HI Pete

i just ordered mine from Nalley Jaguar in GA.
it cost $45 plus shipping.

thanks for everything...

(ps: might even have to PM about this installation probably)

 

I received the switch and began my testing and was unsuccessful in duplicating anything that would have caused a voltage drain. I tested it 4 times (when I got it) in all positions; I then put it in the freezer and tested it 4 times the same way and found nothing wrong. I elected to take it apart and examine each part to see what was going on and could only find two possible problems. One was the lubricant used on the contacts showed contamination and the other (the one I think is the problem in combination with the grease) is the stay for each position is a little worn. I think the switch tolerances were so close that at times when you think you have the switch in the off position it is not causing a low level tracking resulting in the voltage drain. I re-examined the grease and it was dry and dirty. I will try to post a few photos and an illustration on my findings.

Who said when you retire you have more time to do things!

Peter,

I had no idea how much shipping was from Canada. I will reconsider the next time I ask for a part to play around with. Thank You for sending it to me and Thank You for trying to help others.

 

Read through this thread, similar symptoms - stays charged for a couple of days then dies. Guess the first thing to do is change the electrical portion of the ignition switch, has this worked for you guys or did you go for a full diagnosis in the end

Any help greatly appreciated

Gareth

 

I changed it and went a month sitting in the garage without draining, however radio was disconnected (aftermarket).
When I connnected it last week, it then again drained the battery in a few days.
I may pull the radio out and bench test it, but the problem had occurred with the factory radio in back when I got the car.
I am wondering if the factory phone could be causing this?
I have a DC ammeter to clip on it, but have to put a smaller wire in place from the battery for this testing.
slowly progressing here, no clear cause on this yet.

 

I know I'm months late, but, this is now a problem w/ my 2000 S type.

pdr, in your opinion was it the ignition switch or the radio?

Gus and Brutal, I removed the 20A fuse #22 in the trunk while charging the battery this time. Since I couldn't get to the ignition wiring harness (without a lot fuss) would removing this fuse give me an accurate way to characterize the current draw with a new ignition switch installed?

cheers,

 

Removing the fuse didn't prevent the battery from draining. I hope that isn't an indicator that replacing the ignition switch won't work either. I ordered an ignition switch (at 3 times the price because I'm in Australia, the rip-off capital of the world) that will be here in a couple of days.

Thoughts? Suggestions (yes, I've been pulling the positive terminal to at least keep my battery charged - in between full charges w/ my CTEK).
cheers

 

Just a thought but could one of the Diodes inside the Alternator could be shorted, causing the drain on the Battery, the Alternator would output 12 Volts, and pass the Voltage Output Test, however it could not give full Current, and would fail the Current Load Test, I suppose you could put an ammeter on the battery output and disconnect the alternator and see if that stops the drain?

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but, we tried that. The car has been at an Auto Electric shop 1 day a week for the last 5 weeks as they observe and watch the drain become more severe. They did all the basic checks - Alternator, V Reg, batt load tests, and pulled all the fuses individually but, that causes other sleep/wake problems.

It will take me another week to get the ignition switch in, that's why I posted the question about pulling the fuse - that's easier than taking off the pos term of the batt (each time i do this I have to reset everything in my car).
cheers

 

2002 S-Type 4.0
Back on this thread again. I changed my battery about 8 months ago after the other battery died. The guy at Batteries Plus told me at that time that there may be a short/battery drain and when he plugged his AMP tester it was reading about 4 amps being drained after he disconnected the negative lead to the battery then connected it the AMP reader. I had brought my car in to my mechanic to see if he could find anything, and he said everything was fine. I'm not too sure he gave it a proper analysis as every once in a while my battery would completely drain. I do know that sometimes when I take the key out of the ignition the radio will still stay on, so I've been careful to make sure that I tap on the ignition switch or put the key back in to shut things down properly. After my Thanksgiving trip when I came back home (3 days away) I went to start the car and it again was dead. I gave it a short 20 minute charge and drove it to my friends house a few miles away. And again, the next morning it was dead. Luckily, I had the charger in my car and jumped it. Last night it was dead again, so I jumped it again and drove about 10 miles back and forth from the restaurant for dinner. This morning it started but of course it was almost dead. I brought the car to Batteries Plus and he said the battery was dead with only 14 amps and this was after about 7 miles of highway driving. This time he again did the amp test and found it was draining 3.7 amps.
I told him that my mechanic had checked it before and I think I read that the car actually shuts everything down after 30 minutes. I think that was what my mechanic said. The battery guy said that he's never known a car to stay on after the battery is disconnected for more than 30 seconds. Any opinions? I'm going to my new mechanic (Jaguar/Land Rover) specialist who seems to be pretty good. My old one was mechanically good but he didn't have the tools for things like reflashing the speed sensor. He seemed to work primarily on Jags older than 2000. Thoughts?
Before I owned the car 2 years ago, there was a Sirius Sat. Radio wiring harness attached, so I'm wondering if that could be an issue. Too bad I don't know the original owner so I could ask him about battery issues as I bought it from a dealer.

