Hi Guys, I know this is a Focus newsgroup, but I can't find a Puma site so
hope someone can help me.

My daughter has a '99 1.7 Puma that she lent to me (her Dad) a couple of
days ago. Sods law demanded that it packed up whilst in my charge LOL.

When I came to start it, on turning the ign key the click of the solenoid
was heard, followed by ticking like a fuel pump charging and all of the
instruments twitched to full scale before settling back to zero (fuel gauge,
tacho, temp gauge etc) but no turning of starter motor.

Car will jump and bump start and then run fine.
Starter motor and solenoid will run "on the bench"
A new battery starts the car when first attached but will not after sitting
for half hour or so.
Disconnecting the negative lead from the battery and measuring the leakage
current between the negative terminal and the car "chassis" provides the
following:-

Ign Sw OFF  750mA
Ign Sw position I  1500mA
Ign Sw position II initially 9000 mA!! falling to 3500mA

These seem high to me, but I'm in the dark over this.

Can anyone provide any suggestions as to whether this is a high leakage and
what may be the location of the problem?

Any help greatly appreciated

Dave