1983 244 DL, when i bought the car, it had a cut off switch installed (owner said it was a anti theft device)this is a home made connection, Car will turn over but not start without throwing the switch. car sat for a week without starting it with switch off. Started great Sat morning, drove 230 miles sat. Parked the car Sat. night at 8pm and left switch on (oops)and tried to start it to go to work at 3am Mon. car completely dead, dim dome light, no cluster lights when key is turned. Any ideas where to start to look for the short?
Thank you in advance, I have learned alot and got much confidence to work on the car from you guys

Sandy

As LUCID asked, give us the Wire colors.



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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.lyse.net/brox/TonyPage4.html

Where is the switch mounted (hidden?), on left or right side of car?

What color wires are attached to the switch (only two I assume)?
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Bruce Young, '93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

Does the key switch work? ie warning lights on when turned to position II? Maybe it was wired in as a substitute for a bad keyswitch. Can you trace the wires and restore to original, remove switch.

Sounds like this "anti theft switch" is a "leave it on and discharge the battery wired by an idiot switch".
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David Hunter

I'd start by trying to find out where those switch wires go. They have to go to something that has power so I'd use a voltmeter to find out where the power is coming from. Then I'd chase the other wire. Something's not right if you leave the switch on and it drains the battery. Get ahold of a wiring diagram for your car to help figure out what the wiring is supposed to be and go from there. Good Luck!