driving last night and my 2000 vdl when I heard a sound like someone dropping a phone book on the floor and then the car shut off and coasted to a stop. All lights, dash and head lamps also cut off at the same time. Door locks, radio, etc also stopped. The 4 ways are working. The car would not restart - no sound when turning the key. The message on the dash displayed a number of different messages from gearbox to everything else.

Under the hood, everything looks normal, nothing smells bad. The tow driver could to remove the gear selector from "P".

Any idea what is going on here?


Thanks for any help.

 

The very first thing in my mind is an exploded battery, but from your description it seems not.
Then, second though, just maybe, is the inertia switch, located on the right side of the passenger foot well.
It's got a switch on top, which you will need to push.
Try that first.

 

If you haven't yet started troubleshooting I would recommend first make sure the battery is fully charged and have it load tested.
Next check the main high voltage fuses in the boot on the forward side of where the spare tire is located.
Next move to the bulkhead connector in the engine compartment right hand side, dismantle, clean, polish and reassemble.
Next check underneath the vehicle on the right side just about midway between the right front tire and the door and make sure that the engine ground is clean and tight.
Do a visual inspection of the alternator for any apparent damage.
Give a try starting and let us know what happens.

 

This TSB comes to mind.

Worth checking anyway.

bob

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...65-mph-180914/

Duplicate thread??

bob

 

Scary - with such an instantly-severe and catastrophic issue I'd start by doing a hard-reset on the car and checking battery voltage, swapping the battery if it is not within spec.

What does the inertia switch do?

 

Been seeing a lot of those recently, usually started by a new account, a lot of times posted in the wrong section or unrelated title as well...

 

I agree to a point nilanium, but I'm wondering if its from posting with a phone? I say that because a regular member a few months ago made the statement he posted with his phone and it duplicated and he apologized for it.

 

The purpose of the inertia switch is to disable the fuel pump and cut power to most of the vehicle during a crash, to avoid starting a fire. You reach your finger behind the kick panel as ericjansen described, and push down on the rubber reset button to get it going again. If the switch is bad, it might not reset, and it might need to be replaced. I would disconnect the ground cable on the battery, touch it to the positive cable, reset the inertia switch, and hook up the negative cable.