Apparently our '80 300TD is unhappy that I opted to take the Euro 280S out for
the weekend trip to visit with family, and is throwing a bit of a fit.
This morning, I came down to the car and opened the door and had an extremely
dim front cabin light. Uh oh, I think to myself, and - you guessed it - not
enough juice to turn the starter. I broke out the jumper cables and fired up
the 280S to give the wagon a jump, and everything was golden and I got to work
just fine.
7 hours into my workday, I went out to see if things were as bad as they seemed,
and my fears were confirmed - dead as a doornail again. An hour later, I
grabbed a jump to get her started, and made off for home.
Once home, out came the multitester and the tools. What I found was that with
the ignition off, I had current across the aux fan circuit (fuse 15, I think),
and the clock/hazard/whatever else circuit (fuse 4, which is also where the
aftermarket radio memory is supplied). That all seems normal.
What wasn't normal was a 320mA current draw with *all* fuses removed. That
tells me that something unfused is sucking my battery dry. Off the top of my
head, that leaves me with a possible internal short in the battery (only a few
months old, but Autozone Duralast brand and severely abused with a recent bout
of poor charging from a bum alternator), starter (8 months old), or alternator
(swiped from the 240D to keep the 300TD on the road, Bosch rebuild maybe 3 years
old).
Am I missing any other unfused sources? I ran out of daylight today, so I just
left the negative terminal disconnected. Obviously, if I'm out of juice
tomorrow morning, the battery is my prime suspect, but I'd like to know if I'm
overlooking any other unfused potential power drains so that I can speed
troubleshooting tomorrow afternoon.
Thanks again, listers!
--
John L. Ervine
1981 240D 4-spd 268+kmi
1980 300TD 170+kmi
1980 300SD 277+kmi
1977 280S 4-spd 80+kmi
