Passenger Seat Draining Battery

[Aaron M]

Hi everyone I'm knew to this forum, but have browsed it for My problem and it seems everyone on here is pretty knowledgeable

So my problem is I have a 03 Tahoe LT 4x4 it has power and heated seats and pedal adjustments on it, I recently bought it for a steal and my wife noticed that the power seat on the passenger side wasn't working, so I looked it over and it was unplugged, both plugs were unhooked, so I plugged them back in the seat works perfect, so I thought maybe there's a reason it's unplugged so I messaged the previous owner and he said the seat drains the battery so he unhooked it? I've never heard of that so I left it alone, and sure enough I checked it this morning and the battery is completely dead, my question is has anyone had a similar problem and what's the fix? I thought maybe I have bad ground or a wire that has been rubbed bare under the seat and is draining the battery, it's a pretty sizeable draw I plugged it up at 9PM and less than 9 hours later the battery is dead,
Any help is appreciated!

Aaron

 

[Scottydoggs]

thats a good one for sure. you try unplugging just the heaters or the power to the seat to see which one is draining the battery? you could use a dmm to watch the power draw at the battery, plugging then in and unplugging to narrow down what one is acting up.

 

[Aaron M]

thats a good one for sure. you try unplugging just the heaters or the power to the seat to see which one is draining the battery? you could use a dmm to watch the power draw at the battery, plugging then in and unplugging to narrow down what one is acting up.

I'll have to give it a try, do you have any idea which plug is for the heated seat? There was a yellow plug which had only a few wires which seems like it would be the heated seat since the other plug was bigger and had alot of wires being the seats are 3 way power

Thanks again

 

[Tonyrodz]

I'll have to give it a try, do you have any idea which plug is for the heated seat? There was a yellow plug which had only a few wires which seems like it would be the heated seat since the other plug was bigger and had alot of wires being the seats are 3 way power

Thanks again

Usually yellow plugs are associated with airbags.

 

[Scottydoggs]

theres a load of stuff in the seat, yellow is airbag for sure. the other is likely the seats power, heaters generally have a thin black wire that has a in line plug near the seat cushions. they tend to follow the seat belt buckle side up to the seat.

some have a sensor in the seat that turns the air bag on and off depending if someone is sitting in the seat too. one more thing to check.

 

[Aaron M]

Usually yellow plugs are associated with airbags.

Good point I did notice it kept saying service air bag, I bet with it being unplugged it was causing that, could a pinched wire or a bare wite cause the power to drain that quickly? I just got the truck so I haven't has time to comb over the fuse panels yet, but the truck was defiantly neglected other than oil changes

 

[Aaron M]

theres a load of stuff in the seat, yellow is airbag for sure. the other is likely the seats power, heaters generally have a thin black wire that has a in line plug near the seat cushions. they tend to follow the seat belt buckle side up to the seat.

some have a sensor in the seat that turns the air bag on and off depending if someone is sitting in the seat too. one more thing to check.

Only those 2 plugs where unhooked, it was fine before I plugged those 2 up, after i reconnected them the battery was dead in less than 10 hours

 

[Scottydoggs]

id pull one or the other to see whats draining then.

when plugged in does the airbag light goes off? no warning from that?

you can also take the seats power controls off and unplug it. could be a bad switch. the seat heaters work? top and bottom? plugged in or not?

 

[Aaron M]

id pull one or the other to see whats draining then.

when plugged in does the airbag light goes off? no warning from that?

you can also take the seats power controls off and unplug it. could be a bad switch. the seat heaters work? top and bottom? plugged in or not?

I unplugged the seat left the air bag plugged in it still says service air bag but it's not draining the battery just the big black plug when plugged in drains it but the seat works as it should, with the service air bag can a damaged horn button cause that to come on? I noticed today right below the bowtie on the horn button it is cracked when I can see inside to the air bag?

I'm going to take the side off the seat and unplug the control and leave the big plug hooked up and see if it still drains the battery

 

[Scottydoggs]

your air bag cover is cracked, that can cause the horn to not work.

you have working radio and info buttons on the steering wheel? if you still have the stock radio the clock spring can cause both the dead controls and the air bag light.

both sides of the air bag you'll see a small hole, push a nail in both sides and the air bag unlocks, you can then unplug it and the horn wires. to replace the air bag.

the clock spring is under the wheel so that has to come off.