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85 240 DL Battery going dead

Hi there,

Recent rebuild on this car, 300000kms. Auto Trannie, B230F motor. Sedan. 3 spd trannie.

The battery goes dead after about 10 hours of not running. Put my multimeter on it, when running the voltage is 14 volts, which rules out the alternator. When not running, I can observe the voltage dropping from 12.75 to about 12.30 or so.

Amperage drawn when the car is not running is

0.8 to 0.87 Amps, which shouldn't be enough to drain the battery in 10 hours.

The battery is brand new, and I realize it could be a dud. However, are there any other things I should be checking?

Thanks t

Reply to
disallow
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0.8 Amps is a lot of amps. I'd expect something less than 0.05 amp.

Try pulling the fuses until you find the culprit. In my '89 240 it was one of the door-is-open switches.

Reply to
Robert Lutwak

I concur with Robert L. It looks to me you have what is known as parasitic battery drain. Something is staying on after the ignition is off and the car locked up for the night.

I've often seen this happen and many times it was the glove box light staying on as the switch was bad.

As Rob suggested, start pulling fuses one at a time for ten hours until you find the culprit.

Good Luck,

Doc

Reply to
doc

After taking all of your advice, we found nuthin!

BUT, there is this blade fuse in line with a wire coming directly off of the positive terminal of the battery. Apparently, it feeds the fuel pump relay? Its a 30 Amp fuse.

Anyways, when I pulled that fuse, the draw on the battery went from 0.87amps to 0.01amps. I'm thinking my problem is there.

Any ideas on how to fix this? Once the power goes to the relay, where does it go from there?

t
Reply to
disallow

It could be a rotting insulation in the wiring harness in the engine bay. I had the same problem and I knew that the harness was rotting but didn't replace it in time. One fine Sunday morning the car caught fire just sitting there stone cold. Do check.

Regards,

Boris Mohar

Got Knock? - see: Viatrack Printed Circuit Designs (among other things)

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Reply to
Boris Mohar

I just happen to have a wire diagram book for '87 handy. That fuse only feeds the fuel pump relay. With the key off, check for power at the following: The red-yellow wire at the injectors and the orange wire on pin 5 at the air mass meter. If either have power then the fuel pump relay is stuck in the on position and you need a new one.

Also, assuming the battery is fully charged, then this draw shouldn't kill it in 10 hours. However, car batteries aren't designed for this kind of discharge/recharge and can be quickly damaged when subjected to it.

Reply to
Mike F

Thanks Mike! That is great info!

Part of todays exercise included charging the battery and bringing it in to get it load tested. The alternator has been ruled out already (14 - 14.4 volts when the engine is running)

So hopefully we can rule out the battery, but I also want to deal with this parasitic draw. Until it is figured out, I will just pull that 30Amp fuse overnight, so that it can't kill the battery.

Thanks, and any other tips would be greatly appreciated!

Terry

Reply to
disallow

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