2007 XK

About a year ago (soon after we got the car) I had what looked like a flat battery. No power at all. Thinking I may have left the lights on or something I jump started it (folowing careful procedure) and everything has been OK since then. But I really dont think we had left lights on, door ajar etc.

Then yesterday my wife tries to start it. Nothing at all - completely dead. She (not being very mechanical) thought it was the smart key battery, inserted it in the slot a few times. Still everything dead. At this point (as she described it) I would have thought the battery was flat. But then suddenly it lit up, the engine started, and has run fine since then ( for the past 24 hours)

In the process of doing all this she called the local jag dealer for advice. While on the phone, the car started as above - so the tech at the dealer suggested maybe it is just a loose battery wire (just had a new trunk liner installed so maybe soimething was knocked loose)

Car will of course go in to the dealer for checks on this... but I am not convinced. If it was a battery connection that was preventing it starting , that normally repeats every time the starter motor puts on a big load? And maybe the problem a year ago was in fact the same issue? And a loose wire doesnt normally reconnect itself while you are just sitting in the car....

So my question is: has anyone else had any similar problem? If so please post information as well as anything that was found by the dealer. Thanks.

 

I have a 2008 XKR and the exact same thing happened to me this morning. I had to jump start the car. The active front light warning is on so I don't know what the problem is. I don't think I left a door open either.

 

how close is the key stored to the vehicle when not in use?

 

Should not be an issue. The car is about 100 ft from the key (in a detached garage)

 

has it had the service action k103? reprogramming of several modules.. especially for start stop problems and many others..

 

It has had K013 which entailed reprogramming several modules. Did youmake a typo or is there also K103 as well???

 

sorry type 0... then may need a start stop switch or a battery..

 

Car went in to the shop yesterday. Of course they couldn't find anything. So now we wait on tenterhooks until the next time.....

 

I park the car in my garage and usually leave the key in the console when it's home. Also just when this isolated problem happened the mileage to go keeps reading a different number then before. Used to always read 355 when I filled up, now only reads 330. The car has been in the shop since last Friday so will be interested to see if they find anything. I will say this that a stand alone battery booster was unable to start the car. I had to use a Mercedes and even then it did not start up right away.

 

Car was in the shop for a week and they said that the problem was the fuel sensor. It was reading "no gas" so the car wouldn't start last week. That doesn't explain why the lights in the car wouldn't go on or why the car eventually started when I jumped it. Anyone have a better explanation. They replaced the fuel sensor and now the car still reads 320 miles to go after I fill it up. I did check with my salesman and he checked a new car set to be delivered and it also reads 320 mile to go.

 

Had a similar incident a couple of weeks ago. Drove the car the day before, no problems. First thing in morning, would not crank. Lights in interior of car looked ok. Jumped the car and got it started. Drove to dealer and had some warning lights come on during the drive. Dealer tested the battery - said it was OK. We said to replace it anyway. No problems since.

 

I've had similar experience with start failure on my '07 XK. In my case when I step on brake and press the start button, nothing happens. I then let go of brake and start button and try again. Always starts on second try. This happens 1 out of every 10 times I start the car. Not a huge problem but puzzling because there seems to be no reason for it. By the way the battery was replaced about 2 months ago and this made no difference.

 

I really don't see the battery being at fault unless it is matter of factly "dead" or really low. If the lights work fine (try turning them on) and the interior lights up then it is probably something more than the battery (I would suggest checking voltage at the cigarette lighter while running lights). Having said that I also have had several (OK...two) Jaguar batteries go bad after they were allowed to discharge completely...which is I guess pretty well in line with all new batteries these days.
If you determine that the battery isn't dead then i would point to something more complicated such as the start button or something associated with it (who knows what magic is going on in the background...).
1. Does the start button turn on the ignition when pushed without pushing the brake petal? If so then it is probably something with the start circuit and maybe something associated with the brake switch (which also appears to sense pressure in the brake system from what I can tell).
2. If it does not turn on the ignition (ie center screen and lights on instrument cluster) then I would venture a guess it is more probably something tied to the physical Start Button (and this assumes that you aren't getting a key not found error...a whole different problem).
It would be interesting to hear if there is any prolific failure rate of this button (Start/Stop) which I would find hard to believe as it is a simple on/off switch and would more likely believe the gremlin rests somewhere else in the bowls of the beast....but never underestimate the ability of a car company to save 10 cents and cost you a thousand dollars....

 

I would start with the battery. It is simple to check battery voltage. When modern sealed batteries fail, they often fail suddenly and without any warning.
One of the most subtle causes of "sudden darkness" is a dirty positive battery cable connection. Most garages do not clean this connection when replacing the battery. They assume that the clean battery post is "enough".
Another area of problems are bad ground connections. Manufacturers often use cheap grounds. They can become corroded, loose or even broken. I like to add ground connections. Crutchfield has aftermarket additional ground connection kits.

 

I would agree that a bad or high resitance connection to the battery or applicable grounds could be the culprit....which would also generally rear their ugly head when a high load (IE starting car) is done. High resitance connection to battery could manifest itself an many other ways as well though...but the good news is it is easy enough to fix/verify (clean the battery terminals and reconnect). Everyone should know where their battery is (behind rear seat in convertible/coupe ) with access by removing (4) plastic knobs and then removing the cover at the front of the trunk. Everyone should familiarize themselves with the jumping point accessable from the driver side quarter as you look up into the fenderwell behind the rear tire (your wrecker guy probably won't have a clue...and neither will a person nice enough to offer a jump)...this is a lifesaver for the electric trunk release (if you don't have a key...don't ask me how i know). There are also points you can jump up front as well.

 

At least I'm not the only one, but in my case not a non-start issue. One day the power seats just wouldn't work. You don't realize how inconvenient that is until it happens. Car started, everything else was fine, just the seat would not move. I tried 3 or 4 times and finally gave up and walked away. Came back five minutes later and the seat moved. Good grief! (Wouldn't be a big deal except my setting is for my 5'4" height, the other setting is for 6'4" partner...)

 

To start the car, you must first depress the brake pedal to engage the starter interlock switch and then press the start button. Your car might not start if you inadvertently step on the brake pedal several times before pressing the start button. Pumping the brakes adds pressure to the brake lines, which results in a high, firm brake pedal. If that happens, you have to step really hard on the brake pedal to make contact with the starter interlock switch.

 

Has anyone purchased a code reader for their car to help diagnose these issues? I am dealing with a few intermittent electical issues myself. I saw an ad for CARMD recently (about $120), but would like to get something that goes beyond reading a "check engine" light. Any suggestions?

 

You might start with this thread.

Probably more than you wanted to know there!