Hello, any advice would be a gift. I have a 1997 Jaguar XJ6 VDP.
The car will not hold a charge longer than a day or two. I have put 2 new alternators in, serp belts, 3 new batteries, checked the battery line to the firewall. The voltage meter shows 14 volts when jumped or charged. The car has been painfully maintained and is now in danger of being pushed into the river.

Is this an ECM issue? I would be grateful and humbled by an answer.

p.s.
The car has been checked over a dozen times for map lights, lighters or small shorts drawing power. There is no known power issue or short

Cheers and thank you-

Kurt

 

Kurt,

I've moved your question from New Member Area - Intro a MUST to X300 forum. Members here with the same model will be able to help.

Graham

 

Hi Kurt,

Did your tests include checking for parascitic current drains? If so, do you know what the quiescent current draw is after all the dome lights go out, the security and locking system goes into standby, etc.? Off the top of my head, the quiescent current draw should be 30mA or less for most Jaguar saloons, 40mA for some.

The pdf files at these links may be helpful:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...89947451,d.eXY

http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Auto...%20Testing.pdf


To help isolate a circuit with excessive current drain, you can connect an ammeter in series with the battery and its negative ground cable, open the doors, hood and trunk lid (if necessary) for access to fuse boxes, then wait for the dome lights and all other systems that will hibernate to do so. Then begin pulling fuses one at a time and observing the change in the current drain as measured on the ammeter. When the current drain drops significantly, you may have found the circuit with the problem.

Note the warnings about using a Digital Multi-Meter (DMM) on cars with electronic throttles (off the top of my head, I don't think the '97 X300 has an electronic throttle but don't take my word for it).

Please let us know what you find.

Cheers,

Don

 

Agree 100% with Don. It's the way to go.

From reading these pages over a long time the most common culprit for this situation on the X300 seems to be a sticking ignition barrel. i.e. the car does not recognise that the key has been removed and keeps some parts of the car energised. So worth a look first.

The recommended lubricant for the locks is Graphite Powder rather than WD40 or other liquid lubricants.

 

Hi Kurt, greetings from the other side of the State. ......go Spartans!

You might have ground problem. Guessing that all of the new batteries and alternators were good but your not getting full juice back to your battery to charge it.
Follow your power supply cable all the way back to your battery checking for corrosion. Inspect and clean up all main ground points. (close to 37 of them thoughout chassis if you really want to clean up electrical system) Your volt meter might be showing adequate voltage but you may not be getting full amps to charge battery.

For your power battery killing draw, your power seat motors maybe staying energized. You'll need test meter to check. (Note: you won't here them running and they're still functional. )

Just a place to start but a good ground system clears up a lot odd problems.

 

Hello Kurt,

I see you've been working on this since last year:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-signs-125740/

Frustrating, no doubt. But excellent advice from the crew above.

I have some new input for you, apparently I didn't see that thread last year.

I suggest you check your crankshaft pulley (harmonic balancer/damper). If the lamination breaks between the metal pulley hub and the grooved ring for the alternator belt, the ring will slip on the hub and your alternator will not get the rpms it needs to keep your battery properly charged. Over a short time the battery will be strained as it tries to keep up with the various electrical loads. This de-lamination is a well documented trouble area with these old cars now.

A de-lamination is usually accompanied by noise of some sort, like squealing for a bit after start up, or a rumbling sound at low rpm, along with the voltage gauge dropping. Do you have any of that? I suppose it could happen without noise too.

My 96 VDP met that fate last year, and my symptoms were almost exactly as you described in the old thread, including low speed stalling. In my case, the ring was so loose that it's vibration was causing a deep rumble throughout the entire engine, apparently as the crankshaft vibrated. This only happened at idle or low rpms. At higher revs or at speed, all was perfectly fine. While investigating, I swapped alternators and belts with the other car, with no change in symptoms. When I finally realized the problem and removed the alternator belt again, I found I could easily slip the grooves around the hub with my fingers!

If you mark the grooves and the metal hub in the same spot (with paint or a marker) and then run the engine, it will become apparent very quickly as the marks will either stay lined up (good), or not (not).

The pulley can be mailed off for a rebuild if need be, based on a cost/effort/value assessment of the car! Unfortunately for me, my car could not pass that test.

Hoping for the best!

 

Anyone have any photos of just where one "marks" the balancer to observe the slippage or not?

.

 

Hi Al,

I don't have a photo showing actual alignment marks, but this photo shows the pulleys and the crank position sensor reluctor ring (the toothed ring at the back). As Richard described, if you'll paint alignment lines on the front and middle pulleys and the reluctor ring, then run the engine, it will be obvious if the harmonic balancer has failed and the pulleys are moving independently of the reluctor. This shot is of our '93 XJ40, but the principle is the same on the X300:




BTW, when the harmonic balancer failed on our '93, the primary symptom was a loud screeching sound at startup that would go away after a few seconds.

Cheers,

Don

 

Thanks, I do recall an issue with the passenger power seat. Thank you very much & best regards

 

I just saw and I am convinced that this is the problem. I do the whine when I start the car and can see how this may be the issue. Thanks very much, I appreciate your time and energy.

Best regards,


Kurt

 

I've got an occasional screech (more of a gear noise from within the car) that I've thought up to this point really sounds more like the starter failing to fully disengage.

I've yet to catch it while the hood is up though.

I marked my crank with some silver paint, so maybe that will give a clue too.

.