OK here's my update... while trouble shooting and checking amperage in the pouring rain (no its not very safe) pulling fuses and disconnecting sources i remembered that when sitting in the car that i hear a light thump behind the rear seat periodically every 10 to 15 seconds. so i disconnected the rear factory amp and hear the thump. reconnect and hear it again. so the sound root has been found... now the meter check to back it up. here's the results: with amp connected draw sits at about 2.25 amps and jumps periodically from 8-11 amps. with out amp connected power draw is 2.25 then drops to .95 and stays there. .95 amps still seems to me like a lot of drain but I'm soaking wet and going to let it sit over night and see.

 

Normal parasitic draw should be a max of 25 milliamps,give or take 5 Ma or so. Connecting the multimeter in series at the negative battery terminal is the correct hookup for measuring parasitic draw. It is a good idea to use one of those battery disconnect switches attached to the negative battery terminal. After attaching the disconnect switch connect your multimeter leads to each side of the disconnect switch. Then turn the thumbscrew on the disconnect switch counter clockwise to open the disconnect switch. Initial draw will be high and will drop as different modules power down. I have seen BCM's take up to 20 minutes to power down. Most BCM's will draw about 175-200 milliamps until they power down. I have seen cell phone car chargers draw as much as 20 milliamps with NO phone even connected to them. I also use an inline fuse on my multimeter lead to prevent my meter fuse from blowing if the current flow is too high. If the draw reading is too high just start removing fuses from the vehicles fuse blocks while watching the meter. If the meter reading drops when a particular fuse is removed you have successfully isolated the source of the excessive draw to that particular circuit. It is also a good idea to open both doors and trip the latches to the closed position in case you need to get into the vehicle during the draw test.

 

well said bow tie tech. well battery wasn't dead in the morning so it was the factory amp below the rear window. next time someone has this problem id check there first it'll save u a lot of metering and fuse pulling in the rain.