You don’t have to commit insurance fraud. You are free to destroy anything of yours you want.
I looked over some of the responses though and it is interesting that they mostly were not much help, but just encouraging. Kinda like you are on your own but we’re cheering for ya. Interesting that it took a wind storm to provide the clue. You should write a book.
Those of us that repair our own cars, whether we are amateurs or pros, know that feeling that you’re all alone with the problem. When someone reaches out and asks for help, and provides lots of good detail and findings, I do want to jump in with my great wisdom and learning and solve the problem. And I usually fail. But the truth is dealing with a frustrating thing is very hard, and the support you get from others can keep you from starting a fire, kicking the dog or hurling your socket wrench through the garage window.
I’m really happy you found the problem, and many others will benefit from the knowledge.
Heh heh. Sometimes not helpful. I had just gotten gas and my Riv wouldn’t start at the pump. Figured it was fuel pump so while trying to bang on the tank and hooking up the pressure gauge and crank crank crank, an old guy (much older than me) on a bicycle with a basket in front no less, says “have you tried pumping the gas pedal?” Arrgggh. Get out of here. Its fuel injected and no fuel pressure. Finally started and beat it home. A little embarrassing but not as bad as stalling with my other Riv in the bank drive through. Just called for a tow that time.
That’s why if I ever have a fuel pump problem with a GM, I will trade cars.
Hey Bing, just buy Rivieras’ that have carbureted nailheads!
This reminded me of the time a guy drove a full sized late 80’s or early 90’s Bronco into the scrap yard to sell it as scrap. The transmission had recently been rebuilt and the 302 engine ran well. The guy mentioned he’d had problems with it, was tired of working on it, and wanted it crushed. After he sold it, one of the maintenance guys and I rode around the yard in it and checked it out. Most of the windows were broken out. There was a torque wrench with a little blood on the handle inside the cab and some blood on the Bronco under one of the broken windows. The side of the Bronco had several bullet holes in it. We concluded that the guy went into a (most likely meth induced) rage and beat the hell out of the Bronco with the torque wrench, injuring himself in the process. Then shot it full of holes.
So at least OK’s project/repair turned out better than the Bronco.
Not much of a business person. In school they used to sell hits with a 10# hammer for about a dollar a piece to beat up some old car. Most of those old cars that got beat up would be valuable classics now.
Speaking of classics, they used to park old cars on the frozen lake, then sell guesses on when the car would fall through the ice when it melted. Closest guess got the jackpot. Those would have been from the 40’s and early 50’s and maybe a few 30’s thrown in. Too bad. Ruined the upholstery.
Yeah, I would’ve personally given the guy $1k or more for the Bronco if he’d have offered to give me the title. Even if I had to have the engine or trans rebuilt. I think it would’ve been fun to tool around in with the top removed. Bullet holes would’ve just provided ambience 
. But no title required to scrap it in MS due to the age of the vehicle. And he specifically stated that he wanted it “destroyed”.
So, I sold it to the maintenance guy for $550 
. I don’t think he was ever able to get a title for it though.
Sorry for not being around her much lately. The Sonoma is doing fine but with all of the aggravation it caused me it put me seriously behind on a number of other things and I’m trying to catch those up.
And of course the clothes dryer decided to die tonight so that will be job one tomorrow as there is a load of wet clothes in the washer…
Asemaster had mentioned some weeks ago about replacing a number of the electrical part of the ign. switches. That thought had crossed my mind also but I did pin out checks on it several times and no anomalies ever showed up even with tapping and wire harness jiggling so I dismissed (incorrectly as it turns out) the electrical part of the switch.
Again, thanks to all for the suggestions. The way my life works is that every day is full of speed bumps…
As for frustration with a vehicle, I saw a guy once lose his temper because the old kick start Harley he had would not even come close to firing up. Cursing like mad, he ran over to his fence line and ripped a rickety wooden fence post out of the ground then proceed to beat the beejeezus out of the bike with it.
It’s really annoying that machines show no respect. They just crap out with no consideration of the inconvenience they cause.
