Spent 4 hours chasing a parasitic drain on a 2012 Civic and it was just the trunk light switch stuck halfway

I pulled every fuse, tested every circuit with my multimeter twice, and even called a buddy who used to work at Honda before I finally noticed the trunk light was barely glowing through the carpet liner - has anyone else had a stupid simple fix that made you feel like you wasted a whole afternoon?

2 comments

2 Comments

amymiller1mo ago

Four hours seems like a lot for a trunk light. I mean, you had a multimeter out and tested every fuse. You could have just popped the trunk bulb out and saved yourself a ton of time. I get being thorough, but if you're chasing a drain that small you should have noticed the battery wasn't going dead that fast. These cars will sit for days with a bulb on barely draining anything. Unless you tripped over the carpet and saw the glow earlier, it's hard to feel bad for you on this one.

lilymurphy1mo ago

@amymiller once spent an hour looking for my keys and they were in my hand the whole time.