Here's a close up of the 6v solenoid that was on my 53 before I converted it to 12v.

My guess is a wire with deteriorated insulation that is not a dead short but enough leakage to slowly drain the battery. A corroded or burned contact could also be the cause.

Well after checking and re-checking, I think I found the problem. On the solenoid, I disconnected all of the wiring and noticed the wire that is all by itself was very loose. I cleaned all of the dirt and grease from the wiring and connectors. I cleaned the studs and put the wires back on and lo and behold no more 300ma draw on the battery. Afterward, I went around to every electrical connection under the hood and disconnected,cleaned and made sure all connections are clean and tight. Thank you all for the suggestions, they are all greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Dave

I haven't had my 54 very long and was surprised that I could not find a fuse box. If there are any, I would start there. My car is a Belair post and it doesn't seem to have many options except for power brakes and steering. Haven't gotten it running yet, had been trying to get my 55 ready for the Tri-five Nationals at Bowling Green...without success by the way. I was under the dash of my 41 and was surprised to find about 5 glass fuses, so why none on the 54? Would certainly make this troubleshooting exercise a lot easier.

Incidentally, the 53/54 Chevy Shop Manual is available on eBay and it has a good number of wiring diagrams that may help.

@jerry-berry Back in the day when these cars were new, they came from the factory hard wired with no accessories installed. The dealers would install the accessories, so if you wanted a radio and a heater let's say, the dealer would install a junction block and the wiring from the radio, the blower motor would be connected to the junction block. My 53 Bel Air just has a radio and a heater and both of those accessories are plugged into the jucntion block with a fuse holder inline at the connection to the block. The reason my vehicle was hard to troubleshoot is I overlooked checking every connection under the hood. Dirty, loose connections was the cause of the current draw.

@david-richards So glad you found the problem. Electrical gremlins can be the worst.

@tiny Indeed, on to the next challenge!!