1993 XJ Sport 4X4 4.0L with nearly 250k mi. developed an electrical short that until recently, only caused me problems when it rained. Now, it seems that the short has developed into a consistent condition. Does any one have any ideas as to where I may want to start looking? I know this could take me just about anywhere in the vehicle, but maybe there are some better possiblities you can share with me. Any advise would be welcomed.

Thanks

 

You need to give more info than that. What does it affect? What happens when it does?

 

It drains the battery, that's all. Usually a slow drain, dead in a week.

 

They sell short detectors in the auto parts houses. I have read about them but never used one. Here is an article on short detectors and finding a short. Hope it helps.

Here

 

Thanks for the lead, I'll give it a shot.

 

if this problem remains, auto parts places have a battery disconnect switch that attaches to battery posts,when done drivin you pop the hood and twist the little **** to off and your battery is isolated.... or with the right guage of wire you can run a toggle to your dash that interupts the battery...just brainstorming, these could be a last resort...

 

If you have a conventional test light......remove the negative battery ground cable....put the test light clamp on the battery and place the test light pin on the negative battery clamp(while it is still removed from the battery)..
Now start removing one fuse at a time from the fuse panel....if the light goes out that's the circuit you search over, however if the light remains the same , put the fuse back and move on to the next one....etc...etc until you find the circuit in question.

 

I spent the better paert of an afternoon tracing a small draw in my grand cherokee i had, it ended up being the rear tail gate switch, fuse after fuse watching for the milivolts to change, i unplugged the switch and it was fine after that,
Theres lots of things that can be shorted but that was my own experience with a jeep short, im in the middle of another one now lol