https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...le-help-47889/

 

you know its not just a single cable, but like I posted earlier. Its multiple molded cables, from battery to alt, to starter, and yes If the cable is hot it has hi resistance. But you already said the negative was corroded so why not replace it too????

 

My light has been coming on and off for around 4 years now...... Nothing else is going wrong with the car that is electrical.....

 

Anyone know if a generic negative cable will work too? Or should I suck it up and shell out the $109.54 for it from Jaguar?

 

I can't remember off hand, but I think the negative just goes from the battery to the body of the car right under where the battery sits.. I know there is at least 1 wire that is grounded there.
Yes you can use a aftermerker wire as long as they fit your battery terminals...or use this as a oppurtunity to switch to a diferent battery class and get some normal wires.
The jag battery is $179 here ans ones similar size and same cca range from 90-150. Its such a oddball bettery.

 

Yeah, I know there's a ground wire that is just beneath the battery. That part is attached to the negative terminal much the same way the wire to the fuse box is attached to the positive terminal. But I'm not certain where exactly the main negative cable wonders off to. Jaguar wanted to charge me $224 including tax for both cables. (And that's not including the one from the alternator to the starter.) I'm gonna try some generic ones first. Headed to Advance after work to try and find some cables that'll work.

 

You can get an exact fit battery at Wal Mart--and Everstart Maxx for $90 with a 9 year warrenty. 3 year free replacement with the balance being pro rated. Same size, same CCA (or more as I recall) and fits perfect. It is made by Johnson controls. Don't waste your $$$ with a "Jag" battery--it is probably made by Johnson Contols or Exide too!

 

Xtype battery is a mtp 91, top post and nothing weird about that. You can buy a generic top post negative cable and bolt it to the top of the trans, and then get a short cable to go from that same bolt and to the body, you may have to get a longer bolt since youre putting 2 terminal ends under a bolt that previously only had 1, and you could always do that on the positive, but it has a power feed of decent size that powers the engine bay fuse box also that youde have to try and bolt in the new terminal post and then again fashion another cable either from the battery to starter or the alternator to starter and tie it off properly also.

 

I broke down and bought the Jaguar cables from Jagbits.com They gave a me a fairly good deal compared to the dealership. The Jag dealer wanted $224 for both the positive and negative cables. Jagbits charged me $160 even for both cables. I hope the positive includes the wire to the fuse box. If not, I'll definitely be stopping buy Advance as I am not buying anymore Jag cables. They said I should receive it in 2 business days. Then I got a guy that's gonna slap the positive on for me. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress. I am really grateful for all the replies/suggestions.

 

So the update is:

I received my jaguar pos and neg cables in the mail the other day from Jagbits (much cheaper than the dealership). Woke up this morning and thought I would take a crack at putting them on. I replaced the corroded negative, put one of those velvet-like terminal protectors on the neg terminal, and some silicone. No problem.

The positive one didn't seem to be too difficult until I slid the airfilter box out of the way and saw that there is barely enough room to fit a wrench much less my hand near the alternator on the passenger side of the engine. I'm gonna let my mechanic buddy slap that one on for me, if I decide to put it on at all (see next paragraph).

I was thinking before I took it to my mechanic to replace the pos cable, I would take care of the fuse box cable that runs from the pos terminal that didn't come with the pos cable. I went to AutoZone and grabbed a 4 gauge 32" cable. I bent it 90 degrees on both ends, popped the fuse box apart and fastened the cable inside of it. (Much like ghettomike did). I've only driven it around the corner since then, but so far the positive terminal hasn't got hot again, and the battery light hasn't come on yet. So I'm gonna see if the light comes on or the pos terminal gets hot before I put on the positive cable. If I don't need that damn thing I'm gonna send it back for a refund.

Thanks ghettomike for posting the info about your fuse box cable. I hope that turns out to be what the problem was. If so, once I return the positive cable, I would have spend under $100 to fix it!

I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks again for all the help.

 

So I've been driving it for a couple days now with no issues. The light has not come on again and the positive terminal still remains cool.

 

good to hear.

bad news for e tho.. my girl says that her batter light came on. but its not on anymore.
i have to check the other wires, probably going to end up adding more ground wires all over the car and changing the positive main wire.
ive seen too many of these jags that have had electrical fires.. better to have more grounds than not enough.

 

Sorry to hear. Is the terminal getting hot again? I'm not quite at a week yet, so I'm still waiting to see if it pops on again.

I haven't replaced my pos cable yet, even though I bought it b/c I'm waiting to see if the fuse box cable and negative cable replacement were enough to fix it.

If you do decide to replace the positive cable and want to go with a Jaguar cable, Jagbits gave me the best deal at $69. I found it cheaper on Parts.com, but I called them about 2 weeks ago, and they said that they Jaguar supplier isn't currently available. So Jagbits was the cheapest I found. The Jag dealership was over $100.

Plus I saw what a B**** it was gonna be to try and squeeze a wrench on the other side of the engine to take the pos cable off the alternator.

 

i havent had a chance to really look at it...there is a chance something is just a little loose, dont know if the wires are getting hot or not. and the few times ive had the car infront of me the light wasnt even on. she said it will come on for a few min then go away.
sometimes you have to wait for a issue to get worse to figure it out otherwise yer changing parts you dont need to

i changed that 1 wire out a few months ago and there hasnt been a hickup untill now.

 

Seems weird that the light would come on and go off w/o restarting the car. When mine would come on, it would come on intermittently, but once it popped on, it stayed on until I turned the car off. Then when I crunk it up again, it would be off (at least for a little while).

I would be interested in hearing what you find when you do think you have found the issue, since my car seems to be going down the same path your girl's is. Hopefully, for the both of us, it turns out to be something was only loose.

 

So I've been driving almost 2 weeks now. The battery light has not come back on. The cable seems to become hot a little more now, but that may also be due to outside temperatures since it is June now. I'll keep the forum updated. Good so far.

 

well apparently the bat light was on all day today, ive got other things i gotta get done hopefully i can get eh volt meter on it this week. i dont think its the alternator since its charging up, i dont think its the 4 month old battery.
im guessing another wire has gone bad.
if you have those other wires, i would just swap them out, get it all done at once.

 

fixed.
the main negative wire started to melt, so i changed it with a massive one, and also upgraded the other ground wire that comes off it.

i wanted to changed the + wire too but i looked at it and it runs to the started and alternator with only 3 connections, so im going to pull it out, do some measuring and see what i can come up with, i want a thicker wire on it...these jag wires are absolute junk!

 

Thanks for keeping me updated. I'm glad it was just another wire.

Yeah the negative was easy to replace, but the positive is another story and where it finally ends up on the alternator seems to be a really tight spot to fit any type of wrench. That's why I haven't replaced it yet. But my light has not come on again since changing the neg and fuse wire. These wires do seem kinda crappy.