Electrical Gremlin

1990 XJ Limited....... My Son's XJ had a dead battery. The Battery is an almost new red top Optima. I threw the Cetek charger on it, and waited for the Green light. Once charged, I tested for current draw, between the Battery, and the Positive cable, and Ignition off. The meter said it was pulling a little over 7A...... So, Do these years have a common area to locate a short? Where do I find the fuse for the power windows? Is there a somewhat easy way to trace it out?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hook up the current meter and pull each fuse one by one.

Most of the fuses are up under the dash, on the left side of the driver. One common bad spot is the O2 sensor wires, get too close to the front drive shaft or exhaust manifold, and short the heater power wire to the O2 sensor to ground. And it does not have a fuse (just a huge fuse link wire near the battery), and just a relay under the hood, one of the 4 relays on the middle of the passenger side fender. So also try pulling relays!!!!

When I had my 1990, I didn't deal with an Electrical Gremlin - the Gremlins worked in packs!

What a mess...

Thanks for the advice.... Looks like I'm about to have a Very Busy day......

Be sure to post what you find. The current draw with the vehicle off should be in the low milliamp range. Just enough to keep the set radio stations kept in memory and the PCM memory hot.

Well..... I think I found it! After looking in all the wrong places, we pulled the large metal 30A fuse, and saw that our symptom corrected itself. According to the Owners Manual, this fuse controls the towing lights, electric door locks, and power seats. After eliminating the tow lights, and drivers seat, I disconnected the passenger side seat, and Viola..... back to normal!


Thanks guys, for all the suggestions! It helped to give me the motivation to get out there, and chase it down!

:yelclap: Glad to hear you fixed it.