Intermittent battery drain while driving

[jose6326]

so i thought my cluster was the issue but i removed it completely and have been driving like this for more than a week


so this issue just recently happened but has also happened about 3 more times in the past 4 months

i wake up,get ready, go out and start up my 03 tahoe and drive to work. about a mile or 2 of driving the engine starts to struggle, radio shuts off and engine dies.
i try to restart it and you can hear the starter relay clicking because of low battery voltage
so i jump the battery, engine starts right up and i drive to work

leaving work engine starts up fine, go home, park and go inside with no driving issues

month later no issues getting to work
one day leaving work same issue , drive about a mile, engine cuts out, battery dies, jumped the battery, starts right up, get home, park tahoe. a month of driving with no issues


i had the battery and alternator checked and all tested fine


any suggestions what to look for or possible fix?

what would cause my battery to drain rapidly while im driving?

 

[Doubeleive]

Sounds like maybe a bad ground if you are sure the battery and alternator are good or a serious short

 

[Scottydoggs]

i second checking all battery cables and grounds.

if possible, check the battery's voltage when the truck dies, if its got 12 volts still its a bad cable or bad ground most likely.

cluster volt gauge wont read right either if you got bad ground or cables. you know, cause the trucks not getting the power.

 

[iamdub]

Sounds like an intermittently loose connection to me, like an intermittent open or short circuit inside the battery or alternator, but more likely inside the battery. It may be related to temperature and/or vibration, which wouldn't be factors when bench testing.

 

[jose6326]

thanks for the help. i will check that this weekend

 

[TaboltB2015]

Id also check the ground wire that comes out of the wire harness back behind the intake. Just had one at work that had issues


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[bladenbullet]

connections...check em all...voltage drop would be the best test under cranking load...

 

[jose6326]

Id also check the ground wire that comes out of the wire harness back behind the intake. Just had one at work that had issues


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are you referring to the ground strap?

 

[TaboltB2015]

are you referring to the ground strap?

No there’s a actual ground wire that comes out of the harness on the passenger side right behind the intake it’s kinda hidden but you should be able to notice it


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[jose6326]

so i checked the connections and all is good.

battery hasnt died for 9 days until today

i was driving to work today and the battery died out a block away from my house
i put the jumper pack on the battery, truck started up but as soon as i removed the jumper the engine died out.
tried this a couple of times until the jumper had no more juice

i figured this time it was a defective battery
so i walked home to get some tools to remove the battery and to charge my jumper pack
i walked back to my truck and put the jumper back on the battery so i can raise my window and i tried to start the engine and it fired right up but the check engine light came on. pulled the jumper off and the engine stayed running
i drove to work with no issues other than the CEL on.

so i pulled the code since i have a basic actron scanner and it came up as P1516 "no DTC defined see service manual"

i googled the code and it is "Throttle actuator control module Throttle actuator position performance"

normally with this code you get a "reduced engine power" message on the cluster info center which i never seen

i think the reason this code was stored because when i had the jumper pack on i was pressing on the throttle(gas) pedal trying to keep the engine running when the battery was dying

i did clear the code to see if comes back but it has not