2006 XJ VDP 63,000 miles, have not had this car long so I'm not sure if this is normal or not but you seem to have to hold the key in the start position a little longer than me and my wife are used to to get the car to start. Most of the time with fuel injection cars you just have to turn the key and the car starts right a way. When I try to start this car like I usually start my truck (just turn the key to start for a second the release) the car does not start and I have to do it again. If i hold the key in the start position a little longer it will start the first time. If this is not normal I would appreciate any suggestions to correct this issue. Other than that the engine runs very good and idles good.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

Welcome to the world of jag.

What you describe is normal. Our other car is german and a quick flick of the key fires her up - that car basically has the computer take over the ignition process once you get the key to the right point.

On our cars, it requires holding there for a second or two before the engine turns over. also I think it requires an inordinate amount of force to get the key to the start position...I've never driven a car that requires that much pressure...

 

Thanks for your post cajag I did notice it also takes a good bit of force to turn the key to the start position also. Glad to know it is normal though and I am not the only one who noticed it. Thanks again for your comment!

 

geberhardt & cajag,

From your descriptions, I'm not sure that our '04 XJR behaves the way your cars do. When I turn the key to the START position, the engine immediately begins to crank, and within 1 second or less it fires up. Are you saying that on your cars, when you turn the key to START there is a delay before the engine begins to crank? If so, I might suspect a problem with the ignition switch itself or a lazy starter relay, or perhaps something in the starter circuit was changed on the later X350s.

I would agree that the spring on the START position is fairly strong on our '04.

Cheers,

Don

 

The ignition switch uses a long cable as part of its security ignition design to make it more difficult to hot wire the car. When you turn the key the ignition is pulling the cable thus one needs to use more pressure with this Jaguar ignition switch than with many other cars.

 

On my car the engine turns over as soon as I hit the key but it just seems I have to hold the key in start position longer than other cars before it actually starts.

 

You're describing excessive crank time.... my car does this if it's parked outside in very cold weather. I have to turn the key on for 2-3 seconds in "run" before cranking and it seems to fire up fine. Never an issue in summer. Since priming helps, I believe the fuel check valve (maybe in the pump itself) is leaking back to the tank. Hopefully someone else can chime in and comment more. I vaguely remember reading that this is an issue on these cars.

 

geberhardt,

If you can post a short video with sound on to this forum we can quickly tell you if you have an issue or not.

 

@Donb @geber


The car starts cranking right away, there is no delay. It just seems to take anywhere from 1/2 second to 1 second to complete the start process/cycle and have the engine turn over. It seems like an excessively long time to start from my perspective - again I'm comparing it to a german which probably mandated by their government to "start as efficiently as possible" (quotes to be read in exaggerated german accent).


As far as the force required to start the car: When we first bought the car, Mrs Cajag called me down to the garage because she said the car was broken because she couldn't turn the key...so yes it does take quite a bit more force to start than other cars Mrs CAJag has driven.


One other nit to pick, while I'm at it. The trunk takes WAY too much force to lift...again the german car, which does NOT have an auto open/close feature, has the trunk lid open by itself after it is released.


I put up with all this fussiness in the jag, because it is so beautiful. It's not the only area in my life where I accept fussiness/minor nuisances for the sake of something pretty...but that's my own pathology.