Hello all,

I have a 90 XJ40 Sovereign 4.0L, my first Jaguar! I have a question I'm hoping you guys can shed some light on.

When I first start her cold in the morning (not that cold, I'm in Dallas its at N temp 30 seconds into starting its so friggin hot here) there is a loud screeching I think is the best way to describe it, I also didn't drive her for about two days and the start was pretty hard afterwards. The screeching usually stops after roughly 30-60 seconds of starting but will reappear when I go over 2-2.5 rpms. I have strong suspicion that this could be my alternator going. Today after work I plan on checking the belts, but wouldn't the sounds always be going if a belt was loose/dirty?

I look forward to hearing your ideas!

 

Try this, see if it makes any difference.

Open the hood.

Start the car.

Spray wd40 from the LH side of the car in the general area of the a/c compressor pulley/belts for about 5 seconds.

Let us know if the screeching stops. (temporary fix only though)


Larry

 

Hubert,

That type of screeching is usually belts, pulley bearings or idler bearings. Of al of those, a screeching from cold which goes after a few seconds is nearly always belts. It's pretty easy to work out which it is. Start the car from cold with the bonnet open and listen carefully in the engine bay. If it's a loose or slipping belt, then carefully increasing the tension by gently pushing a piece of wood against its outside surface whilst running will increase the tension and the noise may abate. Be VERY careful when you do this!

If the belt is tight but glazed through wear, you can sometimes increase its life by spraying some belt dressing whilst its running. Be careful, it's quite messy sticky stuff!

Good luck

Paul

 

Hi Hubert,

If Larry's and Paul's suggestions about checking your belts don't reveal the source of your noise, it may be that your crankshaft damper/harmonic balancer is failing, which is a very common issue on older cars like our XJ40s. On our '93, the symptoms were very similar to the ones you describe. Checking the damper involves painting a straight alignment line from a tooth on the CPS reluctor ring, across the crankshaft alternator pulley, continuing across the crankshaft air conditioning compressor pulley. Run the engine for a few minutes, then shut it off and check the alignment marks. If they've separated, your damper has delaminated and needs to be rebuilt or replaced. I used Damper Doctor to rebuild mine, but others have had success with Dale Manufacturing.

Cheers,

Don

 

Hey all,

So first I would like to thank you all for the awesome feedback and all the good ideas, unfortunately I didn't even get to trying anything because yesterday after work when I went to drive home, no start. I'm getting power to the inside and I hear it trying to crank but I don't think its able to turn over. I'm going to see what I can find and from what I have read there is a good mechanic over in Dallas, Jims Jag Shop. I will try contacting him and I'll keep you guys updated.

 

If your screeching noise was the alternator/water pump belt, perhaps your battery has not been properly recharging. Have you tried jump-starting the car? Jaguars are very finicky when it comes to battery power and often misbehave with low battery voltage, especially while cranking. When jump-starting, you may have to let the boosting vehicle's engine run for 5 or 10 minutes with the cables attached to give your battery some charge before your Jag will start.

 

Hey Don B,

Yeah yesterday my friend and I hooked it up to his Excursion and tried to start it for awhile as I suspected it could be battery related. It is getting juice from the battery when its not hooked up and all my interior circuits are working so I don't think it is the battery. That would have been awesome, much easier problem

I did find out my insurance covers free towing up to 120$ though so thats pretty cool, I'm going to get it towed to this shop close by so they can read the ODB I code and I can get an idea of whats going on. Water pump belt, cool thats not on my list of ideas. I appreciate the help!

Could the alternator or water pump belts actually keep it from starting? I guess if the belts are so worn they aren't catching then nothing would turn huh, I hope reading the ODB code helps...

 

Hubert,

Do you have a multimeter to check the voltage of the battery? It takes very little voltage to turn on the interior and dash lights. Those could work fine but the battery not have enough juice to turn the engine.

Also, does the engine turn over freely when hooked up for a jump start from the other car?

If it's a loose belt, that might be the cause of a low battery, but it wouldn't stop it from starting with a good battery connected.

Paul

 

Hello all,

Thanks for the feedback, I do have a multimeter accessible, I will check the voltage on the battery. If its low I will plug it into a car and give it juice for 10 minutes and then see what happens.

I used the VCM on the dash to get a; Fuel 14 Fail 14 code.
I have looked in the forums and what I found stated a coolant temp sensor failure? I guess I can try to locate it where its found close to the radiator intake and see if its filthy or something.

 

Hubert,

An FF14 does not indicate that the coolant temp sensor has failed. It indicates that the ecu has received a certain condition setting. It COULD be that the sensor has failed but this is not common (IMO).

It could also be that this is an old code and not a current code.

You haven't explained if you have had the engine turning over properly but failing to start, or whether you haven't actually got the engine turning over?

Start at the basics. Get the engine spinning over well with a good or jumped battery and then let's see if it starts. Don't worry about anything else at this stage.

Good luck

Paul

 

Yes I will first give it a good charge, 10 minutes of juice. Then see if it will turn over, at the moment it is not turning over. Yesterday I charged it for a little but I don't even think it was 5 minutes, I'll give that another go first for sures. Stick to the basics, sorry I got ahead of myself, I got the VCM code during my lunch and went into detective mode haha.

Appreciate the help!

 

Hubert,

I agree with Paul that the FF14 is probably not related to your no-start. Coolant Temperature Sensors (CTS) do fail, but more often the problem is with corrosion on the electrical connector, or broken or shorted wires in the harness near the CTS, which is mounted in the top of the thermostat housing at the front of the engine. The CTS is the sensor with 2 wires, the sensor with 1 wire is for the temperature gauge on the dash.

You can inspect the connector and wiring and clean or repair as necessary. Once you get the engine running there are some tests you can run on the CTS itself to see if it is operating within range.

Hopefully you'll get the engine started by letting your battery charge for at least 10 minutes before trying to start the engine (with the jumper cables still connected).

Looking forward to your next report.

Cheers,

Don

 

Hubert,

Good points from Don about the connector and shorting either in the wires or in the ecu.

Don's point about charging then jump-starting is important. Your 10-minute charge will not charge your battery from flat. As he says, it will merely take it up a bit allowing a jump-battery to piggy-back properly and allow current flow. You will need a good 12-hour charge on a battery charger to actually charge your battery from a non-turning situation.

Paul