So I'll start from the beginning, Wednesday just gone I decided to do a service on the jag so got everything involved....oil, filters and glow plugs.

So I started by replacing the air filter which went nice and according to plan, replaced the fuel filter next but being new to diesels I didn't prime the fuel filter so had to get a bod out to suck the fuel through and get her started, all went well till he spilt a small amount of diesel down on to the alternator, it wasnt much maybe a teaspoon amount at most went down that way but anyway we got it started and running well, so I decided that I'd had enough of giving it a service and it was looking like rain so I stopped and the wife wanted to do some shopping so we went shopping and the battery light came on about a minute after we left home, and it would proceed to come on around a minute or so after starting the engine.

Now if been in touch with the guy who came out and he has said that a small amount of diesel wouldnt do any damage to the alternator and I'm in mind to agree with him but I'm unsure why the battery light has all of a sudden lit up and now the car is dead.

HELP PLEASE

 

So an update is that left the jag overnight and its not the battery as when I went to it in the morning it had recovered itself to full charge overnight so am I right in thinking it's an alternator problem?

 

I agree it's unlikely you damaged the alternator with a bit of diesel and the X-type alternator generally doesn't go bad. Perhaps the diesel caused a temporary problem with the alternator though, or your work on the car caused a cable in the charging system to get a bit loose. The X-Type is also know to have false alternator light illumination due to the battery cables going bad. Your best bet is to get a multimeter or something to read the actual voltage. You can get an multimeter very inexpensively, or I now also have a USB charger that also displays battery voltage that I keep in the cigar lighter after having some issues. Knowing what the actual battery voltage is when the car is running, and especially when the battery light is on, will go a long way to help diagnose any issue.

 

Thanks for the reply, I'm pretty sure it's the alternator now as when I had it running on Sunday I was looking around the bay for possible problems and there was smoke escaping from the rear pipe of the alternator so from that I'm deducing that the electrics pack has gone to the magic and wizardry gods in the sky so I have ordered a replacement