Weird noise at rear? BATTERY @ 4.5V by morning
 

The newest in a long line of problems with my '79 300TD. I turn off the car and can clearly hear a noise coming from the driver side rear corner of the car. The sound is like a whine up then a whine down. I've temporarily disabled the SLS for other reason but from what I can tell there is nothing electrical in that system. I've searched archives here and Benzworld and I've so far seen that a faulty SERVO can also put a drain on the battery. My servo is leaky and i'm planning to replace it soon. But there was also a reference to the rear latch mechanism burning out and shorting at 16 amps. Is that the flat black box behind my spare tire? Any other ideas. Please help! I'm watching Kent's troubleshooting video now.

Does your car have an automatic antenna?

There's a switch for the antenna. The antenna itself hasn't worked for a few months. It's stuck in the retracted position. Once i charge/replace the battery i can see if it's that circuit with a test by light by pulling the fuse, as per Kent Bergma's instructional video. Is that a common spot for a short?

And if i determine that it is the antenna is that motor the flat black box next to my spare tire? I'll take a look now. I'm assuming i can just disconnect the power supply for now and take a look at repairing it when i get home.

Yup, one single power plug on the top of the antenna motor. Disconnect it and see if the problem goes away.

-J

Okay, thanks for the help. I'll try that.

Do you have electric central locking? the pumps can run on those if a vacuum pod in the doors has failed. The motor does not stop but keeps running.

I don't think it's electric. There's no switch. I turn the key and the two driver side doors lock reluctantly. The passenger side ones don't. I just got a vacuum pump rebuild kit hoping it will solve all of my vacuum related problems (hard brakes, door locks, trannie sometimes doesn't like 2nd). I'm going out now to see if it's the antenna circuit on Fuse #2.

I think that your door locks that aren't working likely are causing your other vacuum issues.