It is page #22 on the Jaguar 2001 electrical oneline that can be found on my page.

 

I wanted to provide the final chapter on my intermittant fuel problem. I had thought that it was a relay problem. Now I know that getting any results by messing with the relays was purely a coincidence. We discovered that if we never let the gas level go below 1/2 tank, the fuel pump would work fine. We did that for a good 6 months and it worked. Recently I started the car and it "shuddered" a bit and ran rough, but then after about 30 seconds, it smoothed out. I drove it and when I got to my destination, the fuel pump died. No hope. I left it for hours and kept going back and it would not even sputter. (In the past, when it did "die" you could come back and it would fire back up after sitting - apparently the temperature changes in the fuel pump allowed it to come back to life).

So, if you are having intermittant fuel pump problems (where it only dies after stopping - we never had any problems when driving), you can keeping the tank closer to full until you get it repaired, that seemed to help). However, while this problem existed for almost a year, and while we were able to minimize it with the fuel level, the inevitable is that your fuel pump is probably dying. A local mom and pop mechanic outfit that has a good reputation took the job on and they towed the car and fixed it for $566 total. The car seems to take off faster when you floor it, so I suspect that the old fuel pump may not have been putting out full capacity.

So I should have "bit the bullet" and done the fuel pump a long time ago, but I never had such a weird experience with a fuel pump before as I had with this one......and I was not wanting to spend a lot of money on something if it really wasn't the problem.

I hope this post helps anyone who is having the sudden "no start/no fuel" condition. Forums such as these are invaluable.

 

we appreciate the followup, very much. At least it wasn't a slap-in-the-face surprise when it finally died. You don't sound bitter or even angry, just 'accepted' the fact. That's a sign of a responsible jaguar owner, especially after the longer diagnosis time you undertook.

Well, I bet you're feeling better, and no longer have to worry about it shutting down or not starting...pending you don't leave the overhead lights on

 

Jim....thanks so much for coming back time and again and posting your results and the fix. Working through all your probs and posting about them will no doubt help other members in future
Too often we see these posts with assists from members on possible fixes etc and then BAM.....nothing.

Personally, my interest was peaked by the mention of the crank position sensor as a possibility. All of your symptoms are the same as on my sons 11 yr old Renault Clio....As with hundreds / thousands of others this sensor seems to be the culprit!
Kudos to you my friend

 

Jim:
While I appreciate your candid report of the various stages of this diagnosis, I want to strongly suggest "what you should have done" was NOT change the fuel pump , but rather diagnoses the problem with a fuel pressure test guage. The exact same symproms can occur because of different stimulus, and what is the rrot cause in one case may or may not be in another. Anyway, thanks for the reports!

 

Matt and Jim I echo your comments and encourage others to do the same. As for Jim, Kudos to you! Ross you are so correct the gathering of all the information up front is imperative. Jim do not see this as a bad thing it is a tool to help others. I am glad to see that you are back on the road again.

 

Thank you all for the kind comments.....I also have 4 all terrain vehicles and I find the ATV forum to which I belong to be invaluable as well.

To answer the post from Ross about checking the fuel pressure.....I did check the fuel pressure and I had no fuel pressure. Having no fuel pressure does not mean your fuel pump is dead - it could be that no power is getting to the fuel pump circuit. I thought it might be one of the relays because the fuel pump never failed during use - only after stopping and trying to restart, which is when relays usually fail (click off with shutting the car off and then don't reconnect when powered up).

When we discovered that the car would not have a problem by keeping the tank 1/2 full, we pretty much knew it was the fuel pump....but that little game was easy to play and worked for 6 months until it finally died. (My daughter side swiped the Jag by accident in the driveway and my brother and I spent $1300 on supplies and paint to fix and repaint the sides of both vehicles - my brother is a body man). I was trying to not spend more money on repairs. I was planning to replace the fuel pump during my holiday vacation, but it died just a bit too early before my vacation time started.

So, when the car finally did die where it wouldn't start even after sitting overnight, we knew the fuel pump was finally dead. I WAS putting off the inevitable, but I was able to get the car fixed by a shop for a reasonable price.

 

Jim:
You are absolutely right about that! I midsss where you said you had found no pressure. And your method of going after the simple stuff first is absolutely valid. But, I would then say you should have put a meter (voltage and clamp on ammeter) on the pump leads -while you had no pressure - to analyze what was going on for a more accurate analysis I cringe when people on the forum start changing lambdas, coils, fuel pumps, throttle bodies and so on because someone else had a similiar symptom and reported their particular root cause. When parts are so expensive as on a Jag, dianosis instead of parts changing is better.
Anyway, I am glad you have it sorted and can look forward to more joy from your Jag-u wah.