I have an 04 SD 4x4 with the 4.6L, and have been having starting issues after sitting for a few days. I hooked up a current meter to the negative side of the battery and noticed 124ma current drain in the off position. Traced the current draw to the Instrument cluster by removing fuses. I removed the instrument cluster and the current drain went away completely. does anyone know if 124ma is normal draw for the IC in the key off position? There are three connections at the rear of the IC, when removing the largest connector, the current draw goes away. I don't have wiring diagrams to figure out what circuits are on that connector. I haven't had the battery load tested yet(I think I will do that first since it's the original battery). This truck only has 32,000 miles. I have left it sit for as long as a month in the past and not had starting issues. Do I need a new instrument cluster? Anyone else experience this problem?

Mark

 

I would go ahead and replace the battery and not bother testing it first. It is already 5 years old or older and is on borrowed time as it is.

 

Yep, I'd bet the battery has seen better days.

Rob

 

I put a new battery in and it seems to start fine. We will see in a week how it starts.

 

124 is a little high, but there is a time out on the electronics. After about 30 minutes, the draw should drop to under 50mA. Try pulling the fuses for the cluster and GEM/BCM.

 

I noticed a time out at about 30 seconds, but did not wait for 30 minutes. I noticed there is a processor on the IC and the interior lights are run through the IC as well. There is a relay for the interior dome light and one other relay(not sure what it is for). The 124 ma reading is after the 30 second time out. I did pull the fuses and the current dropped to 50ma.

Thanks for the info.