Hey guys thanks in advance for the help. Im a car guy but this has me stumped. 2007 jaguar s-type with 65k miles. I was driving down the highway and the car died and had to get it towed home. Side note the battery came loose and the key dosnt fit the trunk so I ended jimmying the back seat enough to have a neighbor kid pull the release, what a headache this has been. For the real problem now i've included a video, I cant see anything obvious, and dont have access to a scanner to see if I can pull a code. Any input would be great. thanks

 

Hi, if you buy yourself an elm 327 from Amazon you will be able to read the codes etc. Just guessing but I suspect that it may have something to do with the fuel supply but you need to check the fuel pressure and the fuel trims you can do this with an Elm and they only cost a few dollars. I personally use one that I can connect to a computer/laptop instead of one that uses a smart phone.

 

I bought a code reader, no codes. I had it towed to a mechanic and he thought it was the key antenna or something of the sort and the ecu was shutting off the car and recommended I take it to a *******. I towed it to the *********** where they said its possibly the coil packs and plug wires which sounds ludacris to me. It starts and runs then dies, it dosnt run ruff or anything of the sort. They want $1600 to change the coils and plugs and claim that it may fix it. Obviously if I go that route ill take it to an indy mechanic. Nobody has ANY IDEA anywhere what could be wrong with this thing? Any help would really be appreciated.

 

They checked fuel pressure and it was good btw

 

What's the red indicator on the tach that stays lit?

 

I agree that it's not the coil packs - not all go bad at once and when one or more does go bad you have a rough idle or miss.
BTW, I replaced all the coil packs in my 2000 V8 for less than $100 (new Chinese ones on eBay) in around an hour and a half - was not difficult.
My guess would be fuel starvation - pump or maybe clogged filter.

 

Definitely not coils, fuel starvation or a sensor failing
Jaguar S Type Instrument Cluster Diagnostic codes
Try the link above and see if that helps.

 

Start with the cheap bits first.
Change the petrol filter.
what is the fuel pressure.
It can not be the key transponder as the antitheft would not allow the car to start.

you would have lost the codes because you did a hard reset when the battery came disconnected. so check all the relays and fuses move them to different positions
did you check the battery voltage

 

check the fuel trims to see if they are correct.

having watch your video again I would check the battery voltage as the red light which shows your door is open flickers indicating low voltage..

 

Thanks for the info and re-assuring my thoughts on not the coil packs. The light on the dash is the boot open indicator. The mechanic at the ripoff place (why cant you say that word?) did mention the battery failed the load test. I've never heard of a low battery causing an issue like this, especially since it starts so effortlessly, and it died suddenly going 60mph, has anyone heard of that? I think possible fuel starvation as well, is the fuel filter an easy DIY? The ripoff place wont listen to me, they know everything apparently and want to start with the coil packs

 

Our first S Type (01 3.0 liter) did this when the fuel pump was getting tired as they called it. finally quit altogether one day in the middle of the road.

 

Could be the battery but probably isn't. (Could be: because it's essential for such as pulses for the injectors and coils - things the alternator is useless at.)

Definitely check fuel trims as if they're out then it may die as it goes closed loop. (web search for unknown terminology!)

 

take your car away from that workshop and stop them from doing any work.

replace the battery as the first thing.

download a copy of the JTIS or go here and get this pdf.
http://jagrepair.com/images/AutoRepa...M-Workshop.pdf.

The replacement of the fuel filter is very easy.

 

Im going to have it towed away from them this morning, they did give me some new news after I spoke to a different mechanic, he said 2 of the cylinders are mis-firing thats why they wanted to do the coil packs. It dosnt misfire though until its revved up, as you cans see in the video at idle until it shuts off it runs smooth. Im going to take it to a indy mechanic as I dont have any tools or time, and going to have them start with the cheapest first. Any other thoughts would be great. Thanks

 

Alright, I have the car back and its running great. I went to pick it up from the dealer and SOMEHOW it ran good enough to drive it around the block onto the flat bed, which obviously it didnt run at all before. They couldnt find the mechanic conveniently enough to tell me what happened from when I dropped it off and it idling good then dying, to running but mis firing. I towed it to an indy shop where they replaced the coil packs and plugs and I just picked it up runs perfect. I'm still stumped on what happened at the dealer but happy to have it back. When I picked it up the mechanic mentioned a lot of water in the coil packs grounding them out. I thought about it and I had been messing with the windshield wiper fluid resevoir and lines since the pressure was really low and just a tiny squirt would come out then the rest appeared under the car. About a mile from where my car died on the highway I was behind a truck throwing crap all in my windshiled so I had the button floored which I'm guessing was dumping water into where it should be. Sounds crazy but Thats my best guess. Is there a diagram of where the hoses from the reservoir lead to the actual wipers so I can make sure to fix that? Thanks for all your help

 

Interesting find. Maybe while sitting at the dealership, enough water evaporated and it ran better.

To check the washer lines for leaks, just top off the reservoir, hit the switch, and look for wet spots. If the leak was bad enough to ground out the coils, it should be easy enough to find.

Is this the first time the car has acted up like this? Any recent rain? There's a cowl seal that leaks and lets rainwater collect on the coils.

As far as the two bad coils, I wonder if they had failed earlier or if the moisture killed them. Was the check engine light on before all this started?

Also, in post #10, you mentioned the battery had failed the load test. Even if the car starts okay, get that replaced. These cars are tough on batteries. A marginal battery may not be related to this most recent issue, but the failed test is an early warning for other trouble in the near future.

 

I dont want to ground out the coils again so I dont think ill be pushing the death button anytime soon untill I cant replace the lines. haha! Ya it has been raining in texas a lot this year but wasnt on the day that I had been driving the car normally all day. It seriously is a mystery, it wasnt misfiring when I dropped it off at the dealer, well, you saw the video. And if they did do something to get it running I would like to know in case it happens again. Also the minute I brought it home I signed up for AAA, the towing all around Dallas KILLED me. Thanks for the heads up on the battery.