This just happened a few times within a 2-3 minute window yesterday while I was parking and has not recurred over the 90+ minutes of driving since.

While driving very slow to park with the steering fully-utilizing the power assist, there was a fairly-loud squeal from the engine-bay, presumably the alternator but not definite, and an error on the dash saying "Battery not charging" and a total loss of power-assist to the steering, it lasted 2-3 seconds then fixed itself, then happened twice more within the next 2-minutes, then totally went away and has yet to happen again.

I know that my ground-strap is not making a solid connection from battery to body (its on my to-do list...) which can certainly trigger the "battery not charging" message, but if that were the cause why would there be the engine squeal?

Just a long-shot guess, could the power-steering pump be binding-up and then causing excessive drag on the belt that drives the alternator?

 

Squeal is definitely belt slip - the symptoms you describe are exactly what happens if you run the engine with the accessory belt off (or in my case, the crank pulley spins off )

Since you lost power to everything along the acc belt, the squeal was probably the crank pulley spinning inside the stationary belt. It could be that your pump or some pulley seized up, that your belt is very worn, tensioner isn't providing enough tension, or worst case the rubber in your crank pulley is going bad and the outer pulley is spinning around the center part. The belt's easy to take off, you can spin all the pulleys, including the idlers, and see if anything has excess play or roughness.

You can also test it by putting a lot of load on the acc belt, with engine idling, by turning all your accessories and lights on (high electrical load), turn on AC, and slowly turning the wheel so the PAS is constantly pushing, then paying attention for anything out of place.

 

+1 on what Nilanium stated, something worn in the belt area.

 

Sounds like the power steering pump is causing enough drag to stop the belt -- check the tensioner. Don't spray anything on the belt.

 

Thanks all - drove another hour today without any issue, and now I just swapped the ground strap with a new 4-gauge one with copper cable (appears much more substantial and lower-resistance than the OEM was), ran the "nilanium-test" with A/C compressor on, all-4 seat heaters and cycling steering wheel back and forth (while standing still in park) and there was no sign of any headlights lights dimming or other issue - hopefully this was just a gremlin.

 

did you grab the belt? I would check the force of the tensioner.

I don't think this is electrical -- you don't get a slipping belt with a bad connection.

Even a wet belt should not slip -- something else is up and it will leave you on the side of the road when it goes.

 

Where is the belt in the engine bay? Photos? (I'm not a mechanic...)

 

front of the engine bay where the hood lifts up.

 

"Where is the belt in the engine bay" is a clear signal to take the car to a good independent or a dealer. It sounds like your belt tensioner or the bearings in the alternator or power steering unit are failing. In your driver's handbook there is an illustration on how to check your accessory belt. reread # 2.

 

That's harsh, lol, I never messed with the belts on this car and never paid attention if this engine uses several (thus the question) or a single serpentine belt...

 

Sorry: didn't mean to be harsh: Harsh would have been, "open the ^^^^ing hood and look!"

But on the bright side, the handbook has some good advice and this forum is here to help.

What's interesting is that about every 14.5 months the same questions resurface . . .

 

Okay, fair point - I popped the hood and clearly it is a single belt serpentine system.

There are fine cracks throughout the rubber, like it is beginning to dry-rot, is that normal with age or is that a sign that it needs replacing?

The problem never recurred and the belt tension seems fine as far as I can tell, as seen in this video - I was applying a healthy amount of finger-pressure to make the belt flex (was not being gentle at all), that amount of flex is about normal, right?

 

That amount of tension looks normal. Fine cracks throughout are a good sign that it's time for a new belt. Worst case, you spend $30 on peace of mind that your belt won't come apart on the highway in the near future. The old rubber can cause it to slip and squeal too. If you put a new belt in, be sure to clean out all your pulleys with brakleen and a steel wire brush. Mine had a bit of contamination which caused my new belt to start squealing after a hundred miles or so, doing that and putting a spare new belt on seemed to fix it.

A seizing pulley could still cause the belt to slip even if the tension is good. It's hard to know the condition of anything else until the belt is taken off and pulleys are spun by hand. Everything should spin very smoothly with no rumbling, grinding, or play. The only exception is the crank pulley, if that has play or spins in your hand then you've got bigger problems. The belt routing is a bit tricky to do, I've started to keep a printout of the routing diagram in my glove box since I seem to take the belt off all the time, yet still suddenly forget how it's run at random times.

 

The Jaguar limit for small cracks in the FEAD belt is '21 cracks-per-inch'.
We were instructed to only replace (warranty) a belt that had MORE than '21 cracks-per-inch'. Any less and the warranty repair payment would be denied.

Use your own judgement on your car.

bob

 

I'd recommend a continental contitech drive belt. If yours has excessive cracks, I'd replace it.

 

more than 21 cracks per inch is nearly one every millimeter - not there yet, lol, that sounds bad...

Ordering a new belt, for $25 + installation it looks like cheap insurance. Getting the Conteintental Elite Poly-V belt

 

I think you need to count ALL the cracks in ALL the ribs to get a total. Not just along one rib.

bob

 

Bob, what kind of labor time did Jaguar pay you to remove and count each and every crack in the belt just to see if it's under warranty?

 

pay attention to #13: once you have a new belt and have removed the old by removing the tension on the tensioner (15mm and a long wrench if memory serves), spin those pulleys. If the belt tensioner breaks, very common on old cars with old rusted bolts, you may have to replace the tensioner as well. Check the alternator and power steering and the idler for free play.

Everyone has their own way of getting the new belt on, I like pulling it over the water pump pulley last. Key is to keep some belt tension over each of the other pulleys and the idler as you lever the tensioner with one hand and slip the belt over the water pump with the other. Bacitracin heals the scratches on your hands.

Or, as I noted early on, a good independent or dealer!! Might want to look to renewing the water pump and thermostat, tower, crossover pipe and hoses since you are going to scratch the back of your hands, anyhow. And these seem to fail almost within weeks of a new belt. As the old story goes, you are at the beginning of a great adventure!

 

I don't remember there being a warranty time to check FEAD belt but we were warned to stop indiscriminately replacing belts as they were about $70 each.

bob