My first road test

XJ40
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20170806_105736
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Well after new fuel pump and filter, drained the old fuel, new rear suspension, new tires it was time for a ride. Not too bad since the car has been sitting for 5 years! I have a front side rattle under easy acceleration not there when I punch it , now for all the electric gremlins, first is the battery drain showing .1 amp when off? 2 days and she’s dead. Oh yes I forgot it’s a new battery.

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That should read road test!

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David,

Onwards and upwards! :slight_smile:

With everything switched off, doors closed etc., after waiting a few minutes for everything to shut down, the ‘dark current’ drain should be no more than 30 - 40 milliamps.

Usual procedure - with the ammeter in series between the negative battery terminal and the negative battery lead, pull/replace each fuse in turn in the left and right ‘A’ post fuse boxes until you see the residual current drop on the meter to identify the circuit(s) causing the excessive current drain.

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Hi, Your car is the same colour as mine except mine has matt black side window surrounds rather than the chrome. I think the chrome looks much better but unfortunately the first owner didn’t and decided to pay an extra £800 for the matt black option.

It’s good to read you are making progress and now have a driveable car, and it looks like a nice one too !

The rattle might be coming from the chrome shield that covers the exhaust manifold, or the exhaust itself, check to see if any of the outer casings on the system have detached and become loose.

The best way to isolate the cause of the battery drain would be to read all the posts on the forum about it first.

Then armed with a list of prime suspects you can pull the relevant fuses for each circuit one at a time while checking the reading at your battery with a meter.

The alarm system on my car is the biggest current draw whenever the car is left unused, I find that around two weeks is the longest period I can leave the car standing with the alarm armed before the battery will need a charge.

Regarding the electrical gremlins, some things may appear to resolve themselves as you continue to use the car, but others could also show up. XJ40s seem to suffer more than most cars from long periods of inactivity and are much more reliable when used as often as possible. Most times it’s nothing more than a poor solder joint or bad connection rather than an expensive replacement part,
I think, thanks to Bryan’s help on here, the only electrical parts I’ve ever had to replace in 14 years have been door lock solonoids a fuel pump and an alternator.
Good luck.

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That’s a lovely looking car.