1999 Chevy Venture Battery Drain Problem!

Read this post on how to find the cause of battery drain. It shows a step by step
Battery dead in the morning Ricks Free Auto Repair Advice

Sounds like the wires to the door switch are shorted or the switch is damaged. You may have to remove a kick panel to access the wires.

Hi Dennis,

Your courtesy lights are controlled by your Body Control Module (BCM). Normal operation is for the courtesy lights to stay on for 2-3 minutes after the door is closed, then turn off.If they stay on longer than about 3 minutes, then there are several possible causes:

1. You may have the "courtesy lamp override switch" in the overide position in the dimmer control on the dash.

2. you may have a door that is not completely closed. You need to check ALL of them.

3. You could have a defective door switch or dimmer control switch

4. you could have a short to ground in one of the door control switch circuits, causing the BCM to "think" that there is a door open.

The CORRECT way to fix this would be to scan your BCM for fault codes and also read the BCM data to find out if it is showing one of the doors as being open when they clearly are not, so you will know which door is causing the problem.

Removing the courtesy lamp fuse will NOT completely fix the battery drain problem if these circuits are shorted or malfunctioning because the BCM will STILL be "trying" to turn these lights on and this will also cause an excessive draw on your battery. However, removing the 15 Amp fuse marked "CTSY LMP/MIRROR" located in the instrument panel fuse block will get the lights turned off and at least slow down how fast your battery is draining.

door ajar switch need replace.

A quick guess is that one of the power sliding doors is not closing properly or the switch for that door is broken. A broken door switch would leave the door motor or interior lights on continuously and drain the battery. Draining the battery more than a few times would ruin it. Also check the front door switches for broken or missing actuators - the door ajar icon looks similar to the sliding door open icon.

I tried to download an owner's manual so I could be sure I was interpreting your dashboard icon correctly, but the oldest one available is for 1999, so my information may not be accurate.

It might be shorted to another circuit. Does ammeter read below 0.30 amps. Sounds like its shorting between door-ajar and radio. You have to back probe circuits until you find the short.

i must say that i feel your pain with this,, my door ajar light does the same thing but my dome light doesn't come on when the doors are open, i have to flick the switch on the dome light to make it come on. In my opion and i stress my opion it saounds like a issue with the body controller, im not sure what ford calls it but it controls all the body functions, i dont think the low coolant light is connected to the body contoller but i dont know this for sure, i think that light is controlled bny the engine ecm. some times a dealer can connect to the body controller and see if there are any fault codes for circuits that it controls and or monitors, also they can reflash or update the configeration and or calibration level cause ford release's fixes for issues all the time, same theory works for any control module on a vehicle. i dont think any of the auto parts stores have the right program to connect to bofy controlers but i could be wrong, worth looking into. i only put up with mine cause i use it as a beater, if you are worried about your dome light staying on and drianing your battery then you could pull out or disconnect the dome lights for the time being, its not a fix but just a band-aid.

Try spraying WD40 directly into the door latches and opening and closing the doors several times. Usually this will free a sticking door ajar switch.

Find out which door is showing ajar and replace the latch or door ajar switch.

must be a break in the wiring somewhere and will not be a quick task to check unfortunately, sorry but you will probably need auto electrician unless you feel up to checking it all your self if so check the contacts with an auto probe to see where youhave feeds and where you have earths then check others till you see a break in the pattern or better still if you have or can get wiring diagram then follow it through.