How bout I rough it out. Twelve milliamps over an hour is 12milliamphours. Two week (at 25 hrs a day cause I can do it in my head) equals 350 hours times 12ma/h equals 4200ma/h divided by 1000ma to an amp and you get 4.2ah. If you subtract that extra hor it probably is real close to 4.

What I don't get is how if you have all those circuits taking so many milliamps then how is the total only 12ma.

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Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

It also sounds to me that the body CAN is staying awake. You have to prepare carefully to view quiescent current after the car is asleep. How long does your dome light take to turn off, when the door is closed? Does the mileage in the instrument cluster shut off after the door shuts and the dome light is out?

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Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

Alex,

At the moment I can't think of anyone in The Dublin, San Ramon area. You might call A&F Importrd parts in Oakland and ask their advice.

Peter

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

Not that I know a shop everywhere, but just so happens that Dublin struck a memory.

I'm pasting an entry from the BMW tech group I belong to of one of the top shops in the US:

Kahler’s Werkstatt, Denny & Cindy Kahler, 6117 Dougherty Rd, Dublin, CA 94568, (925) 829-2050

Denny is nationally known for his position in the German Repair industry. Try a Google search on Denny Kahler if you want to read about an allstar in my industry.

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Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

Alex,

I had forgotten about Kahler's. I concur.

Peter

__________________
Auto Zentral Ltd.

I'm no expert either, but don't the seats have a memory that would need to be powered?

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

Hi Steve,

I was wrong (DEAD wrong in fact) when I said 12mA. When I re-measured carefully I found ~ 200mA in total, with the breakdown of the most significant circuits as shown in my previous post. There were 1 or 2 ~10mA consumers, which I omitted.

thanks

/alex

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1997 E420

Hi Steve,

the dome light stays on ~ 10 - 15 sec after the door is closed.

The instrument cluster illumination stays on for ~ 30 sec?

Could you please educate me as to what CAN stands for.

Also, I will probably Kahler's. However, not to sound cheap, but I thought of a brute-force ~ $70 solution. I can get a "battery drain protector" from somebody like Griot's Garage with a lifetime warranty and that might allow me to "ignore" the problem. Good idea? Probably not, but I am willing to consider it seriously.

Thanks

/alex

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1997 E420

FYI, Denny Kahler has retired. The shop is under new ownership but keeps the Kahler's name. I hope the new owners and techs can maintain the level of expertise that Denny demonstrated.

The current for the seats is being consumed by a microprocessor that controls the motors. It is constantly powered up so it can remember the various programmed seat positions.

Those values sound normal.

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I got too many cars!! Insurance eats me alive. Dave

78 Corvette Stingray - 3k
82 242 Turbo Volvo - Manual - 270k
86 300e 5 speed manual - 210k
87 420sel - 240k
89 560sl - 78k
91 420sel - 205k
91 560sel - 85k
94 GMC Suburban - 90k
97 Harley Davidson Heritage Softail - 25k
00 GMC Silverado 1 ton 30k