Nikon F5 battery drain issue

[PurpleCat]

Recently I picked up a Nikon F5 SLR for a really good price (serial number 307xxxx). The only issue in the listing is that the battery tray lever mechanism was damaged (the tab was disconnected from the latch) but by wiggling it in I was able to get the battery tray to stay inside the camera.

However, after shooting a few rolls of film through it I discovered the camera had another issue, which is likely why the battery door was damaged from constant removal. Apparently, the camera drains the batteries when the camera is turned off and sometimes even during a roll if I put the camera away for a few days. When I measure the voltage, it will have decreased down to around 5v, 8v, or similar. There will be no warning, I will either take the camera out and find out it's dead or it dies instantly when I turn the camera on.

I removed the battery tray from the camera and the batteries have not lost their voltage, but if I store the camera with the batteries in and the power off (displaying the frame counter) the batteries will drain, and the camera works perfectly if I remove the batteries during storage. Is this a known issue and is there anything that could be causing this? Thanks

 

[mshchem]

I've had/have several of these cameras no issues. The original Nikon rechargeable batteries are long since useless. I have had no troubles with Alkaline AAs or even the new rechargeable Panasonic AAs