Strangest thing... I was out in the driveway firing up the BBQ for dinner tonight, when I heard noises coming from the 944, sounded like someone in the trunk thumping on the inside of the car! I told my girlfriend and grabbed a flashlight and the keys, and we went out to investigate. Sure enough, the noise happened again -- thump, thump, in quick succession, like someone knocking on a door. I tapped my kunckles on the trunk lid, expecting to hear movement, but nothing. Then, a few seconds later, the knocking happened again!

I had replaced the fuel pump (Regina, in tank) this summer, and hadn't gotten around to putting the cover panel back on the access hatch to the fuel tank, so I thought a squirrel might have gotten into the trunk and was bumping around in there or something. So I opened the trunk and stepped back... and nothing. The trunk was empty! Then, while we were looking in the trunk... thump-thump, the noise happened agian.

Holy moley, I thought, the squirrel is in the car!

After searching the car thoroughly, and finding nothing, I realized that the sound was actually a staticy pop coming intermittently from the speakers. But the stereo wasn't on. In fact, the car, wasn't on -- the keys were in my pocket!

Pulling the fuse for the audio system stopped the noise. Putting the fuse back in made it start again. And with the fuse in, the stereo works fine. The car starts and runs fine. I've had the car for months and never noticed this before. The only relevant items I can think of are:

1) The battery is old and needs replacement
2) I just finished putting the center console back together last week after giving the interior a very thorough cleaning.

Any ideas?
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'92 245 5-speed, '92 944 GL auto