For me, sometimes the solution to a malfunction with a machine or electronic device or a mathematics problem comes to me in my sleep. In the upper division and graduate math courses, I would go to bed not having been able to solve the problem. While asleep, the solution would come to me. I would get up, write it down and go back to bed. I had a radio that would make a squealing noise through the speaker and then the radio would quit playing. I could get the radio to play by turning the volume control all the way up and back. I assumed the problem was in the amplifier section and changed out some capacitors. It didn’t solve the problem. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about a high frequency oscillator. It then dawned on me that the problem might be in the intermediate frequency circuit. I got out of bed and turned on the radio. When it squealed and quit playing, I turned the adjustment screw on an intermediate frequency coil. The slight adjustment brought the radio back to life and solved the problem. I moved into a house that came with a washer and dryer. The washing machine would stick in the middle of the wash and wear cycle during the cool down rinse. I assumed it was the timer, so I replaced the timer. That didn’t solve the problem. I went over the wiring diagram of the machine and couldn’t figure it out. I woke up again in the middle of the night dreaming about a siphon. It then hit me. The water was draining out during the cool down rinse and the timer didn’t get the signal to advance. I immediately got out of bed, went down the basement and turned on the machine. When it got stuck in the middle of the rinse cycle, I raised the discharge hose. The water stopped flowing and the timer advanced. I then realized that the stand pipe wasn’t high enough. The next day I bought a section of pipe and increased the height of the stand pipe. Problem solved. To keep this automotive, I once owned a 1975 AMC Pacer. We were on our way home from visiting relatives and the car was running so poorly that I didn’t think we would make it home. We did get home and when I lifted the hood, I found that the distributor cap was loose. The hold down clips didn’t seem to hold the cap. I bent the clips with my needle nose pliers and thought I had solved the problem. It ran fine for a couple of days and then the problem reoccurred. The clips again didn’t seem to hold. I again bent the clips. While I was asleep, I had a dream where the distributor cap was blowing up off the distributor. I immediately got up, went out to the garage and looked at the car. I took.the hose loose leading from the bottom of the carburetor to.the distributor. I then blew into the hose and there was no resistance. The diaphragm in the vacuum advance was bad. I then remembered my wife saying something about hearing a popping noise when she would start the engine. Fumes from the carburetor would sink down into the distributor and then ignite.
I.can sympathize with @ok4450 and his Sonoma. I can’t let go of a problem until I find the solution. The problem runs through my mind even when I am asleep.
I think the thing is you have one or more guardian angels with engineering degrees just waiting for you to go to sleep so they can visit. What does Mrs. T say when she finds you wandering around in the basement or garage in the middle of the night?
@bing Fortunately, Mrs. Triedaq is a sound sleeper. I have been retired from teaching for more than ten years and still have dreams in my sleep about being in front of a classroom.
I’ve actually had answers come to me in my sleep before while wrestling electrics. Pop awake at 3 in the morning with a “Eureka!” (I hope…) moment, stagger out of bed, and jot down a few notes about certain wire color codes or connectors.
Next day at work the barely legible note turned out to be correct every time. That sometimes led to tension with the wife who insisted I leave the problem at work “because you are not getting any rest”. Can’t help it.
In the case of the Sonoma, that answer never appeared in my dreams or nightmares and so far so good on the Sonoma.
I admit to still having a bit of lingering mistrust on that truck though. Five years of no issues may resolve that lack of faith problem.
That has happened to me a few times. find answers to problems in my dreams. the problem is that I could never wake up to write it down. in the morning I could never remember what the answer was. LOL
Last nightmare I dreamt about pushing my Morris Minor and popping the clutch to start it. Took three times to finally start it. I won’t go into the rest of it except the song “Thank God for Unanswered Prayers” comes to mind.
This seems like a grandpa’s line of nonsense, justifying a nap.
As if a nap needs to be justified…. 
So just curious, was the final solution to this battery drain problem to replace the ignition switch assembly?
It was not the key and tumbler. It was the electrical part of the ignition switch. I had suspected the switch around the start of this but half a dozen checks with a multimeter and wire tugging showed no problems.
As I mentioned (to save going back through all of this) I went out one day when wind was huffing at near 60 MPH and saw the dash lights and gauges operating due to the truck rocking in the wind. They flickered a few times, went off, came back on, etc. Switch was in OFF position and keys in my pocket.
No trouble since and everything is fine. Guess it took an Act of God to figure it out… 
Congrats on sticking w/it 'til the end. Reporting your experience here should prove very helpful to others with idiopathic (unknown-cause) battery discharge problems.