Starting problem + Losing my lights
 

I have a 4 litre Daimler Vanden Plas -98.
Sometimes, when I want to start the car, the lights next to the gearshifter is blinking red and when I put the key into the ignition, the steering wheel and chair does not move as they normally would. The lights come on as usual, but when I turn the ignition, everything gets black. The headlights will not turn on.
The last time this happened, I opened the glove compartment and when I closed it, the car started....
A couple of years ago I changed the main grounding cable and looked over all the connections from the battery to the false bulkhead.
Also, a few times, while driving, I have lost the headlights and at the same time, the red light indicating that I am not using my safety belt, comes on. The last time this happened, I turned the lights on and off a few times and then it worked.
One time, I was picking up my letters in the mailbox and when I got back into the car, I could not get it into drive. After a little while, it worked.
Any suggestions?

Ground from the body control module, which is located behind the glove box. I had a similar thing, solved by running a separate ground from the BCM down to the gearbox. Therew is a thread about it on here somewhere.

Will look at it.
thanks
Frode

Nigelmay!
What you describe as BCM, is that what Jaguar call Body Processor Module?
thanks
frode

Sorry, wrong terminology, it's the body processor module. Although it's bolted to the body with three fixings, on mine there was an intermitent ground that caused all sorts of issues: wiper doing a half sweep and stopping in the middle of the screen, losing all lights and indicators etc. etc.

thanks
 

Thanks for your reply. My English is not 100% so I got a little confused and therefor looked in the Jag manual.
frode

Hi Nigelmay!
I am a bit afraid to do this myself so I went to see my garage today. They say they will do it, but asked for a specific point to connect the new grounding cable. Is there such a place ( a grounding point?) or do you just connect the BPM anywhere with a ground cable to the gearbox?
Am I right when I assume this is not a job for a near-beginner? (Myself) I once had a Land-Rover and I got a book about how to do most the work on the engine. I used the book and changed all bearings etc in the engine. Is there something similar for my car?
best
Frode

From memory, a ground strap was run from one of the three bolts that attach the BPM to the metalwork of the dashboard down to a convenient bolt on the gearbox. I don't think there was any need to chose a particular bolt, it was just to amke sure that the BPM had a good ground.

OK Thanks
frode