Hello! I drive a 2005 3.0L jaguar x-type and have recently come across and issue which sounds like it will not be an expensive fix. About a week ago I was skating with friends and I went to go start my car afterwards. I put the the key in and everything was going as normal I turned the key to the on position and the fuel pump primed and everything seemed to be working and then I turned it to run and everything died... the gauges didn't work the interior lights didn't work, everything electrical had died. So I thought maybe the battery had come loose. I opened the hood and disconnected waited 30 seconds then reconnected it and then it started right up. But the problem didn't go away and has become progressively worse. Now every time I go to start it it dies and I have to mess around with the battery and the other day she just died in the middle of the road a little bit dangerous when you can't use your hazards and all your lights are off. So if anyone has had a similar experience I'd love to hear about it. From the sounds of things I believe it may be a security issue or some other strange electrical problem and I will probably be taking it in soon so if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it.

 

Sounds like it might be a bad ignition switch. Try hooking up a continuity tester between the switch and a light socket and try jiggling the key in the switch or moving the key back and forth. If the voltage goes back and forth between 0 & 12 you'll know for sure.

 

If everything goes back to normal after you messing around with the battery cables then I’d have to assume you have a loose or bad battery cable and the car is loosing its connection to power when running and it’s killing everything. I’ve not had the problem but if read allot here that the cable that goes from the positive post to the underside of the fuse box is bad for corrosion where it connects to the fuse box. Maybe give that a check

 

kolbe, what you are describing sounds like a bad battery cable. This is a known issue with failure on the X-Type. I would say to replace both cables (generic ones of the correct length from a local auto parts store work just fine). If money is a bit tight, a way for you to confirm which cable is bad is to simply have one person inside the car attempting to start it as a second person cups their hands OVER!!!!! (DO NOT TOUCH!!!!!) the battery terminals. After holding the key in the START position for say 5 seconds, one (if not both) of the battery terminals should start to get warm. That is your problem cable. These cables tend to fail right near the battery. Notice I am very adamant about not touching the cables. The cable can get very hot, very quickly. Replacing a cable is a pretty straight forward thing.

 

Thanks for the advice Thermo! I'll try to diagnose the battery cable probably tomorrow.. the weather here in Canada is very cold this time of the year so hopefully it'll warm up enough for me to try diagnose her without freezing my hands off.. It would definitely save me a lot of money if it was just the battery cable.

 

Update for those who were curious and for those in the future using this as a reference. The negative battery cable that runs from the battery to the chassis was beginning to fail and would cut in and out killing the car when it lost connection. I tested it using one of those automotive light circuit testers and bought a generic battery cable for $15.00 at an auto parts store put it in the car and it started right up. Did this outside in -20 Celsius and it was not fun but it works and saved me quite a bit of money.

 

kolbe, good to hear that things are all good now. May even notice the car running a little better because of a more stable voltage. Stick around. Lots of good info here to keep at the fingertips for other common issues.