Heavy Amperage Draw & Dead Battery

[lagerstedt]

Hello Everyone:

This is my first post for my beloved 4.6is. I have to admit that I have used this site to diagnose/repair my fair share of issues with the X.

Quick history about me: ex-diesel mechanic turned sales guy. I work on my friends cars in exchange for scotch. Only the peaty stuff, though. Lagavulin, Laphroaig, and Arbeg. Enough about me...

I absolutely love working on the X. It has been in my opinion a fantastic SUV. I drive the hell out of it and it has just been phenomenal. It has 105,000 on it and has recently received a new water pump, alternator, front drive axles ($56 from Napa each rebuilt!) and lots of brake pads. My current gremlin is a heavy amperage draw that drains the battery every night. Sometimes the amp draw is 4.0+/- and sometimes it jumps up to 16.5 +/-. I just bought a new battery, as I still had the OEM one in it. I assumed that it was just getting old. Replaced it and still had the same problem. I hired my 7 year old to stand and hold the fluke meter while I performed the "pull-the-fuse-watch-the-amperage-draw" routine. Pulled every fuse and no drop exept for the dome lights.

I believe that the high amperage draw is coming from my starter solenoid sticking. I say this because sometimes when I go to start it, it just does on "click" and then nothing. The next turn of the key it always fires right up. Again, this is intermitent. Couple time a month. Since the new battery change, the heavy amp draw is intermitent, too. I plan on taking out the starter and seeing if there is anyway to remove the solenoid, clean/lube it and see if that fixes the problem. A new starter is about $200, so I figure I would see if I can just fix it old-school.

Any help would be appreciated and I will try and post pics of my next project.

Regards,

lagerstedt