Re: urquattro killing battery??

[ejfluhr@austin.ibm.com (Fluhr)]

Thanks, guys, for all your replies.  In my hurry to get the note off before
being consumed by work this morning, I left out some important information.

(1) The battery is new, as of last month (the old battery died over vacation
because of this problem).  Perhaps it is just a lousy battery (WalMart brand,
since that was the only one I could find that fit in the battery tray), since
the old battery was the same type.
(2) I am getting 13+ volts at the battery terminals when the car is idling,
so at first glance the alternator & voltage regulator appear to be working.
(3) The car is fine if I drive it regularly (i.e. once every two days), but
if left alone for 1-2 weeks, the battery will be dead (jealous of me driving
the Coupe GT, maybe?? :).  This implies that the charging system is working
well, giving the battery enough charge when driving to tide it over for a
few days.


Tony mentioned that 50mA of current draw when the car is off seems a bit high.
Is there a general consensus about what is an acceptable level?  I know that
the radio memory is taking about 40mA of that current, so I have it disconnected
to see what happens.  

I will check the voltage at the battery with a lot of electrical
consumers on, to see if it drops significantly.  I also need to doublecheck
the radiator fan circuit, because perhaps I am missing some kind of
intermittent turn-on.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric
'85 CGT, '82 urq
---
Eric J. Fluhr                                Email:  ejfluhr@austin.ibm.com
High End Processor Design                    Phone:  (512) 838-7589
IBM Server Group                             Austin, TX