Major Electrical Problem, PLEASE HELP

[StereoInstaller1]

No, through the field wire.

Simple check: if it is warm to the touch WHEN IT SHOULD NOT BE, it is bad.

All Ford owners know this.

[StereoInstaller1]

No, it is gonna show a draw through the field wire.

If it gets hot when it should not be, like on charge or something, its bad.

Ford owners know this too.

[Jean]

So the power wire showing the 13 amp draw is now resolved. I traced it back to the ecu. So i will have to track down a good ecu, but thats atleast one down.

I pulled the 4 relays I could find under the dash. the 2 for the hvac and then two under the driver side dash located next to the firewall. Also the wire that is carrying the draw to the distribution block in the engine bay and then back to the battery traces to the fuse box. It is located on the underside of the fuse box and leads out and as best I can tell goes through the firewall.

I want to see the dme, 13 amps of draw and yet the car worked? Wow!

It's an iX thing

[StereoInstaller1]

How the fuck is a DME gonna dissipate 13A of current?

Does the DME have some random heatsinks glued on?

[Dhohn]

Trust me it doesnt make sense to me either. I never figured the car would run properly if the dme had this kind of an issue.

[Sagaris]

I just ditched my wifes Toyota Rav4 due to the electrical system consuming itself. It had 17 amps of current draw with everything off and unplugged. It was throwing random CEL's that had no basis. New alternator, battery, and cleaned ground wires didnt change a thing. I know that it would have been way too $$$$ to resolve. I know the ECU was cooked and who knows what other electronics were on the way out. The system had been overcharging for a few months and we didnt know it.
Sucky deal. Luckily an e30 is simple enough and spare parts are cheap and available to fix it.