BMW 328I GT | PARASITIC DRAW TESTING AND REPAIR 

Great diag and find, and even better how you went about making sure it truly was the cluster itself and not something else keeping the cluster awake. Very important key notes you stated that helped were when you unplugged it and were questioning yourself if it was the root cause or not but stated that if it wasn't, then all the amperage (main draw) wouldn't go away. I had one that a window switch was causing a radio unit to stay awake and causing major amperage draw and so I unplugged the radio unit and still had higher than usual amperage, so I wasn't comfortable with that reading and finally ended up finding the faulty switch and then even retested by plugging the radio back in with switch unplugged and it went to sleep. And my experience with energy diagnosis has been similar to where it doesn't really pinpoint to something correctly so I myself don't even bother, even when we were at the dealer, we didn't rely on energy diagnosis. Thanks again, I've not ventured into a thermal imager but might consider it.

Great video, Mario. Thermal imaging cameras are one of the best new technologies to come to the auto repair business. They're useful in testing so many automotive systems. Keep up the great work.

Outstanding methodological process ! AND most importantly super coaching . Heat is energy… capture it in the camera and just like that we are fixed !! Very nice !!

I used the opportunity when I dropped a smartphone of mine to buy a new one with a built in FLIR thermal imager. One of the best decisions I have made. Thermal imagers are super useful. You are proofing it time and again.

Nice fix. Whatever tool it takes to locate the problem is what counts. Thermal works great in this case.

Yo Mario. You killing it bro. Keep it up. Topdon needs to hit you up with the TC001 thermal camera. Really solid tool.

Awesome man will be using this trick for sure. Tho wondering how well it will do on an mci bus. There's tons of electrical and pretty sure they is always a draw from somewhere

Nice use of the hook for amp draw.

I like the back up and restore option....garaunteed proper coding 😉....great video as always my friend!!!!!

Great video on using IR to track down the draw, Mario. I'm pretty sure you know you what you were saying with respect to emissivity, but the way you mentioned, it might leave some confused on what emissivity is. Emissivity is basically how much thermal radiation a material absorbs or radiates. Highly reflective material (surface) will reflect the IR and thus appear to be "hotter" than it actually is, which is what we were seeing in the emblem and what you were rightly looking for in the front lens of the cluster. Basically, what we are seeing is the result of (a low) emissivity, not necessarily emissivity itself. Just wanted to help clarify what I think you were basically trying to point out.

Interesting to watch. I do electronics repair. Which is why I was looking into using a thermal imagery. UTi290? Has a macro lense to pin point issues on motherboards with micro components. I'm interested in the value of learning to fix these components you're saying are busted.

Hi Mario, Very helpful video my friend, thank you for sharing. Parasitic draws are a pain in the ass to chase down. This method helps a lot! Kind regards from Amsterdam

Topdon for the win. Wow

Mr, Mario It is very nice to be a channel sponsor for TopDon .I have an issue with my Arti Pad 1 and submitted a support ticket 2 weeks ago to date I am still waiting for an answer .

Perfect mario👍👍👍.

Nice video, very methodical approach of the problem. where you find the OEM diagrams?And also, which amp clamp are you using for the draw? Thanks a lot for the effort you put to make all your videos .It's an extra work, on the top of your job. Really appreciate man. I have learned a lot from you 🙏

Mario, AWESOME/GREAT information thanks for showing ur approach really like the thermos imager i think need to buy one soon thanks for sharing cheeeeers from CANADA/Ontario.

Pls what is the name of the thermal imager used. Did you connect any hard ware thermal imager device to your phone to make use of this

Great video Mario. Do you have a video explaining the different terminals on BMW and Mercedes (15/30/50/87..)?

What kind of thermo imager you use Looks handy

excelente video master lo tengo que ver con subtitulos por que no hablo ingles pero entiendo algunas palabras felicidades tu forma de explicar es excelente

Nice work!!

great one. I will be happy to see the cluster opened and see if something looks weird there. btw, how much is a new cluster ?

That OE wiring diag was fantastic. Where can we get it?

Great job

nice job 🌷👍

Thank you

Do a video of you opening it up and troubleshooting it.

SUBSTANTIAL Super Mario Diagnostics Helpful information video thank you very much for sharing it Take care and have a great Weekend with all your family around you SUBSTANTIAL Super Mario Diagnostics From Nick Ayivor from London England UK 🇬🇧

Dang. Now I'm questioning my purchase of ThinkTool Pros......

Which battery maintainer/power supply you used on this car ? Tornado 90000 ?👍😎

Been wanting a thermal imager for a while now...only thing holding me back is that I'm mobile and i can't always get to the cars when the interior is not smoking hot from the sun lol...i still May get one though since I'm a tool junkie lol

Can you please make the video where u first start. Like how you connected your power probe in series step by step. For the next draw video you make thank you

Hi great video. Do you have a link to a video of setting up the hook for the draw please cheers

Q: could there be an external input to the cluster that keeps it alive? By disconnecting the cluster you could potentially also remove the external input. Curious how one would test/prove that?

Hey great video nice thing to learn just got a thermal camera question how did you hook up the amp meter on your power probe

I'm not saying they don't work. But out of 6-7 times I used it. It's only worked once.

does the top don have the ability to code a used cluster?

Good job, think you.

I'm surprised that the system itself doesn't flag a parasitic draw with an error code and tell you which component is the problem. Losing 1 amp shouldn't be that hard from smart computer to detect!

Interesting how you diagnose a vehicle

Can you compare oem diag subscription cost and tool cost comparison Vs owning autel topdon or thinkdiag

Hello boss can you have online coding and Programming stuff on your website

what thermal imager are you using? link??

where did you have the power probe attached to

On the topic - for a guy like you or the others that do this every day - it's great to use the thermal imager. It cuts diagnostic time..have other advantages..etc..etc. But you guys are at higher level. So you can use it without worrying about getting burned. As for guys that are not so good in this field, they can get burned severely. Actually i'm sure for the regular backyard mechanic, this thermal imager looks "basic" and easy and kind of "magic wand" for easy peasy finding current draws. But it's not. Interesting fact - EVEN Joe from Joe's auto electrical got burned once using the thermal imager. The video is named - "Car Wont Start Battery Drain Toyota Lexus Persistence Pays Off." After watching his video 2 years ago i made conclusion that imager can do more harm than good for me , based on my limited knowledge.🔧

wish I could afford a top scaner