A couple months ago, I went out to start the car to get to work. It didn't even click when I went out, so I had to drive the other car to work. Went to Wally World that evening and got a brand-spankin' new battery because the old one read 2 volts. Put the new one in, started the car and drove around to make sure it was fully charged.
The next morning, the car would hardly crank. Once I got it started, I drove it to work and drove it home with no problem. Repeat for 3 days. The third night, I hooked up the meter and after much testing (and showing the wife how to use the amp selection on my meter), I found that by pulling the fuse for the radio (fuse 23?) would remove a significant load from the battery (from 10 amps to 1.5). I disconnected the radio, power antenna, and anything else that I could find with the fuse in and it still drew power (yes the door was shut). Now, if I hook everything up and just take the fuse out, I measure 4 amps going through the fuse with the doors open and .90 amps with it shut. That coincides with the interior lights being on or off.
If I remove the fuse, the car can sit for a week without a problem. Leaving the fuse in overnight is a death sentence for the battery.
Basically, the car is somehow pulling 10 amps with the fuse in and 2 amps with the fuse out. The current actually going through the fuse is .90 amps with the door closed and all accessories shown going to it in the wiring diagram (Haynes manual AND Chilton's) removed (disconnected at their connectors).
Any ideas as to what the problem could be? I'm getting pretty close to just trading the car in on a new one that I won't have to worry about.
Oh, yeah.... If I leave the fuse out while driving, the shifter solenoid clicks everytime I step on the brake. It's enough to drive me crazy on a simple trip to the store.
Thanks!
