Folks,

My son's 97 850 wagon has developed a nasty habit of draining the battery when parked for more than a few days. The battery is new. It was replaced after the old one had been drained a few times, so we eliminated it asa source of theproblem.

The only thing I can see drawing any current when it is parked and locked is the alarm system. Can anyone tell me how to disable it? Is there anything else I should look for that is a common source for this problem?

Thanks in advance!

Tim Benner
Centerville, Ohio

 

The alarm system shouldn't drain that much juice. My guess is that there is some other drain occuring somewhere. Try pulling the fuse for the alarm system and then see if it still loses juice. If it doesn't then at least you'll know to keep looking.

 

Thanks, jks2.

Ourplan is to put an ammeter across the fuse holders (with fuse out) with the car locked and armed and at least find which circuit is drawing power in that state. The we'll pull the offending fuse(s) and see if it keeps a charge. Maybe someone here has been through this before and can suggest a circuit/or compoent that is a common source of current drain.

 

How about the light inside the glove compartment? Any of the interior lights staying on?

 

All lights *seem* to go out when the car is locked with the key and alarm is armed. After a search on 'battery' it looks like the glovebox light is a common culprit. We'll start there.