So I have the 1975 Series II XJ6, when I first got it, the battery would only stay charged for about 2 days. I never measured the current draw, but I found all kinds of electrical issues. For example, some body installed an audio amplified, and it was never turned off. It was wired directly to the battery and just always stayed on. But besides that, there were other problems. Sticking relays and warn out wires leaching current to ground to name a few. Been working on this for about 6 months now, and I'm beginning to put it back together. So now at this point, I've been putting the electrical system back together, and measuring the current draw. It's almost 100% and I have a 5 mA current when the ignition is off. Does anyone know if this is good/bad? Does anyone know what the actual should be? Thank you in advance for any assistance.

 

Some things in the car are always on, (i.e are supplied with volts), even when the car is shut down and locked, like the lights, horn, and clock. Feeds for these are via a particular main wiring colour, and those via ignition switch via another main colour. The individual wires on each have another tracer colour. Then, assuming you have the wiring diagram, cut off each component fed from the battery, and note whether the current drain is present or not. One favourite used to be the trunk light, but this will draw more than 5 mA so is unlikely the cause in your case.

 

check all the door light switches, they are a common draw if open. The radio if incorrectly wired, and any alarm system. Definitely the trunk light switch could be open.

 

5mA draw? Shoot, it doesn't get any better than that. The standard for older cars with minimal electronics is 25mA so you're in good shape


Cheers
DD

 

Would you all considering getting rid of the seat belt alarm in that case? When I tested it, that was a major spike when it was plugged in versus when it wasn't. Do you all have that plugged in, or did you remove it? I've been curious about this for a while...

 

It's up to you.

I find the buzzer annoying so I disable on any car where it's easy to disable.

Cheers
DD

 

it's a safety reminder, it's illegal to disconnect the reminder. It's a Federally Mandated accessory just like the catalytic converters. That's why I disconnected it.

 

5ma constant draw from a 55AH battery would drain it................in over a year!
25ma in 91days.
What do you mean by 'spike'?. if just when connected and disconnected then it's not really a problem. If permanently high, although I can't really see why it should be unless it's sounding, replace it with a unit using modern components if you need to comply with regs.