While jump starting my 2002 x type 3.0 straight drive the battery cables were crossed. Sounds really stupid I know, the thing is the negative cable end on my car is Red which led me to believe it was the positive. Sparks flew and the alarm activated realized what happened pulled cables loose. Now with good battery I have no instrument working, no radio, and car will not start. I hear no injectors engaging, no fuel pump prime, starter will not engage. The interior lights, door ajar warning, seat controls, heater fan blower do work. I have checked fuses, checked for burned wires and reset inertia switch which was tripped. I have read that I could have fried the security ecu. Would that cause the all above problems or is it more likely that I fried main ecu, instrument cluster and radio? Any help greatly is appreciated, I can't afford a Jag. mechanic.

 

You may have fried almost everything that is electronic, especially if the key was in any position other than off. You may be saved, if the fuse box has a blown main fuse in or under it. I would start with the fuses, then the ECU and go from there. Buy a used good one, to keep your initial cost down. The Engine control unit controls almost everything from what I can see on a schematic. Anything that was in the on position, like the climate control, and radio might be damaged also.....Good luck Mike

 

Thanks Mike

 

I may have one for you if you fried it. I have a complete set of fuse box and all wires from one of my cars. I will have to remove it all but if it helps you out I can do it. Let me know what you fried after you find out and we can go from there.


Good Luck,
The Dr!

 

First prayer and then check all the fuses in the power distribution fuse box in the engine compartment.

 

Cross your fingers, and give both positive and negative cable a good tug. Hopefully, they still had their fusible links intact.

When you pull, you will hopefully have a cable break into two pieces in your hand.

Kiss it, throw it away, and replace it.

A fusible link is a small section of smaller wire in series with the larger battery cable. In the event of a catastrophic eff-up, the smaller wire burns down and breaks. It does make for an exciting light show!

 

Thanks to everyone for your advice. Ended up having to send her to a mechanic. Although I visually inspected all fuses that I could find, the mechanic found two fuses that were blown. It turns out that the alternator was not charging was the reason for the dead battery. It is going to cost me $400.00 to repair even with having my alternator rebuilt. OUCH!! This ain't Grandma's 1985 Chevy!!!

 

You would be surprised what it costs to fix a Chevy today......Probably the same amount. Glad you are back up and running. It could have been much worse....Be cool.....Mike

 

Glad to hear that it was a relatively simple fix.

When it originally did not start were you having any issues before that with the battery? Or was it running fine and all of a sudden it would not start? If it happened all of a sudden it might not be the alternator as those are pretty robust on our cars. That's not to say something on it got damaged when you tried to jump start it. But maybe after changing the fuses all you really needed was a battery.

 

That could be useful! Never heard of it in a Jaguar before. Do you mean something built into the wire? I've only met the usual slot in fuses.

Which cables and where is the fusible link, please?

 

Wiring diagrams don't show anything. I suspect there's no such thing in an X Type.