200TQ 70mA battery drain

[SJ]

> From: Kurt Deschler <desch at alum.wpi.edu>
> I have been trouble keeping the battery charged in my 200. Battery and
> charging system are fine. There is a 70mA draw when the car is off. Half
> of this is from the door lock circuit. The other half is from the trip
> computer circuit. Does anyone know if these are expected current draws?
>
>   -Kurt

**** I had a similar problem with the battery. Low charge on it, sometimes
car would not start up in the morning. The problem was intermittant also.
If I disconnected the battery at night, I never had a problem with the
battery holding a charge.
The culprit turned out to be a bad after run relay for the radiator blower
motor. The blower would go on at odd hours of the night and drain the
battery.
Disconnect the battery at night  for a couple of days. If the battery now is
ok and holds charge, then you may have an intermittant drain . . .like mine.

To verify what Huw said about the cable splice, attach a voltmeter to the
battery and drive around like that. If the voltmeter reads 13.4, then its
not the splice.

Another good way to check the splice is to measure the voltage drop across
the splice/cable. Connect voltmeter negative to Battery +, and voltmeter
positive to the Alternator output. There should be insignificant voltage
drop across that cable - maybe 0.10 volts.

SJ