I have had this vehicle in my posession for two weeks now and have driven it maybe 7-8 times without any problems, until now. For the last two days I thought my starter had gone out. This past Friday I took my XF out for a short ride and then parked it in the garage. I have a deep single garage and have only about 1 1/2 feet left with my motorcycle parked in first. Truck is on the outside. Saturday morning I attempted to move the XF outside so as to have some room in the garage for doing some chores that I need to get done. It would not start. Everything on the dash lit up as usual but I would only get a slight hum and a small click when pushing the start button. I figured right then that the starter had gone out. Besides the price for a new one I figured that it could not be that big of a deal to change out until I realized that there was no way I could get the XF outside of my garage since I could not put it in neutral to push. So I proceeded to see what I could do to jack it up and get under it. Well, that was a no go. No way that was going to happen. Not enough room and it would have to come off the ground quite a bit and I was not comfortable being under it without placing jack stands for safety. It was then that I removed the supercharger air intake pipes and was able to get a socket on the main and it turned just fine. I was relieved to know that the engine was not seized up. Oil level has always shown full but I just don't really trust the computer readout as Jaguar would like me to. I do miss the dipstick and it only has 500 miles since the last oil change.
There were no error codes displaying on the dash so nothing to go on there. I checked all the fuses in the engine fuse compartment and they all looked good. I came to realize that F14 (starter solenoid) was empty although the diagram showed that a 30 amp fuse should be there. I looked around for it in the area of the fuse box but could not find it. Then I figured that it started before without one in there so maybe this vehicle doesn't need one so I closed up the fuse box and surrendered.

Today, Sunday. I was planning on having the XF towed to a Jaguar mechanic this week and letting him do what he needed to do to get it running again.
I then checked the battery voltage and it showed 12.7 volts, good voltage. It was time to ask for help. I came to this forum and sent a private message to davetibbs explaining my situation to him. A few hours later he replied and gave me a few pointers and a direction to look. Negative cable on the battery did have corrosion so I removed it and cleaned it up. Still showed 12.7 volts. Hooked everything back up and tried to start it again. No good, same noise. It was then that I remembered one other piece of information he gave me. "Also make sure you're pushing the brake pedal hard enough for the switch to engage. That one's caught people before". With that thought in mind I pushed on the brake pedal harder and hit the start button. Bingo! It fired right up. Tried it again and it started. Talk about feeling like a big dummy. All this time there was nothing wrong to begin with. Why I had not pushed the brake pedal hard enough to start it the last two days is beyond me. I am posting this here because it will make this humble pie last a bit longer in my mind. Humility is a good thing. I think I got a few gray hairs this weekend but I did enjoy getting to know this XF a bit more then I had known about it 72 hours ago.
Does anyone use the start/stop feature? I have read that it will not reduce the longevity of your starter but I seriously wonder about that. They are quite pricey especially if one wants the start/stop feature.

Thanks davetibbs. I owe you sir.

 

Yep, very common problem on later Jags including the XF, XJ and XK. Sometimes you need to stand on the brake pedal in Star Trek mode - I'm giving it all she's got Cap'n! - to get it to fire up, happened to me a couple of times on the old XFR.
Usually a sign that either the battery or the brake pedal switch is on the way out, hundreds of posts and threads around here about battery problems but yours seems OK so I suspect the brake pedal switch. A new one is reasonably cheap and can be DIY replaced but it helps to be a 90 lb contortionist to do it!

 

I remember one guy on here posting that he had come up with this very elaborate routine to start his car. It involved getting in the car and locking and unlocking and then getting out and locking and unlocking and some other voodoo stuff that I can't remember. He had this routine down and swore it was the best procedure to start the car every time, so he was kindly sharing it with the forum.

I told him to press harder on his brake pedal and he instantly had a Homer Simpson DOH! moment.

FYI, you can also pump the brakes to get it to start easier if you don't want to stand on the pedal.

 

They built every model to act like this for decades, and its hard to imagine how many tows to the dealer this caused.

Oh wait...

 

Happened to me some years back, with a rental (non-Jaguar). Dirty/bad brake switch.

 

Glad to hear you got it sorted!

 

Yes sir. First thing this morning before I had my coffee I got behind the wheel and it started right up, no problem. The brake pedal needs pushed about halfway is what I realized now. Not that much pressure just more then I applied this past weekend. I think the relay/switch is fine for the time being. If it wasn't for you I would have had it towed to the shop this week.

 

Brake pedal issue +1. Same happened to me. Not sure why it's so sensitive but the interconnect to the pedal is sensitive and it's been the cause of most of the non-start issues on here.

 

I couldn't use the stop/start feature anyways. I just realized the battery is as dead as a doornail. No voltage whatsoever registering with it. Probably a good thing after reading all the posts about this option.

 

Allenman85 just a note but you are NOT the fastest Jaguar sedan in the Texas mile.
I ran 167+ last October in my 2014 XJR.

See here;
Texas Mile Run

Will you be back this fall? I am hoping too but not sure yet. I see the sign up forms are out.
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