That's what they call it in the owners manual. Anyway, car has been sitting about 3 months due to some other issues and I went to start it, found it dead. Swapped in another known good battery and it jumped to life, went out the next day and battery was too low to start it. Started pulling fuses and find a 2-3 amp draw on this fuse, sometimes it seems to cycle about every second up and down. Any ideas of what to look for next? I'm going to get it started and charged, then pull this fuse to verify it is the culprit, but it is the only circuit with any significant draw. When I pull the fuse draw immediately drops to .03A area.

Thanks

 

Likely the trap door on the ignition switch is stuck open, making the car believe the key is still in the ignition and leaving some control modules powered on. Not sure of the exact best practice, but this trap door needs to be loose so it closes every time the key comes off the ignition. I would personally do silicone spray lubricant because it does not stain. Graphite is probably better for locks, but it can stain. Other theory is to clean the mechanism with a electronic contact cleaner so it becomes dry and free of contamination. In any case, this is easy to check and near free to fix.

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Will check that out, does that trap door also trigger the "you left your key in" warning bell? Got home today, popped that fuse in and she started right away, so I'm pretty confident that is my troublesome circuit.

 

Quick update, checked the flap and it appeared to be functioning correctly. I had that problem on our XJ6 and the giveaway was the column didn't retract when you pulled the key out. On the XK8 the column does retract so I think the flap is not the issue, but I have found something interesting that might be a clue. When you try to adjust the column the fore to aft control works fine but the up down has problems. When you go up it only moves slightly and you must repeatedly bump the switch to make it go up. Going down is the same with a twist, at about the halfway point it motors down continuously. Does the column have potentiometers or prox sensors that tell the control module the position? If so could I have a problem there that is causing the module to not go to sleep? When you manipulate the column control switch I do hear a click from the glove box area like a relay. I did buy some lock lube at the hardware store on the way home and sprayed the switch just to be sure.