hey everyone -
well, maybe it's not so mysterious a problem. anyhow here i am posting again - you guys are usually the best with the advice.

i'm leaving in 2 days for a cross-country trip to san francisco and would like to figure out what might be up with my car. so here's the latest in the saga of my 87 manual volvo wagon:

car sat for about 5 days with no lights left on or anything, hadn't been driving it too much lately (was in new york city for a month) but it had been starting/driving just fine. i go to start it up and notice that the clock had stopped (uh oh!). sure enough no start, not even a click. pull out the digital voltmeter, pop the hood, and the battery was still there (you never know in nyc) and the meter gave me a flatline reading: 0 volts... call aaa to get a jump, and with car running, measured voltage across battery terminals (all following measurements made this way) to be 14.4v. good sign!

drove the car for a half hour, checked voltage across terminals again with car running, and this time it was at 13.3v, turned on lights and radio, dropped to 13.1v. seems a little low to me. anyways, stopped the car and the battery voltage dropped down to 12.0. also a little low for my liking. i'm thinking the battery can't hold a charge, as i'm not getting any warning lights going on in the dashboard which would indicate a problem with the alternator. (had the newer wiring harness put in almost 2 years ago.) so i unhook both battery cables and leave it sit overnight to make sure it's not draining from something else. next morning voltage is still at 12 volts... hmmm... curiouser and curiouser.

so, i'm thinking there is some sort of draw coming from somewhere? or could my battery be on it's way out (according to bentley, 12V is only 25% charge, but according to the sales guy at strauss discount auto supply, 12v batt is just fine.)? does this sound to anyone like an alternator problem? i am going to take it in to have the batt checked as well as the charging system, but i have a healthy mistrust of some mechanics, and don't want to buy an unnecessary alternator (which happened to me when i first got the car almost 3 years ago!)

ok, i've rambled on long enough. btw, the interstate 60 month battery is only 2.5 years old with about 7,000 miles on it. unfortunately i'm nowhere near where i got the original battery (chicago).

any advice much appreciated!
thanks in advance,
kathryn