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I've been experiencing a hard to find, intermittent, drained battery problem for the last 3 months on my wife's 2000 V70. The first time I wrote it off as a bad battery and replaced it. Then about 3 weeks later "click, click". I pulled the alternator off and the local alternator shop tested it ok. It's putting out about 13.4 volts at the battery.
I then bought a clamp-on ammeter to check the draw. One thing I've noticed is occasionally it draws 2 amps on the starter/alt lead (thick positive cable off the battery) after being shutdown for about 5 minutes. The positive that feeds the main relay box draws about .03 amps after shutdown. I cannot reproduce these results every time though and the high draw on the starter lead is supsicious. I wait at least 5 minutes after shutting down because I know there are some modules that don't rest until after a few minutes.
I have also performed the "pull each fuse test" with the ammeter and the voltmeter to no avail.
Yesterday, I replaced the positive lead to the main relay box after finding the relay end of the 4 crimped wires starting to corrode and melt the insulation. I used a thicker battery cable with crimped eyes at both ends. I thought I had found the problem until I got in it this morning to go to church and got "click, click"....
I'm growing tired of chasing this gremlin to the point I'm looking at BMW wagons on ebay! Tommorrow, I may pull the starter & alternator cables for a closer inspection like I gave the relay box wiring but I'm open for any suggestions. Wifey loves the car but we can't trust it with this issue.
Thanks in advance!
John
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