'85 245 drains battery when parked.

Hook an ammeter between the positive terminal of the battery and the positive battery cable; if you've something drawing current, it'll show on the meter.

Once it's indicating, start pulling fuses until the current suddenly drops; then start checking everything on that circuit.

If none of the fuses has an effect, disconnect the charging wire from the alternator; you could have a bad rectifier in it.

Gary

Garys method is the right one. Don't try the "smoke" method.

I had the same problem. It turned out ot be the power locking. The switch in the driver's door was broken, and a relay was constantly activated. I noticed the power locking had quit but did not relate it to the battery drainage.

The classic problem is the light in the glove compartment. If it stays on when shut, there you go. Hard to get in there to check it though ;-)

Don't forget that the alternator can flatten a battery overnight if the diodes (rectifier stack) go leaky. Unplug alternator overnight and re-plug it just before starting. If the car starts OK then it is the alternator. If the battery still runs down then take out the lamps from the boot, glovebox and under-bonnet and see if the battery holds up then.

Cheers, Peter.

Thank you gentlemen for the excellent advice, why didn't I think of that myself? Not always at the top of my game- what a great newsgroup!