Interior lights always on
 

I have an 04 Aerio SX. I put in my second new battery in a month today. AAA said the cells were totally shot on the one I put in a month ago. The only thing I've noticed is that the interior lights always want to be on. I just leave the dome switch to off, but I guess that doesn't stop the drain. Any ideas?

RE: Interior lights always on
 

Had the same issue last month. I resolved it by changing all my fuses. The reason my Aerio had this due to a lighting storm which hit my car. Thank God I wasn't in it but I had to replace my battery. My Aerio was safe since I have a lot of 6 gauge gound wires a 2 frad cap. My head lights where glowing even when my Aerio engine was off.

RE: Interior lights always on
 

Sounds like it's time to take it to a good electrical shop for a "key off drain" test and diagnosis. If you have a good multimeter, you can do this yourself.

Get an fuse holder with pigtails and install a fuse that matches the highest amperage (milliamperage) that your meter can measure. It helps to install aligator clips on the wires from the fuse holder.

The meter needs to be good for at least 500 milliamps (0.5 amp), use the highest current setting you have.

Connect one end of the fuse holder to a good ground on the body (strut mount nut on the fender is a favorite choice for me), and the other end to the positive probe on your meter.

Optional (the mark of a good shop) write down the radio presets.

Disconnect the negative battery cable.

Touch the negative probe on your meter to the negative battery post.

Read the current on the meter. It should be less than 50 milliamps. Typically, on a completely stock system, stock radio, no alarm or other accessories that run with the key off, you'll see 10-20 milliamps.

If you're reading high, you can find the drain by pulling fuses until you find the one that makes the current drain go away.

When you're finished testing, reconnect the negative battery cable. Don't forget to reset the radio presets and the clock.