2011 camaro ss. worst electrical drain and trouble reading hp tuners bricked pcm?

[moesmopar]

I have been working on this 2011 camaro ss for a month now (engine work) and it has the worst electrical drain it came to me like this if it sat overnight it would die. it has me completely stumped. i have to get a new battery for it almost every day its terrible. ive checked every fuse replaced most of them even. gave the car a new alternator, i checked every power and ground wire and re wrapped them and tightened them down and it made no difference. i did a cam swap and had the car running and driving parked it and came back yesterday the interior guy got overspray paint into the obd 2 port and i didnt realize and when i plugged in my scanner it woulnt read any vcm so i disconnected the battery and waited 15 mins and reconnected luckily it was aem bypass and the real one was clean behind it, and it worked again just to read the car and some scanning and then the interior guy pulled the killswitch out which was jumped to the ecu/ignition fuse while i was taking a log, can this brick the pcm? when i went to write it couldnt connect to write or scan . and now it wont read vcm suite OR OR EVEN START. no starter sound or fuel pump click. i have no idea ive been chasing this problem for a month and now the paint guy. any help would be appreciated because i really have no idea. ive replaced the alternator for a high amp one, new yellow top battery every day, some new fuses on the ugly ones, i even put a silverado pcm in there (junkyard gave me the wrong one ) and it had trouble reading. i disconnected the battery and waited 15 minutes and came back it then read fine but i was scared to start it because the it was for a 4.8 engine. i think it might be the bcm or something else draining the battery but i dont know how to check and im done throwing money at the car guessing i need some way to find out what is draining the power on this car when it sits overnight and now it might be bricked and stopping it from reading consitently and starting at all. i called the dealer they said it might be the bcm but they have no idea and if it was the bcm its discontinued and backordered forever .

[edcmat-l1]

It does not sound like you are qualified to diagnose and repair this vehicle. There is a certain procedure for checking for an electrical draw. You need an amp clamp. A clamp on amp probe. The amount of draw will tell you what the likely source is and you can start your diag. from there.

I'd get that car to your local auto electrical hotshot and see what they can do.

Bad grounds won't drain a battery.

Bad connections in general won't.

You're looking for something staying on, powered up. A light or lights, modules, etc. If it's draining overnight it has to be a pretty significant draw.

[moesmopar]

yes i know but how can i learn if i can not try and fix it.

[gtstorey]

Trying to teach electrical trouble shooting by forum is very hard since it's almost impossible to cover all of the basics in detail enough. I do some of it on a kit car forum and at times I have to request pictures of how the voltmeter is set up to get a starting point. We don't even know if you know the basics and then we could argue over what is basic knowledge. Add in the beginner's inability to even properly describe a problem and things compound very quickly.

[moesmopar]

It does not sound like you are qualified to diagnose and repair this vehicle. There is a certain procedure for checking for an electrical draw. You need an amp clamp. A clamp on amp probe. The amount of draw will tell you what the likely source is and you can start your diag. from there.

I'd get that car to your local auto electrical hotshot and see what they can do.

before i throw in the towel and do that, what multimeter unit would you recommend i buy to go check for this. i am new to this and i dont have anybody to teach me so i come here because i know this is where the most knowledgeable people are. and yes im not qualified to fix this or being paid to do this. i just want to learn.

[edcmat-l1]

First, I should apologize. I should have followed up "you don't sound qualified" with "no offense" otherwise it sounded kinda jerky.

Do a search for "clamp on current probe" or "clamp on amp probe". There are a whole bunch of different ones out there from cheap Amazon stuff to Fluke which are quite expensive. I wouldn't recommend a cheapo but I think for your situation a Fluke is probably overkill.

All you need is your average DVOM and a clamp on current probe. But you have to know how to use it, zero it out, etc.

Setup your DVOM and amp probe. With all the doors shut and the key off, check your multiple hot cables coming off the battery. I'm sure you'll find one that is flowing current. If you're checking right after shutting off the key, several modules will remain powered up for several seconds up to a few minutes before they shut down completely. You're looking for which cable continues to flow current, and how much.

I'll usually shut the hood and wait a while to see if any remaining current flow stops. If not, note how much the draw is, paying attention to your decimal point so you know if it's 1 amp, or a tenth of an amp, etc. Need to know exactly how much it is to narrow it down to what it might be.

Then the tricky part is, setting up to pull fuses to narrow down the circuit even further. It's tricky because you have to pull the fuses one by one without powering up anything else. Like, you can't open the doors up to pull fuses in the interior without powering up the interior lights. So, if you have to get in the car to pull fuses, you need to get in, shut the door, wait til everything powers back down, then start pulling fuses.

[edcmat-l1]

In addition to the above post, I would START by removing, disconnecting, unplugging any and all add-on wiring, systems, switches, etc. That would include aftermarket alarm systems, etc. That's the very first thing I would do before checking ANYTHING.

