Hi Guys,

Recently I had a malfunction of what I believe is a part of electric system of the car. I tried a lot of solutions and approaches after reading other forums and doing my research on google and youtube with no luck of solving the issue so far, so I turn to you with some hope that it can be solved eventually.

The car just turned 100k miles and until 96k was serviced in the dealership and it had all the necessary maintenance done. About a year ago I added an android head unit with a reverse camera, led bulb replacements for high and low beams and reverse lights, also a led bar in the trunk. So far everything worked good.

The story of the malfunction starts about a week ago when I decided to drive my car as I do everyday. Started the car with no problems and drove off, after literally driving for a 100-200ft all of the sudden my radio turned off, like the fuse would blow, at the same time ventilation went crazy and started blowing air on max speed. This repeated over and over while I was driving back to park again. When I parked and let the car idle everything seemed to be fine but then when I tried to rev up the engine a little bit even when the car wasn't moving again the radio turned off and reset itself. I decided to go and get my bluedriver obd scanner to see if I can find an issue. When I got back to the car after a while I couldn't start the car again. I used a jumpstarted battery and it helped to start the car but this time vents and windshield wipers went crazy and started wiping even with the switch set to off position and vents were blowing air with max speed. I switched off the car and after a while I couldn't start the car anymore even with the jump starter battery. I'm using NOCO 2500A model.

The testing I've done so far:

1. Tested the car with bluedriver obd ii scanner and at the beginning it returned P0500 error but then after I installed a new battery this error doesn't show up anymore.

2. I installed a new battery because the old one died and it couldn't be revived with the jump starter battery. The voltage dropped below 0.5V after the car was parked overnight.

3. On a new battery I tested the charging voltage while the car is on idle and it looks like that. All the devices like radio, ac and lights are off. First it starts with around 14V after cranking the starter, then gradually goes up until it reaches 17.5V, stays there for about a minute and then gradually drops until it reaches around 12.3-12.4V. The battery is new and it showes a voltage of 12.4-12.6V when the car isn't running and the battery is disconnected. When I try to rev the car to around 2500rpm the situation with the radio repeats and it turns on and resets itself (when just idling it doesn't happen) and on the dash all kinds of lights show up (battery, abs, seatbelt etc.). Also while reving the car to 2500rpm the voltage jumps to about 18.5V - I decided not to try reving it any higher. That makes me think that either the alternator or its voltage regulator are somehow damaged but the belt looks good and the grounds of the alternator and a few bolts that I managed to check around the car show good ground too - not less than 0.1V drop in voltage between the battery and ground points. Also cables and plugs look good.

4. I started testing for parasitic current draw and it definitely has a huge draw but I can't find exactly where. First test I did was on an unplugged negative battery terminal plugging the multimeter in series between the negative battery post and negative terminal. The car was staying like that overnight. The doors closed, hood latched. Results are inconclusive to me with this test but I'm putting it anyway so maybe someone can tell me why it is so. I'm using Kaiweets HT206D clamp meter this time using leeds. On 600A DC setting it shows a current draw of 0.8A-1.0A but when I switch to 60A setting to get better precision measurement it dropps to 0.03-0.08A and fluctuates - that really puzzles me.

5. On a still unplugged negative terminal cable I measured with an amp clamp and on 600A setting I got a measurement of 0.1A and on 60A setting the measurement showed 0.17A.

6. I plugged negative terminal to the battery and measured the current on a positive battery cable on 600A setting the reslut was around 4.9-5A. The doors are closed, radio off and ac off, no lights on and of course the car is switched off. I measured the voltage drop on all the fuses and only one showed a voltage drop of 0.01-0.02V - fuse #2 in the drivers side internal fuse box. After pulling it out the amp reading on the amp clamp dropped to around 3.44A. I tested the fuse box in the engine compartment and after pulling fuses one by one fuse #28 - 30A gave a reading of 3.1A on the amp clamp. Removing the fuse #2 in the steering wheel compartment didn't cause any more drop in the amps and meter still was showing 3.1A draw.

6. Disconnecting the head unit, the reverse camera or the additional led bar in the trunk didn't change the result of the tests. The cables and connectors still look good and fit snug. I used T-connector for installation of the additional components. The isolation and zipties still hold everything solid. As I said, the car has been used with all that for about a year with no issues whatsoever.

Honestly I'm loosing hope so please give me some ideas what and how to test or what to do next.

I appreciate all those who bared with me until this point. Thank you for your interest and willingness to help.