So my wife was driving my XJ and allof a sudden the car just shut off while driving. Tow truck came out and said the alternator died. We could jump the battery, but after a few minutes the car would die again, over and over.

My question is, could it possibly be a fuse instead or something else besides the alternator? And if it is my alternator, how hard would it be to change it out myself? How much would it cost for the dealership to change it out?

I ordered a used OEM replacement alternator from eBay for about $75, instead of a new one that would have cost me $450.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-light-191530/

Have a look at the above thread. Not the same car however.......

 

Jesse, looking at the diagrams for the alternator, you should see 2 wires attached to the alternator, a big power cable and a small wire. What you will want to do is connect a multimeter to that small wire (while still attached to the alternator, so, slide the probe along the wire or you may need to slide a pin down along side the wire until you feel it touch something solid) using the red lead and the black lead to any metal part of the engine. You can then start up the engine and ensure that all electrical is turned off inside the cab. You should see the multimeter jump to around 5-7 VDC normally. If you see it jump up to 12.0 or higher (within 0.5 of the battery voltage), then your alternator is toast. You can confirm this by moving the red lead to the large post on the alternator and that should read pretty much the same voltage that you saw on the small wire. If you have 12 VDC on the small wire and something like 16 VDC (or higher) on the large wire, then you have a bad battery cable between the alternator and the starter.

I am basing all of this off of the 5.0L engine as I do not have the 3.0L petrol engine schematics. But, it should be fairly close as jaguar tends to use a lot of the same parts across the whole line of vehicles in a given year.

 

Thanks for this. Jesus, if the engine needs to be lift for an alternator change might have to pay someone to do it.

Thanks a ton, I will try this and hopefully its a bad wiring cable rather than the alternator (if the cable is an easy fix that is!). Fingers crossed!

Is there a alternator fuse on this care as well, could that be a possible cause?

 

On my car there are two fuses so there are probably 2 for you as well. In your hand book there should be details.

One hard lesson I have learned is NOT to go with a non Jaguar alternator such as a so called OEM one from Ebay.

 

Do you know what these fuses are called in the guide? I'm guessing ECM, as I dont see anything saying Alternator or ALT?

 

Fuse F30 (10A) in the rear power distribution fuse block, and fuse F33 (5A) in the passenger junction fuse box.

The above are my fuses.

Fuse F30 it says, generator, battery backed sounder,transit relay.
f30 it says transmission control, "J" gate, generator.

I have no idea where your MY Jaguar alternator is located.

If it is in a similar position as mine then there is quite a bit of labor involved
in getting at it.

If you go with an alternator that does not turn off the battery red light and then have to go thru all of that labor again............

I have done it I think 5 times now (I know the definition of insanity) as every alternator I have used so far does not put out the Jaguar expected voltage and so my battery
red light is always on. I have a brand new Exide Extreme LG/49 calcium plate battery as well.

So I have bitten the bullet and have purchased a genuine Jaguar OEM alternator and am waiting for delivery.

 

Looks like the Alternator is located low down on the right side of the engine about 8 o'clock looking from the front of the engine.It appears to be accessible once the shield under the engine is removed. Here are som drawings to assist you.

 

XJsss When I was a in my early twenties I really wanted a Ford Lotus Cortina! Insurance back then was way too high for me.

 

The Lotus Cortina was so much fun. I had a small SCCA racing team at that time (2 formula Fords and then 2 Forumla Super Vs and my engine guys breathed on my engine and I was getting over 180hp at the rear wheels and it would smoke Firebird 400s also was running Casterol R (castor bean based) and it smelled so good. Also changed to Koni shocks all around and the front kit was a replacement for the strut innards and was all the pieces and bottles of the fluid. So much fun, thanks for noticing.

 

Holy moly, this does not sound good, especially given what happened to my car today... (see battery thread)

Are there any reliable /or perhaps better put, "worthy" aftermarket alternators one can use? As my 2013 XJL may need one ASAP...

We will see...

 

https://www.wheelsjoint.com/jaguar-x...ator-symptoms/

"If the ground connection of the chassis or the engine goes bad in your XJ due to rust or corrosion, you will face all sorts of electrical issues, including battery light illuminating in the dashboard. The alternator relies on the ground connection of the engine to function properly. When the ground is bad, the current supply from the alternator will be reduced or may fluctuate. Additionally, in rare cases the contact between the engine block and the alternator can also go bad due to corrosion."

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