we get in the car this morning, and as we pull into church, suddenly there is an electrical smell... then we see some smoke come up from the floorboard (we think).

i look in the rear floorboard and see smoke lingering.

I ****** off the rear seat kick plate cover and expose the fuse block.

I can not tell where the smoke is coming from, as nothing is smoking now, the smoke is just lingering.

Nothing feels hot on the fuse block.. I felt all the relays, etc.. nothing even felt warm.

I am thinking that it could be something under the drivers seat... maybe?

anyone have any suggestions on what to start checking first?

I am getting ready to pull the fuse block and check the backside for any melting... then i was going to tilt the seat up and check under there to see if there is anything i can locate there...

ANy help would be greatly appreciated.

 

i think i found the issue...
the fuse that runs the seat switch and the steering column switch is suspect.

I had a problem with these not working when i bought the car, and some guys here gave some great advise.. the fuse was blown..

I replaced with a 7.5 amp fuse and whenever i touched the steering column manual adjuster, it popped.. so i thought, humm, must have been the wrong fuse in there...
I tried a 10 amp, and walla,.... no problems.

Well, after a little exploration, i found that the plastic around the two metal prongs were swollen, white and cloudy.. but the fuse was not blown.

Now my question is... since the fuse did not blow, do you think that there could be a corrosion issue in the fuse holder, causing high resistance?

something somewhere is causing high resistance as the fuse got super hot..
the wiring harness did not feel even the least bit warm, and the wires all looked intact.

anyone have any ideas?

 

i would re check if 7,5 a fuse was correct one .you may have fitted too high a rating fuse at 10 amp which is why its not blowing as it should i suspect a deeper problem . blowing fuses are more often symptom of a problem not cause

 

High resistance will cut the current flow and the fuse wouldn't blow, stuff just wouldn't work. Never increase the AMP rating of a fuse. If they blow, then something is wrong. In your case you will need to follow the wiring looms in the area where the smoke came from and look for bare and burnt wiring.

Some of the mechanics that I worked with would do the up the fuse trick. Putting a 30 AMP fuse in the tail light circuit burnt up several fuse blocks.

 

I realize there is an issue..
I am thinking that there is a small short somewhere.. not a complete short as there is not more than a 10 amp draw.

I did not know if these xj's had a common problem with this circuit or not.. I was hoping for a " ... yea, it's probably XXX.. they have an issue with that.."
Then i i would at least have a good starting point. I was hoping not to have to remove carpets, etc to trace the wires....

 

You'll need to find out what happened. At the bottom of each doorway is a plate. They are either screwed down or pressed into a pocket that holds them down. Get them up and you'll be able to get to the wiring. The carpet will fold back.. THE BIG PROBLEM IS THAT A SMALL SMOLDERING BURN MAY HAVE STARTED AND YOU'LL KNOW IT WHEN THE CAR BURNS UP. A small short could have caused this and the fairies don't fix these kinds of problems.

 

I agree you do not up the fuse size you find and fix or eliminate the problem. The fault being a *high impedance would delay the fuse from blowing and upping the fuse did not help. Tracking this problem is not easy and will be time consuming. Have you heard of a line tracking device? They are used on phone, communication and power lines and are extremely useful. What this device can do it direct you to the path the loom is taking in the car to prevent you from removing un-necessary equipment. It will also provide you the exact spot of a broken wire if it is completely severed. I have one and use it when trying to find a path or a break. I hope this helps!

This is one of many http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...7BBTkwCjCECjCE

*A high impedance fault is simply resistive, capacitive, or inductive
leakage of a high impedance, in contrast to a low impedance dead
short.

 

thanks guys.
FYI..
i did not up size the fuse trying to band aid a problem... i know way better than that.

Have the fuse pulled. The memory functions of the seat and wheel are on a different circuit, so i will have time to work on the issue. I think it is something in the steering column switch wiring (my first guess, since that is what was poppong the 7.5).

I will start looking for the issue.

I was hoping for a .."yea, we see this on this circuit a lot... it's probably the x"... so i had a probable starting point...

OH well... the joys of owning a jaguar....

my rear door not unlocking is our big problem that we have to attend to first, so this will have to go on the back burner...

 

I'd fix this first.

 

Could your door problem be related to the other electrical problem?

 

i would not think that the door problem would be related..
the door locks are on a different circuit
when we bought the car the fuse was burnt out and the door locks functioned properly.

we have pulled the fuse, and i have looked at the harness all the way up to the rear seat and there is no problem that i can find.. I will be doing more exploratory work this weekend..

 

Could it be in the same loom?