Ride Height at the rear
I had a look at the rear ride height adjustment, but decided that doing it without a pit or a roll-on lift could be very painful, and sadly a friend with a local Alfa Romeo specialist garage has recently shut down and leased out the building, so I don't have easy access to big boys toys now. I think I'll leave it to Ray's boys at Northway when they see the car in October.
Tracking down the battery parasitic drain
I did however have a bit of a tinker with my parasitic drain problem... Oh they are such a joy. I printed off some wiring diagrams - and I have to say, these cars are quite complex compared to other cars of the era I have worked on. I guess it's at that interesting crossover. Wiring becoming complex in "luxury" cars, but before real computerisation (apart from ECU).
I have got my drain down to about 80mA - which is just about acceptable. If I take out the central locking fuse (11?) it drops to about 50mA. Even removing every fuse there is still a 35mA draw. This is partially because the aftermarket radio remote locking circuit is not fused in the under bonnet fuse/relay box. It does however have 2x inline fuses (one powers the circuit, and one allows it to operate the indicators on lock / unlock). Even with both of those inline fuses out there is still about 15mA remaining. Who knows what that is, but it's very low so I'm not too worried.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think the main culprit of my issue was that the rear hatch open/closed sensor on the offside gas strut was working intermittently. There was a lot of clicking of relays which I have fixed (I think) by cleaning contacts. I think that was causing a relay to stay energised to power the electric windows (when a door / rear hatch is open). Not 100% sure on that, but that's my current theory from looking at the wiring diagrams.
What also caused a lot of confusion is that I had the bonnet open when I was doing most of my investigation, so that I could pull fuses. Turns out that with the bonnet open switch closed (near the n/s upper strut mount) telling the car the bonnet is OPEN, there is a much higher drain - over a 100 mA. I'd love to know why??? Before you mention the under bonnet lamp, that's not working! Would love to know why it isn't. The bulb is good, and there is definitely NOT 12V at the centre pin of the bulb holder.
I also spent some time trying to work out why the drivers door lock won't unlock the door with the battery disconnected, but the passenger's door will. After taking the doors off and having a poke around I am pretty sure this is by design. I think the drivers lock is only used to trigger the central locking (which it does) and the mechanical linkage in the passenger door is there to get you in with a flat battery. Please let me know if that's not the case!
I also fitted a CTEK battery charger cable near the windscreen wiper motor - connected to the jump start connector under the blue shroud. That way I can keep the battery topped up even when the car is outdoors - I can keep the CTEK charger under the bonnet with it closed, with the cable coming out of the top of the bonnet next to the windscreen wiper so it will survive damp weather - I've done this for years with other cars.
Tailgate not opening with the key
I also worked out why I can't open the rear tail gate with the key. Unlike earlier 944s, the S2 (and other late 944s) do not have a mechanical linkage from the lock to the rods which unlock the tailgate. There is a microswitch which is doing double duty. The normally closed contact is used as a limit switch to turn off the motor when the locking rods are in the locked position, and the normally open contact is used to open the hatch with the key. My microswitch normally open contact is not working. I could probably find a compatible microswitch cheaply and solder it in, but I took the easy route and spent the best part of £40 on the genuine part. I haven't got it yet, but I proved the fix with a 2 way switch.
Needlework isn't my strong point
The stitching holding the leather onto the steering wheel had almost all gone. I have stitched about half of the wheel with some heavy duty nylon thread. Took me ages. I'm no expert with a needle! But I've been very careful to use the original holes in the leather. It's far from a professional fix, but it will do for now, and I have to admit I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.
Tomorrow - if I'm in the mood, I plan to remove the steering wheel and some of the dash to investigate why the dash illumination is so dim. I found an interesting post on the subject, so I'll read that a bit more carefully and then decide if I want to dive in...
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