Charley B

Thanks Alan

Charley B

The picture was a static shot just to help viualize the meter setting, notice it is at 250 mA, the highest setting, and the meter range in case I needed instruction in how to read it.

the flyin' scotsman

Given that the post was adressed to Bill I let him provide the education............good luck.

Bill Ball

Beats me.

ew928

Don't relays make a faint click when activating?
When the ammeter is ticking like a metronome, go to fuse panel at the passenger footwell to hear if you can hear any relays clicking.
You probably have the fuse/relay panel opened up for inspection so the timber cover will not be muffling the sound.

Just a wild suggestion.


Only thing I could think of that goes click click click are the injectors (that you can hear with the hood open and ear near the engine) and the emergency flasher/turn signal blinkers.
Those are 2 or 5 W bulbs.

Charley B

Bill Ball

Well, that sure looks like you are pegging the meter. It's going off the high end of the scale each time it clicks. You've got a big draw. Off-hand I don't know why it's rhythmic, but going over to the CE panel to listen to the relays was a decent suggestion. If nothing, start pulling fuses.

ew928

That reminds me of the turn signal blinker.

I accidentally activated the European parking light system once.
You shut off the car and set the turn signal to one side and the parking lights on that side stay on.
But didn't blink. Thought I had fudged something in the electrical since it was just after I had pulled out the dash switches to swap in LED bulbs.


So many wires. So little time . . .

Charley B

Listening to and feeling the relays didn't reveal the clicking culprit so I went through all 45 fuses.

Before starting, the needle would settle at 175mA and then peg the needle every second or so.

Pulling 40 and 41 (left and right parking lights) eliminated the rhythmic pegging.

Pulling 19 (the rear defroster) dropped the drain to about 72mA.

I checked to make sure the turn signal wasn't up or down.

So I now appear to have a 72mA drain. Guess I'll go through the relays. I hate pulling relays.

ew928

Did the side lights come on with the 928 heartbeat?
Does the turn signals work when the car is running and stop when the signal lever is at neutral.
Sounds like it's stuck. That's annoying.

Leslie 928 S2

Just a thought....from your description, Kevin thinks it might be your voltage regulator, or your rear defroster relay is possibly stuck.

Does the headlight motor operate correctly? We have had headlights get jammed in the past, while, unbeknownst to us, the motor was trying to move them after the car was parked. The motor just kept trying all night long to raise the headlights until it finally killed the battery. Came out to a very hot headlight motor, and a very dead battery in the morning.

Charley B

Parking lites burn steady.

Headlights work normally. I don't see a defr. relay on my chart. I'll figure out how to check the V. reg.

Bill Ball

Well, you're getting somewhere. You might check the small wires on the + battery post as Wally suggested before you go to the relays.

Alan

Charley - I was assuming the GTS - I see its the S4 now. What alarm LED's are you talking about - aftermarket?

You measurements 175mA seem to be the correct interpretation (why the other meter has such odd low readings is unclear)...

Based on what you found - can you put back 40/41 with defrost relay removed also without the spiking issue? If so it seems this is related just to that relay - a well known failure mode... (keeps ignition circuits powered)

See if the ~70 mA reduces with the defrost relay removed (it may) - if not I'd guess it is an unrelated parasitic issue you will need to debug - however 72mA is not that bad - it will not kill your battery overnight - still worth debugging though.

Alan

Charley B

I removed the extra wires on the positive terminal. I think they were for the amp, remote door locks and remote starter.