Parasitic Current Drain

[jdurant2 0]

For the past 6 or so years I have gone through 3 car batteries. I started to think something else was going on with the car because the batteries should not be dying that quickly. I started looking into the electrical system for answers. Recently I have found that my car is consistently and periodically going from .032 amps to 1.8 amps when the car is completely off with no circuit load. I have heard from people and the internet that when the car is completely off with nothing acting as a load, then the current through the system should be no more than 50 mA. I actually just signed up for this site because I can't find any solution online to this problem. I am going to try and upload a video so it can better depict the ammeters story because I bet I am confusing. Drill me with questions so we can get this problem resolved because I believe that the current draw(overnight) and recharging due to running the car is actually shortening the battery life significantly.

 

Almost forgot

 

I have a 2003 chevy impala 3.8 Litter engine. I know the next step will be to remove the fuses one by one and watch the current to see when it drops but the thing is the door switches that disarm the startup procedure is built into the door. I am hoping someone with a little more car experience will be able to tell me without this diagnostic procedure what is actually going on. I could not get a video but here is a picture as to what is happening. The current through the battery is periodically switching between these 2 values. the 1.8 amp reading will measure for about 20 seconds and then fall down to the .038 reading which lasts about 7 seconds.