[habbyguy]

Chasing that parasitic drain is fiddly, but isn't all that difficult. Basically, you just insert an ammeter with an appropriate range between the battery negative terminal and the negative cable clamp. Then start pulling fuses until the current drops to what it should be (a small fraction of an amp). Make sure you don't have the doors open (aka dome lights on). ;-)

Any chance there's a green "key symbol" on the dash? That would indicate that your car has forgotten the key(s), presumably because of the long periods of having no battery connected.

Otherwise, chasing a no-start (as in "starter not engaging at all") is really fairly simple.
With a helper, connect the negative lead of a voltmeter (or really, even a test light) to the engine block, and the positive to each of the following points, and have the helper turn the key
1) Large red cable to the starter (should stay at battery voltage all the time).
2) Small "control" cable to the starter (should go to battery voltage with the key in start position).
3) The negative battery terminal (if you get more than a very small fraction of a volt between the battery negative terminal and the engine block, you have a bad engine ground strap - not uncommon).

Also, the starter won't engage unless the car is in Park or Neutral, so try "rowing" the shifter through the positions a few time to help clean up the switch contacts that report the shift lever position. Make sure the dash indicator shows that the tranny IS in P or N.

If all the tests above show that you've got solid voltage to the starter's main supply line, control line, and that the ground strap is working, you "simply" have a bad starter.

 

[habbyguy]

Glad to hear the "shifter row" did the trick. If it keeps acting up, it's likely that it'll quit altogether eventually, but this should give you time to hunt down a replacement switch.

I prefer the shunt type ammeter, but IF (big if) you have a clamp-on ammeter that will do DC (most are AC-only) and that can read down to a small fraction of an amp (that is, has a 1- or 2-amp DC current scale in "clamp-on mode"), you should be fine.

If you do use a shunt-type meter, be careful about its maximum current rating, since if the draw is really large, you could cook the ammeter (most smaller home-style meters aren't fuse-protected in their (usually) 10-amp "max" mode.

 

[habbyguy]

Darshan, either one of those will work great, and you have no worries about exceeding the current rating (unless you try to start the car with it inserted).

I - being cheap - just use my "bird in the hand" multimeter's 10 amp setting. You can get a really high-function meter for chump change, and use it to do a lot more than just current drain. Here's an example of one (I didn't get overly analytical about finding the best option - this is just representative of the kind of meter you can get). Heck, I believe Harbor Freight gives away cheap but generally adequate multimeters for free via their coupons, at least on occasion (I've got three or four floating around, and stash them where I might need them). I believe they have a 10 amp setting. The only down side to this would be if your parasitic drain is above 10 amps (which is a HUGE drain, BTW), which could blow your 10 amp ammeter circuitry. 10 amps would be the rough equivalent of both headlights being on.

Just for giggles, I just now did a quick check to see if anyone was offering a clamp-style multimeter that had DC (not just AC) current ranges that would be useful. It would be hard to beat this one for an all-around auto meter for the money (though there may well be other options that are better).

 

[habbyguy]

I'm not sure what "continuity" means in your context. There SHOULD be some reading if you hook up an ohmmeter between the two leads, and I'm not surprised if it's a "one-way circuit", as much of what is there is semiconductor-based, and they exhibit that kind of characteristic.

But that's not a test you should be worried about - it's only going to confuse you (unless you know a LOT about electronics). The only (!!!) thing that matters is how much current is flowing when the car is just sitting in the driveway. 0.2 amps is a LOT more than it should be. Yes, that's not enough to run down a healthy battery overnight, but one of (only) two things is happening here... 1) Your battery really isn't a good battery, and it's on its last legs, or 2) the drain goes up well over 0.2 amps sometimes.

FWIW, I was recently chasing a parasitic drain on my BMW, and wanted to be cheap and lazy (always good options), and bought this one. Then I just left it clamped around the battery lead (it's a true DC clamp style ammeter), which on my car is in the left rear wheelwell area), and could use my phone to monitor the meter. Easy peasy. Worked like a champ, and hey - it's a new piece of test equipment, and WON'T go up in a puff of smoke if the car suddenly draws more than 10 amps.

 

[habbyguy]

Again, it's normal for there to be some load on the battery, particularly when first connected. So ignore your ohmmeter readings across the battery contacts... you're in over your head on that and misinterpreting the results, IMHO.

There's really no other option than to monitor the actual current flowing out of your battery until you figure out what's drawing excessive current, and then fix it. It's not difficult, but takes time and patience. I'd suggest the meter I referenced as a starting point, and just leaving it clamped around the positive battery cable, and watching for unusual amounts of current. When you see that happen, you just start pulling fuses until it goes away, and you've narrowed the search down 95%.

 

[habbyguy]

If you took the battery out and are still registering 0.2 amps, you're doing something wrong. What kind of meter are you using? If it's a clamp-on ammeter, is it really capable of reading DC current?

That said, if you're reading a voltage of 14 millivolts across a 50 amp fuse, there's certainly quite a bit of current flowing somewhere (according to the table I just referenced, as much as 5 or 6 amps). That big fuse feeds a bunch of other smaller fuses, so now the trick is to figure out which of them goes to the circuit in question, either by reading voltage across them (to calculate the amps being drawn) or by pulling them individually to see if the excessive current stops.

 

[habbyguy]

Your meter does NOT measure DC current in "clamp mode", BTW, so it's not at all surprising you were getting odd readings. The meter does do DC current, but using the leads (and so limited to 10 amps, most likely).

Don't remove that fusebox - there are no fuses behind it (though the turn signal relay is back there). It's a royal pain to pull the fusebox, and you shouldn't have to.