hi folks,

well, it's been a saga, as previous posts will attest. now this. short version: i go to get the van warmed up after maybe 2 months sitting; previously started fine and no issues with electrical. this time: nothing at all, no lights, no click. i put a plug-in starter on it, and all the lights were on super bright but clicking and when i try to crank there's clicking in the dash etc. obviously, i stop that.

the battery has been drained to 2V. (ouch.) removing the three leads off the positive post, i can tell that one of them, the 2.0L fusible link one i think, is shorted a bit. when it's connected, the voltage across the battery goes down about 0.5V. when i check resistance against ground, it's got about 60 kohm; everything else is clean. i went over to the positive screw box (little access port for positive lead) under the "hood", and can confirm that the short is not in the cable from there to the battery.

i looked at the alternator connectors, but it looks in remarkably good shape -- the alternator looks like it's not more than a couple years old, as well. and my thinking is that a problem there wouldn't show as a short?

any ideas about how and where to test further? don't want to just start pulling everything apart if there's a likely spot.

the one thing i did before all this was to put in new dome lights. i fiddled with the fuses doing that, but i've removed all fuses one by one and none of them eliminate the short.

at least it's persistent and detectable without load!

ideas? thanks, y'all. without this site i'd be pretty morose. sad enough as it is.

.brush