Hi all,

I've just seen another post on here about the user's XJ not starting up https://www.jaguarforums.com/m_65233/tm.htm

Well I've, in the last 2-3 weeks or so have started experiencing a similar problem. My '98 XJR has been starting fine every time, but recently, on starting the car, there would be absolutely no power at all whatsoever.

Anyway, I traced (i think)the fault to the braided ground stap that's connected from the negative terminal of the battery to the body work of the car. Every time I 'wiggle' this cable about, the car would be fine. The connectors on both ends looks and feel very solid.

So my question is, Would replacing this wire/strap resolve the problem? If so, does anyone know the officially name/part number for it?

 

Congratulations on what sounds to be a great job of troubleshooting! Yes, it sounds to me like replacing the braided strap would solve your problem, or you could just clean it. If it was mine I would just clean it.

Either way, you also must make sure the contact points where both ends of the cable touch must be clean. Metal oxides build up at these points, and these oxides restrict the flow of electrons through the cable. On the battery the lead will be a dull grey, and may have some corrosion, scrub this off with a wire brush, or scrape with a pocket knife to get down to shiny lead. Do the same on the body side. I would use a stainless steel brush on aluminum or sandpaper.

To clean the ground strap ends, scrub with a wire brush first, then dip them into a warm water baking soda mixture, when it stops foaming rinse well with clean water. You may want to solder the crimp-on terminals onto the ground braid, or another way is to just spray this area with WD-40 this is almost as good as soldering.
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Thanks for the reply and advice...

I was thinking about cleaning everything but never just got round to it. But in the last couple of days, whilst drivingmy car stereo would lose the power to it for a split second and then come back on again. I also noticed the headlights flickering a bit. It's getting a tad bit annoying so will try and clean things up and see how things go.

The start up problem is quite random and relatively few and far between, so hard to see if things have worked or not!

Anyway, thanks again for the advice

 

You are most welcome!
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