I own a 93 Jaguar XJ6 (XJ40) that has been stored in a garage for several years. The battery was completely dead, so I charged it. Now the starter will not engage, the security light blinks, and the dashboard indicator lights flash sequentially when I turn the key to start. The dome light comes on and the fan will run but the headlights do no come on. The headlights will flash when the HIGH Beam lever is pulled up. The radio said “CODE” at one point, but I tried some numbers and now it just says “WAIT.” I believe that the anti-theft feature has everything locked out. How do reset or disable the security device?

 

The radio code has nothing to do with the immobilization of the car or the security system. It is just the radio telling you you put the wrong code in too many times.
Your battery is probably no good as the XJ40 has a threshold voltage below which the car will not turn over on the starter.

Try a known good fully charged battery before anything else.

Larry

 

I will try with another battery.
I have a short video of the instrument panel indicators, but cannot seem to get it posted. How do I do that? I clicked on manage attachments, selected it and clicked uploaded, but nothing happens.

 

If it's up on YouTube etc you can post a link to it - or if you want to upload one use the paperclip icon on the textbox toolbar

Larry

 

here is a link to the dashboard video when attempting to crank:

You Tube

 

Hi vmwatson,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums! It's great to have you with us.

That is definitely an interesting Christmas tree display on your instrument cluster!

Dittos on Larry's recommendation of swapping in a strong, healthy battery. Jags do not tolerate even slightly weak batteries.

If the healthy battery doesn't do the trick at first, try locking and unlocking the doors with your remote fob to see if that will reset the security system.

If that doesn't work, I would recommend inspecting the engine bay for wiring with rodent damage. I just had to repair a bunch of wires in the engine bay of an '89 XJS that had been chewed through, and among the symptoms was misbehavior of some of the instrument cluster gauges. I also cleaned all of the ground points in the engine bay, including the lower end of the engine ground strap (the upper end is inaccessible - it's a V12), and that improved the engine rpm while cranking.

Regarding the radio code, it was originally supplied on a small piece of paper the shape and size of a credit card. If that is not present with your car, check your owner's handbook to see if the code is written inside one of the covers of the book. If you don't have the handbook, try calling a Jaguar dealer with your VIN to see if they can provide the code. If not, there is a way to modify your radio to work with a known code. I can look it up if you strike out with the other ideas.

Cheers,

Don

 

Thank you Don, and I did find the radio code written in the user's manual. I suspect that when I change out the battery I will be starting from scratch anyway, so hopefully the "wait" message on the radio will be gone!

 

The --WAIT-- message stays on for about 10 or so minutes then reverts to --CODE-- giving you another chance to put in the right number.

Larry