Sods Law (UK), Murphys Law (US)... Well I had them both today.

I went to a nice clean, comfy, smart looking jaguar having made a comment earlier about having charged batteries on a previous car, I mentioned earlier about learning the correct sequence for connecting a new battery.

And then this....

I climb into the cockpit, insert the key, turn and all the lights come on and then click off. uh, oh!!

Dead battery? starter motor? I can hear clicks and whirs around the cabin. I turn off the AC, radio, ext lights wipers, unplug torch charger from Cig socket and turn again.

Nichts, nada, nought, nothing.

All the lights, sounds and whirs go, but the final turn gets me no crank of starter motor or anything. I checked every fuse in the engine bay and boot. all good. I will do the interior fuses later.

I will include a short video showing the situation (linked once uploaded to Youtube). I will be going to the JTIS trouble shooter but have to go get some work errands done quite urgently, so can't do that for a while.
The battery is on a trickle charger (from my bike!) for the next couple of hours at least. I will then come back and try turning her over again.

So any idea's?

 

Check the connection, positive cable to starter.
Under the passenger side. Easy to get to once you remove the under tray. I had that happen to me...

Tom

 

Fortunately I have no undertray, So will go check this out, if I can slide underneath the car.

Here's hoping!!.

(Some time passes!!!) Well, I jacked up the front passenger wheel and found it hard to physically get under the car, so i banged the starter with a hammer and pulled off the rubber gaiter covering the wire connections. I rattled them, tugged them and surmised they were really tightly attached.

But ever the optimist, I replaced the key in the dash and turned. All the lights came on, all the clicking and whirring, and then it started up like it has done every other day.

A couple of things I have learnt from this very simple situation.

1. I will keep the battery on charge over the cold months as I may have just added enough juice to kick start the motor.
2. The car jack is not adequate to use to do any under vehicle work. Neither are ramps if you can't drive the car onto them.
3. I need to get a proper big jack and some jack stands.
4. I really need to get an undertray and front panel valance to stop all the water being thrown up under the bottom of the car and affecting wires, connectors and other non water resistant items.
5. Buy a decent set of jump leads, if only to carry around in the winter months.
6. If all else fails, Bang it with a hammer!!

 

Yes, It is common for starters to seize up if they are old, it's cold, and the car has not been driven for awhile. Tapping on the starter while cranking will usually help free a seized starter. But it is a sign that you may need a replacement in the future, if not now to avoid further inconvenience.

 

I suggest you get the battery tested-not with the electronic check but the

voltage drop with a load across the terminals.

 

This is on my massive list of things to do on the car. I wonder if autozone do this for free, may have to go check.

But for the interim period, I am keeping it on trickle charge 24/7.

 

Yes, Autozone will load test a battery for free.

 

Re. 2 & 3 - INDEEDY - never go under a car when it's on any kind of JACK. Sturdy axle stands are essential. And the scissor-jack that comes with the X350 has a bit of a reputation for collapsing.

A decade or two ago a guy at the place where I then worked was killed working beneath his car which was only on a jack.

 

my immediate question: how old is the battery?

 

This is perhaps too ****, but I try to change batteries when the pro-rated guarantee trickles to zero. Sometimes feels extravagant; but it beats having battery related issues.

 

Well, the same thing happened again. No crank and all the electrics flashing on and off..

This time I just tried charging the battery and it started straight away. So a new battery is on the cards. Luckily not the Starter Motor.

I am going to purchase a Duralast Gold from Autozone for $144. It has (900 Cold Ceank) 1000 Amp crank, 5 year warranty and 150 reserve minutes?

The battery currently fitted to the Vehicle looks like the Jaguar OEM one. So this could be 9 years old, I will verify this once the battery is out.

A link to the battery is here: Duralast Gold/Battery (H8-DLG) | 2004 Jaguar XJ8 8 Cylinders 4.2L SFI DOHC | AutoZone.com

 

There may be a date code on one of the battery terminals eg.

05
03

is May 2003

 

I went to Autozone and had a load test done and it showed 12.7V and 31% Capacity so I bought a new one. Here are pictures of the old one, so if anyone can see the date of manufacture from the info contained, please pipe up.

Total cost $160 (with old battery rebate of $15).

The vehicle started first time and I carried out the new battery start up procedure mentioned in a previous thread about battery charging. Everything works perfectly now.

 

If it's a VARTA (Jag OEM) it's stamped into the top of one of the terminal posts ... which are underneath the yellow flaps.

 

Ha, typical. I put the new covers on the old battery for transportation. Well we shall never know the year of manufacture then.

 

well I expect to be making a battery purchase soon as well. My battery on my 2004 XJR appears exactly as the photo above, but an opaque cover on the positive terminal on none on the negative terminal. I looked for a date stamp on the terminals but could not find one any other clues? My car appears to run just fine, but if the battery is years old its overdue to fail, and winter is coming! good part is the car is driven regularly, but less in the winter. Most American car batteries would be gone after 5 years.