 

See if this testing procedure helps.

Link http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Auto...%20Testing.pdf

 

I'd fix the fault you know about with the ign switch.

You have to wait up to 45mins for it to shut down so it's pointless reading amps till then. But you have a known fault which will cause a drain so just fix it. Your mechanic sounds hopelessly out of day with car electronics.

 

I too have had problems with battery drain. On my third battery since car was new. After second battery, I just put a trickle charger on car when I know I wasn't going to drive it for a while. At one time, I noticed the radio would't turn off when I removed the key. I injected a little powdered graphite into the key switch which seemed to work. Maybe I should have used a little dielectric grease???? Electricity is definitely
not my forte.

 

My 2004 STR appears to be having this problem as well. If I don't drive the car for 2-3 days, it wont start. I had the battery checked today, and they said it is in good condition. I tend to believe the "battery drain" is my problem. I wonder why so many of our cars exhibit the same problem....

 

Gus, When you remover the key, I don't get any parking brake light illuminated. I tried this with both the parking brake on and off. I do however get the automatic seat move back and steering column to move upwards and out of the way.
Lights go out on the radio and the cigarette lighter USB adapter charger I have plugged into to it so I know no power is going to the charger. Typically if the flappy thing is stuck the cigarette lighter USB phone charger lights.
I did do a battery drain check, the amperage went down from 4 amps to about 2 amps after 45 minutes or so. I then pulled the radio fuse (number 18) in the passenger fuse box and it went down another 1.3 AMPs. I don't know if the ignition switch is somehow connected to this fuse as well. I changed out my radio a couple of weeks ago to another spare one, though I still will get the AM radio (but no lights) to go on after reconnecting the ground on my quick release disconnect feature I put on the battery to prevent draining. Any ideas? Is it the switch not allowing the car to go to sleep? The radio does not play when I tested the drain, but there was draining from fuse 17 which does control the radio. I have replaced the amp in the trunk before thinking that may have been the issue, but it still had power drain. Any suggestions anyone?

 

After 45mins, it should be in the region of 50mA (0.05A), give or take a bit.

 

I kept the fuse out of slot 18. (Radio) and it seems like I've identified at least its the fuse for the radio. My question now is what is the next step? Do these Radios's go bad or have a short in them somewhere so that it causes the relay to say open? No idea of what to do next. I think I was around. .06 Amps with the fuse removed. The previous owner had someone install Sirus radio, however I removed all of the wires he had installed a while ago, including the FM Direct Modulator Adaptern(to the antenna port on the back of the radio, power to a wire, which I hope was switched (Pink/yellow), and a ground wire. Does anyone know if the front tweeter amp is on the same fuse (18)? What else could be wrong?

 

I have the same drain issue with my 03 STR ..
At any rate , I use a ctek charger if its going to be idle for a while , but I keep one of these in the boot , which has saved my bacon a good few times
(I use a heavy duty one , with 12-24 V and twin batteries..)

 

Yes Yes we did it. A week ago, a friend , over a glass of twelve-cylinder Scotch, told the story of his own S type 3.0 2000. About flashing lights and battery short live. What have I done immediately? Yes, I opened the forum. Found TSB S414- 02. Yesterday, we all repaired. Voltmeter to measure the voltage and also under load. The voltage dropped to zero. We have installed a bypass wire. Current measured, and after 30 minutes it dropped to 30 mA. Forum Thank you! !!

 

Where did you install a bypass wire? What was causing the drain and where was the short?

 

See the TSB.