Scotty,  

         Hello and thank you for your  free service to the world of sharing your knowledge in one of most troublesome and difficult job titles in the universe. Just like a preist or lawyer, nobody is coming to you in times of great prosperity and ultimate success.  This is also one of those times.  2007 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer , loaded with many bells and noisemakers. Odm. 249,000 4.3 v6 engine, stock everything.  The mileage def not as serious as it sounds,  was driven by a boring 40 year old woman elementary teacher, the 4x4 button has never being engaged, strictly highway miles.  It actually ran awesome for me besides the 8 or 9 mpg lately.  Had the brushes in the alternator give out and the car died.  Jumped it and double battery swapped for power to nurse it back home.  Fixed alternator now there’s a wicked short or draw on battery with key out that makes the darn thing u drivable.  I have completely went thru all wire harnesses and and anything that can be plugged into something and the starter the wire connecting the battery to alternator, every single fuse I could find under the hood, the ground wires, every relay and fuse in the fuse block with a voltmeter.   Nothing I’ve done have got the draw to drop below 12.6 v tester hooked to between neg wire (off) and neg batt terminal.  I’ve narrowed it down to somewhere inside the cab,,, tested every fuse under dash.  All fuses good there also,  no aftermarket stereo, or auto start, or alarm nothing like that also.  How I know it’s isolated to the cab is I disconnected everything from the positive battery termanal(the group of red wires) from battery but one thick red wire that goes to the fuse block.  Everything in fuse block checks ok. Still 12.6 draw on battery key out of ignition, remove red wire from block draw goes to 0.0.  (Durr cause nothing is connected to positive batttery termanal). Put one wire back on positive termanal draw goes to 12.6 again killing the battery very quickly.. I’ve hear it could be the ignition lock something about a blue plastic clip that can crack or come loose or off?  But haven’t explorered that as of yet,   Cause ignition and steering colum sounds difficult cause of it was easy. Theves would steal your car frequently I’m assuming.. anyway this electrical short really blows.  I can’t find out why..  every single fuse in the dam car is good, all relays also good…. I have checked by voltmeter hooked negitive to negitive and pulled each fuse and relay one at a time with needle nose, waited a few seconds each time.  And made sure key was out ,doors closed ,everything off,,,,no scan codes come up,  pulled every wire harness clips I could find in the cab also slowly and still there’s a dam 12.6 v mystery draw on my battery..     I’m done now….it’s up to you Scotty.

thanks again , really love the channel,  I share it often with friends and even share it with boring people that don’t like engines and black fingernails also when I can….      Have a good day friend!!

sincerely.  Jack F.   Pant size 34/32