This is somewhat embarassing. I retested and discovered I was looking at the wrong range on my test meter. IE not 300 MA rather 30......

Battery is still fine after a week, Im gonna put it down to the old battery being on its way out - but not completely fudd.

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1985 190E - Gone
1989 230E - Gone
1995 C200 - Gone
1993 280E 120000KM - Built like a brick, the best one yet