2002 Oldsmobile Silhouette -Parasitic Draw question
 

I have a 2002 Oldsmobile Silhouette, V6. The battery kept going completely dead. We have it at a AAA Car Care Center for a new battery, then a door module replaced that they said was creating a parasitic draw. We had it towed back in when the battery went dead again. The manager said that the draw on the battery is currently .082 and that is within the range for this vehicle's specifications.

Can anyone advise me as to whether this is an acceptable draw for this vehicle?
I keep hearing .05 (50 milliamps) or less is the standard parasitic draw. Would .082 make a difference in battery performance over a .05 draw?

Not much of a difference.

Moved from Chevrolet section to Oldsmobile section.

Thanks for moving my post to Oldsmobile.
Is there a specified amount of parasitic draw that is published by GM for this particular vehicle?

It varies but that should NOT drain the battery significantly in several days let alone over night.
How long is it sitting?

It happened over a period of about 45 days with the van being driven 3 or 4 times for a total of 20 miles. It is not a primary vehicle at this point. But it left the shop with a brand new battery and I did not expect it to go completely dead in that period of time with it having been started and driven some. The van did not have this problem in the past when sitting for periods of up to a month.

I didn't give all of the background. I decided to bring the van back from a blown head gasket and lots of work has been done. It is running perfectly, new brakes, new tires, gas fuel gauge, manifold cover, valve head conditioned, brake bladder. The AAA shop did put a trickle charger on it but the van is in an apartment parking lot and you can't run an extension cord to it. I know a trickle charger would help but I also know they wanted this vehicle out of their shop.

It's hard to say what to expect here. I can't tell from the above if it is:

Day 1 drive seven miles
Day 2 sit
Day 3 drive six miles
Day 4 sit
Day 5 drive four miles
Day 6 sit
Day 7 drive three miles
Day 8 through 45 sit

. . . or . . .

Day 1 through 38 sit
Day 39 drive three miles
Day 40 sit
Day 41 drive four miles
Day 42 sit
Day 43 drive six miles
Day 44 sit
Day 45 drive seven miles

. . . or somewhere in-between.

I think next step would be to pull fuses to figure out which one(s) have the most draw, and if that draw is reasonable for that item.

Also, a suggestion: Maybe, since it sits so much, you'd want to invest in one of those sit-the-panel-on-the-dash solar battery maintainers . . . ?

Once I get it back from the shop, I will keep a log of when it is driven and how far to help with further diagnosis.

The suggestion about the solar version of a trickle charger is a great one. Thank you.

Sounds like it's not being driven enough. Short trips may not cover the loss of starting.

I don't want to dismiss this issue by saying it isn't being driven enough. I have two other vehicles that also are not driven every day. My 2008 Honda Civic sits for 3 months without being driven and still starts. The Oldsmobile didn't have this problem before all of the recent work on it.

How can I find out specs for the vehicle to know what each circuit should draw and what the total draw should be when off?

Also, for the solar charger, there is an option to trickle charge the battery through a cigarette lighter but only if it stays live when the ignition is off. Is this a spec that could be checked for a 2002 Oldsmobile Silhouette? How would I check that?

I appreciate your help and advice.