Hey guys, I bought an 98 Xj8 5 months ago and she's been running like a dream until yesterday. I quickly went to the mall and when I came back she wouldn't turn on. I waited for about 30 minutes and when I tried it again it turned on again somehow. It was weird because for the first time the engine was shaking but that stopped after 5 minutes on the road. I reached my destination and turned the car off. When I tried to turn it on, it did the same thing again. Except this time it doesn't turn on at all. Could it be the starter motor? I changed the battery as soon as I got the car. When I try to start it all I hear is a click sound and sometime a buzzing noise when I hold the key in the third position. Anyone got a clue what's going on?

 

The most likely cause is a loose ground connection or corroded ground connection.
I have attached an outstanding guide developed by one forum members,avt007, aka Rob.
Follow his troubleshooting and I am sure you can resolve the problem.

 

Thanks for the link but do you perhaps have one for how to replace the starter without removing the steering rack?

 

Try your falsebulkhead first. It's in the ecm box on the passenger side of the car. It is a point where the power comes from the battery and feeds the starter and I believe the ecm. Disconnect the battery first and then remove the bulkhead cables. See if the plastic on the bulkhead is melted or corroded. This happened to my 98 xj8. First I thought it was a battery or starter problem. But sparkenzap pointed me to the false bulkhead and the plastic was melted from arcing from a bad connection.

If that's not it check grounds as avern1 suggested. Don't go throwing parts at it til you check all of your electrical points first.

 

I have attached a link to a forum thread all about the starter replacement. There are pros and cons over removing the rack. The problem as I understand it is the top starter bolt. Take a look and read thru all of the links.
Good luck.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...r-motor-76686/

 

also, check and play with the negative cable to the battery-

 

Okay so a quick update on this.
We went to check the battery and we found out that it only had 2 volts left. But everytime we boosted the car it would start.
So went replaced it and guess what? It started good the first time but then it would refuse to start as before. So we turned the car on and tested the battery which should be running apprx 14 v but this battery(brand new) was only giving 12.1v when running and would dip when putting on a load(lights).

So our conclusion was that its the alternator. Gonna check tomorrow at a mechanic.


btw this is the baby: https://www.instagram.com/p/BJmAo70j...-by=sohail_16_
bonus:

 

Sorry for the super late reply to this thread but yes it was indeed the alternator that went bad. Mechanic fixed it for $300.

 

congratulations