The past 3 weeks, if my car is left sitting for more than 2 days, its deader than a doornail in the morning. Not even a light turns on. Its got a brand new Interstate high capacity battery as well. Something is drawing on this thing big time. I have no idea what it could be. Last night I did notice something weird.

When I switched the lights off, and shut the door, the backlights for the window switches and some of the dash board (not instrument cluster) would flicker on and off multiple times a second. Very odd. Just for kicks, I unplugged the alarm module in the pass. kick panel and also the convenience module under the rear seat. The lights kept flickering.

Can anyone point me in the right direction. I have no idea where to look. Maybe a relay somewheres?

Thanks!

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93 300D 2.5 Turbo, Black/Palomino 273K
09 E350 Black/Black 41K

You need to identify which circuit is causing the drain. With your ignition off, remove the positive battery cable and hook an ammeter in series with the battery and cable. See if you have a current draw. If so, then open the fuse box and remove each fuse, one by one, until you find the one that stops the current draw. Then you know which circuit it is and can trace it.

Can a standard volt meter be used for this?

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93 300D 2.5 Turbo, Black/Palomino 273K
09 E350 Black/Black 41K

Don't have an answer but do have moral support, as my 93's light panel above the rearview mirror is doing the same fast-flashing at certain times. Mine's probably headed to the point yours is so I will stay tuned.

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former: 83 300D, 97 C230, 93 400E

current: 08 C300 Luxury , 92 500SL

A standard voltmeter would work fine...you are looking for excessive current draw, so measure amperage, not volts.

Note: I had a Jaguar that would suck the battery dry within a couple of days. The cause was a faulty alarm brain...aftermarket issue. Yanked the offending alarm and all was well from then on.

As far as the "flashing issue", likely unrelated to the unusual electrical drain. It's usually a symptom of a bad or loose ground in the illumination system. Typically, the "bulb-out" indicator circuit. The flashing should be prominent when applying brakes while the car is at rest.

I had the "flashing" occur as well. The culprit was due to loose metal grounding strips in the taillight housings. They also caused phantom "bulb-out" conditions, even when all of the bulbs were the correct type, wattage, and tested fine.

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

Does everything that is powered in the car run through the main fuse box under the hood. I always thought that some of the big stuff was on its own feed, with seperate fuses/relays, etc.

I will give it a try this weekend.

Thanks for all the advice.

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93 300D 2.5 Turbo, Black/Palomino 273K
09 E350 Black/Black 41K

I had an issue with my Subaru just like yours. I left the battery hooked up buy made sure it had a full charge. I removed all the fuses then started to insert them one by one while watching the voltmeter. I noticed a huge drop after I plugged in the power door lock fuse.....no more power door locks for me.

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'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R