Welcome technical discussion forum (TDF) readers.

Thought I would share a pdf file/report.

[1999 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra, BATT/Charging/Starting Document]

1999 Cobra Mustang came in with customer complaint of battery being repeatedly drained. Customer had to replace battery several times over last 5 years, vehicle has been to several shops. Customer often has to jump start vehicle because battery gets drained. I used low amp clamp to confirm 219 mA parasitic drain (knowing some of 219 mA was for module memory). Stabilized vehicle temperature in shop, then used FLIR E5 thermal camera to locate heat signature. Found heat in dash, disassembled dash, pulled radio and CD player, continued to use thermal camera to locate root cause for heat, found main amp under radio/CD (on top of transmission tunnel) on all the time, disconnected amp and drain went down to 17 mA at battery. Customer agreed to have me create "work around" so I set up a digital relay to only supply power to amplifier when key was on (rather than hot at all times)

Mark from Colorado

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