Question about mA draw when car is off...

So when I test the mA draw from my negative cable to my battery neg post when the car is completely off, car stereo amp unplugged and car alarm is not active, I am getting a reading of 18mA’s.

Is it normal for the car to draw a tiny amount of amps or do I have a parasitic drain somewhere?

Colin? FCM? :slight_smile: Anyone?

i think 5 Ma is the standard draw. you may have to wait a few minutes while testing for the pcm to go into “sleep mode”. 18 Ma isn’t bad. it will probably drop down to near 5

18 isnt too bad. the alternator will (should) charge the battery to a full 12-13 volts so it has quiet a bit of “extra” voltage in it. overnight a lil power is used-like the power traveling through the wires (resistance) or the radio keeping the clock set or the blinking security light…but these only drain a municipal amount of power so the battery will still have plenty of power to start the car the next morning or so. but do you ever notice that if you go a week without starting the car…the battery is super low? or if you go another week after that week…it is dead? very normal so start your car at least once a week lol.

Thanks for the replies guys.