94rxrob

iTrader: (1)

I think I found out why my 1 month old battery need to be jumped today. The small light near the ignition is staying on and causing a drain. I haven't driven or even started up the car in at least 3 weeks. This is probably what contributed to the death of my Optima, but after 8 years I thought it was just it's time to die anyway.

It seems if I lock the door and then close it the light stays on. If I close the door, then lock the door using the key, then the light will turn off after 15-20 seconds like it should.

Doing either of the above, the factory alarm will still arm.

Thanks for any advice,

Rob.

94rxrob

iTrader: (1)

bump

94rxrob

iTrader: (1)

3 days and no comments?

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Hate to drag up an old thread, but I seem to be having this exact same problem and couldn't find any more info on the topic.

Last season I was having issues with the battery going dead after the car sat for a couple weeks or more. I had been attributing it to the aftermarket gauges I wired up but couldn't find anything wrong with that wiring and finally gave up after the car seemed to be doing fine when I was driving it regularly. Then over the winter I went to move it around the garage and the battery was completely dead again. At the time I attributed it to me or a friend possibly leaving the door cracked on accident as we had both been in and out of it a couple times.

Well today I was messing with the interior and noticed that the car had been off for a good 2hrs and yet the little light by the ignition cylinder was still illuminated. I tried closing the door, locking the door then closing it, the only thing that would make it turn off was turning the ignition on. I didn't try shutting the door and locking it from the outside but that makes perfect sense, I always lock the door from the inside as I'm getting out as it's a little inconvenient to use the key all the time. Also this would have a slow enough drain on the battery that it would take more than a week before it would go dead.

Anyway I'm now running a PC680 so it would be nice to get this figured out since I don't have quite as much battery to work with anymore lol. I tried to trace the wiring down but it disappears into the column and I didn't feel like getting out the wiring diagrams. If it goes to a simple plug I'll just unplug it, I can deal with not having an illuminated ignition cylinder . But is this normal? If not what is causing it? And what would a reasonable solution be?

Thanks in advance,

The guy who hates anything to do with wiring....

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Alright did a little more investigating, my ignition light does indeed stay on no matter what I do, even shutting the door and locking it with the key.

Anyone know what might be causing this? I'm about ready to just clip the wires going to the bulb and call it good but it would be nice to fix it properly.