My 06 Mini MCS dies after a couple days of not driving it. Battery is new. I suspect my Mini has a parasitic draw. With me sitting in the backseat of the car with all the doors closed, a multimeter connected I see a 1.25Amp draw. It should about .05Amp (50mA). Negative cable disconnected, negative multimeter tap to battery, positive to neg wire.

So it's time to pull fuses until I can isolate it. Problem is I cannot locate the door close switch on the drivers side or the trunk hatch. Where is the switch so I can fake the car into thinking everything is closed up while I perform the test and not have the courtesy lights on? I ca'nt see any switches on the jam door or hatch that lets the car know it's closed.

Not easy to pull 50 fuses from the footwell wiggling in and out of the front/back seats with all doors closed.

 

Hmm I dunno but unless you need to troubleshoot the circuit that the courtesy lights are on I don't see why it's a problem. If you want to know how much that circuit draws test just that one. (if it's hard to tell which circuit it is, it will be evident once you pull the corresponding fuse and the light goes out.)

 

Just pull the fuse for the courtesy lights and test the rest. Otherwise it's in that circuit.

Why are you sitting in the back seat?? Just use a long set of jumper wires with alligator clips to bring the meter to the fuse panel!!!
Also remember that the BC1 is active for something like 15-20 min once you open a door etc. you may need to recheck the suspected circuit after that time and see if it is part of the BC1 controls.

 

You want to wait about 20 minutes and monitor that drain. Our cars slowing allow modules to go to sleep. See what that drain is after 20-30 minutes of rest.

 

i have to echo this, our cars take a few minutes to go to "sleep" after you close the doors, so don't take a reading for a few minutes, it will read high and then it will drop down.

also don't discount a weak battery that tests fines or cranks fine but has lost capacity. i rarely drive my car and it charges up to 12.4 volts fine, but will drop to under 12v after 1-2 days, i've tested the draw and its very low. I'm guessing the battery is not holding the charge, will not know for sure until i replace the battery. my battery is only 2.5 years old.