After a long and faultless run out on Sunday, and being totally content with her performance on the day, the following morning I did a quick post-run check of fluids and a couple of very minor jobs under the bonnet. This morning I went to wake her up, and - sweet nothing! Full battery, but no power to the starter, the only stirring was a normal healthy sound from the (recently new) starter relay.

After much head scratching, visual inspection and circuit testing, plus a near dislocated hand trying to get access to the starter solenoid which revealed no power being delivered to it, even more head scratching took place.

In a mad moment of self discipline I decided that 9.30am was too early for therapy of the alcoholic variety, so instead I opted for more visual inspection. The culprit was a disconnected output lead from the relay, previously unseen and cleverly hiding out of view until I started pulling and pushing at all the leads.

No big deal in this story, but how often simple things can leave us stumped! Each of the spade connectors on the starter relay did fit a little too easily and have now been pinched for tighter fit. Maybe closing the bonnet after my tinkering on Monday was enough to finally dislodge the lead from its terminal - it might have been working its way off for a while.

Guess who is about to check every remaining connector I can find in the engine bay?

 

I have a similar issue with my starter relay not playing the game from time to time, so when it decides to not work I run a jump wire from the battery charger connector (permanently attached to battery) to the solinoid.
One day I will replace the relay.

 

Hey Tony I'm impressed with the self discipline at 9.30.......I may have just given in

 

Ah, the Humbling aspects of owning a Jaguar.........
I'm glad it was something simple, Tony, and you're back on the road.
(';')

 

Been there, done that.


My car is similar but a bit different. A generic Bosch type
relay replaced the quirky Jaguar tin can relay a decade or so ago.
Same spade type connectors, though.


The mantra is clean, tighten and at times, lubricate.


Now, my car has that "emergency crank" wire. Useful in the
early conversion days, and more recently in my starter travails.


An extra wire from the solenoid into the vicinity of battery
+. A wire cap on the bare end. Just touch to battery and the engine will crank. If the key is on "run", the engine will fire up.


CAVEAT: no neutral start protection. Gotta be d... sure the shifter is in N or preferably P.


Actually, some cars have a similar "emergency start feature" under the bonnett/hood, from the factory!!


Carl

 

Yep, another 10mins and who knows!

 

Clarke, you and Carl have both mentioned this and it sounds like good insurance. Since the solenoid is almost inaccessible from above, I'll fit something up when she's next on the ramps. Ironically, the old relay never gave me a problem, I updated it with a new Narva "just in case" to minimise risk of failure. Not the relay's fault this time though, just too much slack on the connector. BTW, I do have a permanent charger connector on the battery, makes charging really easy.