Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Out of state purchase

[Doug & Terri (dnt]

Martin notes "Hard to believe that the clock and radio alone can drain the 
battery so quickly."

Its not just the clock and the radio anymore.  While the following may not be a 
participant to your battery drain a Ford tech friend (working out of a SoCal 
dealership) of mine was faced with a Bronco, a brand new one, that ate a 
battery in three days.  Whaaa?  Ayep.  Traced this, traced that, replaced 
batteries - to no avail.  He finally got an answer from their US wide data base 
out of Minnesota.  The problem?  It was the anti-lock braking system (ABS).  
Huh?  Ayep yet again.  Bad ground.  Whaaa yet again?  Seems that when the 
vehicle was parked and shut off the computer picked up a "locked" RF wheel.  It 
continually tried to unlock it and allow it to roll before sensing another 
phony "lock up" problem.  That gobbled electrons like crazy - poooof no battery 
in three days.

SO - while your TR may not have an electronic ABS there may be a creepy 
parasitic drain that is nearly untraceable.  Thing to do is disconnect the 
battery ground at the post, disconnect the. Clock and radio (via fuses if 
possible) and at night - to insure it's real dark just touch the ground 
terminal with battery clamp.  Even a tiny tiny spark suggests a parasitic drain 
somewhere.  If that occurs find someone to trace components using the "voltage 
drop" test.  DON'T just use an ohm meter.  An ohm meter will give you bad "good 
results" if just one tiny strand of wire is still in the circuit.  That is it 
would report that a starter main wire is "good" if only one strand of wire 
remains between the battery and starter in an otherwise bad current conducting 
wire.  This most likely isn’t your problem as your starter seems to jump to 
life with a well charged battery.

The other trick to do is just do as you have - use the switch.  Whatever is 
eating your battery may make no never mind as you enjoy your car.  Be glad your 
TR isn’t OBDII - that system has more computers than a Saturn V and no car sold 
in the USofA from model year 1996 forward is without it.  It pertains to 
emissions.

Onward and good luck
DOUG

-----Original Message-----
From: Ferrari [mailto:ferrari-bounces+dnt=dock.net [at] ferrarilist.com] On 
Behalf Of Martin Stark
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2018 10:11 AM
To: DOUG <dnt [at] dock.net>
Cc: The FerrariList <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Out of state purchase

I should add that's there's no Ferrari content in my question. So to include a 
little I can report that upon my return from points south my
'87 TR fired right up after sitting all winter. That's been the case since I 
began turning off the battery switch whenever the car going to be sitting idle 
for more than a couple of weeks.  Hard to believe that the clock and radio 
alone can drain the battery so quickly.


On 6/15/2018 12:57 PM, Martin Stark wrote:
> I'm interested in purchasing a car from an out-of-state used car 
> dealer.  I've contacted an authorized (for the brand) dealer that 
> recently performed a prepurchase inspection on the vehicle and I 
> viewed its CarFax.  The car appears to be what it is advertised as, 
> but don't have great confidence in the used car dealer.
>
> I'm in Boston and the car is in Arlington, VA so I'm looking into the 
> feasibility of purchasing it "sight unseen" and having it shipped to 
> me in MA.  The car is listed for ~$50K and is well under priced for 
> its very low mileage.  Short of traveling down to VA what is the best 
> procedure to follow to do a deal like that without getting scammed.
>
>
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