I was in a small fender-bender in the parking lot a few days ago, that practically tore of the front fender. There was no fluid leakage, however, so I drove it home after going through the accident report formalities. (I have a 1998 SL2 4 door.) The next day I had a doctor's appointment so after duct taping the fender sort of back in place I tried to start the car, but the battery was completely dead. I mean, dead as a doornail.
Now, it was raining fairly hard the night before and all that day and I figured that the rain must have shorted some exposed wiring. The shop did some testing that indicated there was no drain on the battery, so they concluded I must've left the light on or something. When I parked the car, however, after the accident, the sun was shining brightly so there'd have been no reason to turn on the light. Moreover, as I recall there's an automatic shut off if you turn off the key and leave the lights on. This mechanic tells me that isn't true, and that if you leave the lights on the battery will just drain. (All the doors were shut tight, by the way.)
So, I'm thinking that:
- The fellow is wrong about the automatic shut off, because that's one of the features I liked about the car.
- If they didn't test the car "wet" then how would they know whether there was a drain on the battery system from exposed wiring that shorted due to water?
What do you think? Am I on any solid ground here?