Hey all: Today my '81 van died going westbound on the San Mateo bridge. (Made it over the hump and drifted down the other side, for those familiar with the bridge!) The battery died on me. I knew I was having problems on the run up to the bridge; the wipers were slowing down, the radio was going in and out of tune, and turning on the lights made everything worse. From the time I pulled over until the time I was towed home, it seemed like the battery continued to drain; although the dome light came on and the clock was ticking when I stalled out, by the time I got home the clock was dead and the dome light was gone. Everything looked OK: alternator belt was tight, connections solid, alternator and battery are of fairly recent vintage, etc., etc. The only thing anomalous is that there was moisture on the sheetmetal in front of the fuse box, below the dash. We've been having *lots* of rain the last few days. I grabbed my amp meter and tested the current flowing from the negative terminal to ground: 25 mA, even after I pulled all the fuses! I charged the battery for 3-4 hours, and the sun came out and the weather turned warm. After the charge-up, the current drain fluctuated between 3 mA and 7mA, keeping time with the clock. This is the normal state of affairs. So I'm thinking (hoping) that rain water leaking in past the windshield was the cause of my problems, and that a few days of dry weather will make things all right. And yet.....and yet......I'm not sure I really believe this. Anybody have any thoughts on the matter? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Young young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU Lafayette, CA 94549 '81 Vanagon --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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