At start up cooling fan comes on and battery not charging message appears. Generator seem to not be charging, looking for place to start trouble shooting. Any clues out there?

 

What's the voltage at your battery when vehicle running

 

To expand on what Steve just wrote:
An operating alternator will provide about 14.2 volts to the battery, depending upon battery charge state.
Also check your battery voltage while the car is NOT running. I fully kaput battery will not charge and therefore indicate that malfunction. Of course, in that state, the car wouldn't start anyway. A healthy battery will be 12.6 volts after sitting overnight.

 

Yep & yep ^^^

 

Recently, I just changed the noisy alternator and battery to avoid the drama.

 

12.5 is voltage while running, I keep a battery maintainer on. My biggest concern is that the cooling fan running at startup and staying on till after engine is shut down.
I have not driven car since this started, don't want to be stranded somewhere.

 

Your alternator is shot. It's not supplying voltage to the battery, which should be above 14 volts.
Only remedy; get a new alternator

 

Darve:
What Ceejay and Steve said.

(Don't worry too much about fan until you get bat charged and alt diagnosed. Turn off AC, it may be triggering continuous fan. If fan runs continuously regardless after sorting bat/alt, fan thermoswitch and relay need to be checked. Note: Low running voltage will create weird problems; always fix it first)

Here's a charging system primer:

12.5 while running is probably just your battery alone.
Best way to check:
- Charge battery overnight
- Disconnect charger. Burn headlights 60 seconds; turn 'em off
- Measure bat voltage: should be 12.6V+ at 60F or warmer
- Start engine; run for 3 minutes. Measure bat voltage. Should be 13.8v+ at 1,500 RPM+
- Burn lights, turn on AC and seat heaters. Bat voltage should be 13.6V+ at 1500 RPM+
- Your alternator can run as high as 14.5V while charging hard; generally around 14.0V when all is good; charged battery and hot engine

Check that alt belt is ok and snug (you shouldn't be able to turn alt pulley by hand against belt). Check wiring to alt; bat voltage at alt and decent ground at alt. Pull and twist wires and connectors. Clean to bright your battery terminals/clamps. Do not overtighten. Recheck per above. Still not OK? See below:

Folks like me still fix bad alternators, if we can find brushes, regulators, and bearings. Regulators are often the brush holders as well; replace as an assembly. Worn brushes and duff regulators most common problems. Alternately (pun?), just replace the alternator (serp belt too; check tensioner and idlers as well). Disconnect battery first, unless you'd like to learn welding...

 

Doesn’t matter how new or charged the battery is. I chased bizarre electrical anomalies on one of my other JLRs last year and even enlisted the assistance of the main dealer. They were convinced a module on the Canbus network was to blame but erratic voltage whilst the engine was running, 11 volts all the way over 17 volts had me convinced it was the alternator. So I replaced it myself, easy job, and miraculously all the gremlins vanished and the voltage remained consistent at 14.4 volts.

So yes, you’re in need of a new alternator.

 

+1 on everything that has been mentioned so far. Before doing the hard and expensive stuff, check F5 in the AJB, if it is blown, the alternator will not work.

 

I had a no crank situation: pressing the Start button did not do anything, not even any sound from the starter motor.

At close inspection, it proved that the high current 300A fuse (one of the three on the left side of the battery) was blown.
If you have this, you can see some further issues:
- with battery connected, no 12 Volt on the (+) pole below the left tail light (remove the panel).

If this is the case, you first need to make sure to remedy the underlying issue.
My engine could not be cranked manually by the front crankshaft nut: heavy resistance.


I remedied:
- renewing the engine oil, as there was having a heavy petrol smell at opening of the oil cap.
==> Instead of ca. 7 L of oil in the sump, I pumped out ca. 15 L of mixed oil, petrol and water! Clearly the engine was hydraulically locked.
- manually crank the engine without the spark plugs: engine was now free!
- replace all injectors (nr. 7 injector might not close correctly, since nr. 7 spark plug was completely clean and the others had at least some carbon colouring)
- replace all spark plugs and coil packs (not really needed, but to service the car).
- final step: replace the high-amp fuse
Lo and behold: the engine started running with huge amounts of white smoke: water vaporising from the carter and the exhaust.

Funny thing: before replacing the high-amp fuse, I actually managed to crank the engine by connecting a spare battery to the (+) pole below the left tail light..

Then, I noted that the battery was not charging.
To take out all doubts, I also replaced the (-) battery cable, carrying the Battery Monitoring System (BMS), but to no avail.

It turned out that the generator cable at the starter motor was loose. Also the generator was malfunctioning.
This was serviced at my garage, as I do not have a bridge to do this myself to replace the generator.
The battery is now also properly charging.

So I came quite some way from a non-functioning engine to a runner!

 

sbolinha

Actually, final step is thanking the Jag Gods that you didn't bend a connecting rod...

(Thanks for tip about the fusible links!)

 

I just saw on the YouTube channel Just Rolled In, a customer charged his battery all night but it still didn't work...
He had hooked up a 120 volt AC extension cord directly to the battery post clamps.

 

That Neinstein is lucky that his car battery didn't explode and cause a fire that took his house and everything in it.




https://www.electricaltechnology.org...ac-supply.html

A Neinstein is at the opposite end of the spectrum from Einstein.

 

Many thanks for this invaluable tip, considering how many battery and charging issues come up here, make certain to use DC not AC when charging your car battery, sheesh....

 

Where is the fuse?
I have the shop manual and it mentions the F5 fuse is in the RJB. But this is not in the drawing but the AJB is and seems to be next to the battery? Or is it talking about the fuse panel between the backseats? Manual also says I need to pull the motor mount to get the alternator out. (07 XKR)
THANKS

 

never mind, it is the 'alternator sense' wire fuse and it is between the seats of my convertable.
Guess I need an alternator.

 

Appreciate all the advice, suspect alternator is bad. I've been out of town since first posted, will change alternator and let everyone know how it goes.