The Audi gods strike!!

[Jim Griffin <JGriff@pobox.com>]

Okay folks... my incredibly reliable (up to now, that is...) '92 100S
decided to offer a welcome home present... a dead batter/no start
condition when I arrived at the airport last night at 9:30 p.m. ARGHH!!

Nothing quite like getting off a 3 hour flight... after working all
day... and having your car not cooperate. UGHH!!

The Condition: Dead-as-fresh-roadkill battery... very little power to
light up the dome light. Idiot lights barely visible when you turn on
the key. Radio went into SAFE mode. Not enough juice to lock and alarm
the car. Not enough juice to get the starter to even *think* about
cranking.

Unless I am completely losing my mind, I KNOW that I did not leave
anything on (i.e. lights/radio etc.) while I was away for the three
days. I'll check the old "dome light switch" in the doorjamb
situation... to see if that's the problem... but I don't think so. The
dome light shut off when all the doors were closed.

I got it jump started, and it cranked right over. No problem at all.
Everything worked fine... as if it just started on its own.

It drove home fine... no problems at all.. except one thing was weird...
when I turned on the Hella XLs... the radar detector would sound... as
if I just turned it off, then on (I believe I tapped them both, along
with the CB radio, into a switchable source of power). I also believe I
might have heard them/feel them cause a bit of a load on the system...
although there was no diminished brightness or anything else. It was
odd.. but it didn't appear to be the cause of the problem.

After about a 40 minute drive home, I pulled it into the garage, shut if
off, and tried to restart it. Nothing. Exact same condition as the
airport.

Up to this point, there have been no signs of a dead/weak battery. I had
the battery replaced in June 1996, at 78k miles. The car now has about
148k miles on it.

My questions are:

1. What should I do first? Buy a battery charger at Sears (or wherever),
and recharge the battery... in the belief that a 40 minute drive home
would not be enough to recharge a COMPLETELY DEAD battery?

2. Should I try replacing the battery? It's not very old (i.e. only two
years), but it does have about 70k miles on it. Is it that time again
already? Why wouldn't I get some warning?

3. I hate to think about it, but there probably is something draining
the battery. Where do I begin? I'll check the doorjamb switches... and
the wiring for the Hella XLs... but what else? There are an awful lot of
wires in modern day automobiles... :-(

Any suggestions? Any BTDTs?

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Right now, I'm currently unsubbed, so please make sure to CC: me on any
replies. Thanks.

--
                     Jim Griffin
                 ICQ # 1315286
               JGriff@pobox.com
           http://pobox.com/~jgriff
     http://wwp.mirabilis.com/1315286
'92 Audi 100S - '87 VW Quantum Syncro
 "Perception is often stronger than reality!"
 ------------------OOOO------------------