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I recommend using a clamp on ammeter to avoid all the work and damaged caused by disconnecting things and inserting your meter into the circuit. Plus if you do something and cause a lot of current such as mistakenly trying to start the car. That's the end of your meter! They are simply NOT designed to handle the level of current any modern car uses.
Now the problem is you need a sensitive DC ammeter that can read as low as .001 Amps. I have the GTC-CM100 meter. CM100 Meter Specs
They have gone up in price and shop around because they do show up used on EBay regularly.
I have attached Jaguars Current drain document. In general most cars state a 30-50ma drain is within specs (Note-Jaguar has a chart showing what the maximum drain is allowed by model). Of course the problem with all this is trying to keep the car 100% a sleep while making your measurements! This is where the clamp on meter really shines. You can quickly go from wire to wire without disturbing anything.
I have wasted so much time waiting for the car to go back to sleep after I did something (Anything??) causing it to wake up and restart the 30-45 minute count down to sleep mode.
Agree that the 2013+ cars had a MAJOR upgrade to the entire electrical system as Jaguar swapped electrical suppliers and went from Denso to Bosch. Plus the great 8 speed ZF transmission was added.
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TO THE OP WITH ELECTRICAL VAMPIRE DRAIN, and ANYONE ELSE WITH DRAINING BATTERIES.
buy a multimeter.
Remove the positive cable (technically you could do ground as well, doesn't matter)
connect one probe of multimeter to the empty battery post, and the other connector to the positive cable you removed.
Turn your multimeter to AMPS. It'll display how many amps the car is using, even while it's off.
it should be very low, I'm not sure what normal XJ's run, but it should NOT be high. If someone wants to check there's and post, that would be awesome.
start in a corner of the fuse box, and pull one fuse, check to see if the amperage drops dramatically, and replace the fuse.
do this for EVERY fuse until you find the one that drops the amperage, therefor showing you exactly which circuit is at fault.
check the wiring and components on that circuit.
Youve just saved MONEY AND TIME like no other.
hope this helps, I can clarify further if needed
Finally, some good advice in this thread.
I’m not sure what set so many off on this thread, maybe too much coffee.
I recommend using a clamp on ammeter to avoid all the work and damaged caused by disconnecting things and inserting your meter into the circuit. Plus if you do something and cause a lot of current such as mistakenly trying to start the car. That's the end of your meter! They are simply NOT designed to handle the level of current any modern car uses.
I really like that clamp on meter. I will probably get one. Thanks.
But as someone that has definitely done something to cause a lot of current to go through a regular meter, I can attest that it just blows the very inexpensive 10amp fuse and does not destroy the meter. No meter is going to have an amp meter without a fuse to protect the meter.
,,, Agree that the 2013+ cars had a MAJOR upgrade to the entire electrical system as Jaguar swapped electrical suppliers and went from Denso to Bosch. Plus the great 8 speed ZF transmission was added.
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You forgot that the great Meridian Surround Sound system was also introduced with the 2013 model year.
I recommend using a clamp on ammeter to avoid all the work and damaged caused by disconnecting things and inserting your meter into the circuit. Plus if you do something and cause a lot of current such as mistakenly trying to start the car. That's the end of your meter! They are simply NOT designed to handle the level of current any modern car uses.
Now the problem is you need a sensitive DC ammeter that can read as low as .001 Amps. I have the GTC-CM100 meter. CM100 Meter Specs
They have gone up in price and shop around because they do show up used on EBay regularly.
I have attached Jaguars Current drain document. In general most cars state a 30-50ma drain is within specs (Note-Jaguar has a chart showing what the maximum drain is allowed by model). Of course the problem with all this is trying to keep the car 100% a sleep while making your measurements! This is where the clamp on meter really shines. You can quickly go from wire to wire without disturbing anything.
I have wasted so much time waiting for the car to go back to sleep after I did something (Anything??) causing it to wake up and restart the 30-45 minute count down to sleep mode.
Agree that the 2013+ cars had a MAJOR upgrade to the entire electrical system as Jaguar swapped electrical suppliers and went from Denso to Bosch. Plus the great 8 speed ZF transmission was added.
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Pretty certain that Jaguar was using the.6 speed ZF a transmission as early as 2004 or 2005 in the XK8. They continued with that ZF a unit with the 2007 XK.
Actually earlier than that as Jaguar installed it on the S-Type starting in 2003. Yes first came the 6 speed then the 8 speed as it was installed starting in 2013.
Thanks Stuart and yes there were a bunch of changes in the 2013 refresh/update.
If your lucky then yes just the fuse blows. But with high current stuff happens fast plus it depends on how the meter is protected. One thing I do like is one of my meters uses a re-settable fuse with a reset button on the front of the meter. It's a Power Probe which can provide 12 VDC or ground depending on where the switches are set.
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You forgot that the great Meridian Surround Sound system was also introduced with the 2013 model year.
YUP!!! - Sure hope my Asian 2013 benefitted from all these upgrades...! Will check to see if it is Meridian when I get it back... We 2013 brothers must stick together...
12-21-2023, 09:51 AM