[blindsquirrel]

Open all doors and trip the latches, so the BCM thinks the doors are closed. Then you can still access the insides without waking anything up. Hood switches can be tied down, etc.

Pulling fuses sucks, voltage drop is noninvasive:
fuse-charts.pdf

A thermal camera can sometimes work so damn good it feels like cheating.

[blindsquirrel]

And hell, one that kills the battery overnight is an easy one. Big draws are easy to find. The hard ones are where it only dies if it sits for 4-5 days, or only does it intermittently. If you're finding this difficult, spare a thought for the guys who have to do this stuff for a living, knowing that the longer it takes them to find it the less they'll get paid.

[edcmat-l1]

Open all doors and trip the latches, so the BCM thinks the doors are closed. Then you can still access the insides without waking anything up. Hood switches can be tied down, etc.

Pulling fuses sucks, voltage drop is noninvasive:
fuse-charts.pdf

A thermal camera can sometimes work so damn good it feels like cheating.

While that all is sound advice I'm betting he doesn't have a thermal imager or a good scanner that can tell him if any door switches are open.

Pulling fuses is going to be his best bet as a DIY guy.

[gtstorey]

When we start talking about interior guys spraying paint, things not reading part of the time, it sounds like such a mess, and I feel like we are missing some important pieces. Is this some major rework of a stock 2011 Camaro or is this a 2011 Camaro swap into something else?

[edcmat-l1]

When we start talking about interior guys spraying paint, things not reading part of the time, it sounds like such a mess, and I feel like we are missing some important pieces. Is this some major rework of a stock 2011 Camaro or is this a 2011 Camaro swap into something else?

Yep. Why is there spray painting being done in the interior? OP also mentioned something about switches. Sounds like a cluster F.

[moesmopar]

Car is indeed fxcked up, I got sucked into this because some wrap shop built a show car wanted me to remove the speed limiter and install headers and cam originally and it snowballed into this. I think I?m just gonna let somebody else figure it out and leave them a copy of the tune on a usb, they can be upset with me but I wasn?t paid for this and like you said I?m not qualified and the last thing I wanna do is fuck up somebody?s ride for a Facebook marketplace gig.

[moesmopar]

It?s a 2011 Camaro, cam swap, headers and tune, Afm,dod delete. Just basic stuff nothing crazy at all. I had the car running and driving ok (thanks to some forum members telling me how to setup my vcm for tuning logs) still had some dialing in. I took car for a test drive parked the car and then they spray painted the interior (ew) and added a bunch of ghetto leds and suddenly nothing electrical is working right anymore. Yet they wanna blame me for it because I swapped the cam and had it running lol. I?m just gonna take my tools and go home on this one. Not worth my time even as a learning experience.

[moesmopar]

I?m going to give this a shot tomorrow and if I can?t find the issue I?m over this car but I really appreciate the help. I think on the car I can actually engage the door latches to read closed when it?s open so that shouldn?t be an issue. I noticed the trunk wouldn?t open but could hear the latch engaging and the tru k loosened so maybe the trunk being opened is keeping a trunk light on and some other sensor, But I won?t know until I get that scanner tomorrow. I live in a big city it shouldn?t be hard to grab a semi quality one in a store.

[danmw2003]

Sounds like a whole lot of people involved, who arent qualified.

[moesmopar]

Sounds like a whole lot of people involved, who arent qualified.

Indeed

honestly I should have had some hindsight when they relied on a 20 year old off Facebook (me) to pull their engine.

The car is a pos and I swear every time you crank it something breaks. The money he put in he could have bought a new car

[moesmopar]

Just an update I bought a thermal camera and amp clamp and I really appreciate your help. Faked out the car and switched off the latches and started testing exactly as you described it. Got lazy and bought a camera. Turns out it was his seat switch motor burnt out draining the battery and the RAP fuse was burning up almost on fire. Also, the cam chop had jiggled the bolt on his starter loose and a connector and was sparking. Thank God for thermal cameras really does feel like cheating. And I feel like I?m part way to learning a new skill As for the pcm, lots of connection cleaner and a toothbrush and it?s reading my obd port again like nothing was ever sprayed in it

[danmw2003]

Cam chopping should not rattle bolts loose. It was left loose. Torque wrenches are you friend.

[danmw2003]

You're obvioulsy a little green at this. My best advice to you would be to make sure you're thorough. Dont rush through jobs. Do it right the first time so you dont have to go back and troubleshoot problems, and have to do something again. You also look better to those on the outside, if you do good work. Getting things done fast, comes with experience. Dont rush your work. Focus on doing quality work, rather than doing it fast. Dont be discouraged. We've all been there. Learn from your mistakes. Also dont be afraid to own up to your mistakes. Just make them right when you do. You're not learning if you're not making mistakes.