Hey, I am having some serious issues with my Jag. I've been having electrical issues for a while now, but nothing that has kept me from driving the car. For example, the lights will occasionally flicker, the radio wont work every once in a while, and the back brake lights wont work (the brake bar in the rear window works).
Anyway, I was thinking maybe it had to do with the fact that water was getting in the lower part of the trunk so today I disconnected the battery and got the water out. (Previous owner had patched the under carriage at the trunk, maybe an inch of standing water in the very base of the trunk) So after getting the water out I went to put the battery back in and realized that I had broken off the nut on the negative cable (original cables). So I went and got a replacement cable and hooked everything back up...................

At first the car started right up but the a/c display read ERR and beeped 3 times. On top of that my instrument panel is completely dead and my gear shift wont shift!! So I turned the car off to see if it was a fluke and now the car wont start period! This is my every day ride and I need to find out if anyone has experienced this or what I can do.

Oh, the car will start when jumped but wont stay on...

Thanks in advance!!

 

So, do you have a voltmeter or a 12 volt test light?

 

You state it starts up with a jumper, but does not stay on.

Is this due to the jumper being disconnected???, or does it die with the jumper still attached??.

 

When I disconnect the jumper it stays on for maybe 10 minutes and it dies. When I'm turning the key I hear a clicking sound coming from the left heel board.

 

No I don't.

 

My thoughts.

With the jumper connected, you are basically by-passing the car battery.

Then when the jumper is disconnected the car is left to its own resources, which is the battery and the alternator. This also takes into account the battery terminals connectivity with the battery.

Again, the jumper goes onto the terminals, making its own path, and if there is a dodgy connection between those terminals AND the main battery, they are, as I said, by-passed.

I would return to what you have done here, and I reckon a loose connection at or near the battery will be found, or something has been dislodged with the removal process of the battery and/or the water.

 

okay i just went and checked all the connections. everything is as it should be. I'm stumped. I have no idea what's happened.

 

Have you taken the alternator to be tested?

Sounds like the battery isn't keeping a charge because the alternator isn't doing it's job

 

I haven't checked the alternator yet. i will do that next though.

 

The Alternator is bad. i just ordered another one. How hard is it to remove and replace the alternator?

 

I'll let you know - my "new" alternator is on its way... I know the adjuster is clean and working well since I just replaced the belt on Saturday.

The belt was going, and I wasn't sure how old the battery was. So, I replaced both. A week later, the battery is dead.

I pulled up the voltage gauge in the Torque OBD2 app the readings were all over the place from 6 to 62 volts. I figure it's time for another alternator. I'll have the old one rebuilt and use it for my MGB 5.0L conversion.

 

I would bet there was never 62 volts on the car's 12 volt bus. You have to be suspicious of unreasonable data read from any network and Torque seems to have a lot of bad data.

 

agreed, but I got a great price on a rebuilt denso alt, and will swap them and have the original tested.

 

The "new" alt went in yesterday and I took the old one to be tested. It failed magnificently. So, let's hope my charging woes are behind me.

And, to be fair, the Torque voltage reading are still bizarre. I'll try my other code reader and software on my laptop if I still have troubles.

 

I am good to go on the alternator issue. I had a local guy here replace it for me for $100 bucks. Well worth sparing me of the headache of trying to replace it myself.

So now onto my other issues! My brake lights don't work (brake bar does though), my signal lights don't work, my gear shift is stuck in park, not getting a click when I press the brake pedal. I have replaced all the bulbs and checked all the fuses. I have put the voltage tester on lamp connections and they are fine.

I have read that it could be my stop light switch needs replacing but would the brake bar still work if that needs replaced?