my phone overnight for example. Now I have to try to find out tho!

Fahad786

Mine used to turn off once the key was removed but now is always live

Alex.currie44

There is something else going on here other than there being power to the lighter whether is is 24/7 or not.
Remember that it only draws power when depressed. The simple answer if there is a question pull the lighter out completely and leave the socket empty.
My bet is nothing changes. There is a ground leak or something that is shorting insufficient to blow a fuse but is leaking off voltage.
Have you had a computer on it to try spot it with a code?

Mort

Alex is correct about the lighter circuit. It is likely not the problem.

Anyway it looks like I am caught in a time warp as lighter circuits always used to be hot key off. But since I haven't smoked in 27 years and I don't own a cell phone that needs charging or a radar detector, etc I really have no idea of how a lighter is wired. I just tested mine and I bet it is the first time the lighter or the socket have been used since the car was purchased. Sorry for causing any confusion.