Strange issue on a 323. Would appreciate suggestions from techies

[alpac]

Some of you may remember my long post about rebuilding my daughter's 1999 323 after she crashed it http://www.xoutpost.com/off-topic/lo...er-bimmer.html
The car has been working like a charm since and until recently when the following issues started. Every so often when the car is parked it would start flashing its parking lights, same lights that flash when we lock or unlock the car, and would keep flashing for sometime. It does not make a difference if the car is locked or unlocked. Also the battery keeps draining every few days. I bought a brand new battery but that did not fix the problem. The battery keeps draining and the car keeps flashing. I do not know for sure if the two issues (flashing lights and battery drain) are related. Before going to more investigation I was wondering if any of our bimmer knowledgeable members here had any idea or suggestion. My next move I guess is trying to identify what causes the battery drain by using the old school approach (I am a pretty old guy now ) measuring the amp at the battery + and removing fuse one after the other to see how the amp measurement changes.
Any input, idea, suggestion would be appreciated.