So recently I ran into a dead battery with my 2007 XK. I'd only had the car a few days, and was aware of the well known low voltage issues. I jump started the car, ran it a few miles, and had a "battery not charging" notification.

I checked things suggested such as the F5 fuse between the rear seats, and bought a new battery. The battery not charging notification persisted, so I bought a new alternator and installed it myself.

Put the car all back together, and to my surprise the car wouldn't start. The dash, gauges, and radio all power up, and when trying to start there is a single "click", not nothing from the starter after that. I attempted to jump start but the single click persisted. When I disconnected the battery negative terminal, the car had just started and driven on to the ramps, so the battery had enough charge to start then, although it did sit for 2 days with the negative terminal disconnected while waiting for the alternator to arrive.

I just put on the ctek charger to charge the battery overnight, and the ctek charger says ">8hours" till charged. I'm hoping it's just simply a dead battery and a full charge will solve the issues when I try tomorrow morning (I'm working overnight).

Should the single click problem persist, what other steps should I take? Im relately confindent the alternator was installed correctly, although I'm a paramedic, not a mechanic, so mistakes can and will be made lol.

 

I think ">8hours" till charged" you probably drained the battery a little too far. Did you happen to check the voltage at the alternator when the car was running before and after alternator change?

 

I have not yet been able to start the car after the alternator change. I did not check the voltage at the alternator prior.

 

"The dash, gauges, and radio all power up, and when trying to start there is a single "click" - that indicates there was some power but probably not enough to turn the starter motor. Hopefully when the battery is full charged you are ok with the new alternator.

There is a fuse:

Battery Not Charging warning displayed - Check Fuse 5 RJB. (RJB rear junction box) although on the electric schematic it says F5 is in the Auxiliary Junction Box, which is between the rear seats.

 

I had checked F5 prior to changing the alternator, fuse looked fine. I wasn't sure if any other fuses may be the culprit. The "click" seems to be the starter getting power, just wasn't turning iver even when being jumped by my Ram 1500. I'm still hoping that it's just a dead battery, although I'm surprised the car wouldn't jump start.

 

Ya, weird it would not jump start - did you use the jump start post or across the battery terminals? - that 400 Amp fuse is maybe worth a check - what's weird is according to diagram the alternator/generator output looks to feed via the starter motor (red lines):

 

It's standard practice for the alternator to connect to the starter motor in most cars. There has to be a high current cable from the battery to the starter motor to enable the starter to work so, rather than run a second thick cable for the alternator, most cars utilise the starter cable for this purpose.

Richard

 

You might try charging the battery with a true battery charger like >10 amps rather than using the CTEK. I have found the low amp battery maintainer doesn’t have enough power to recover a really discharged battery.

 

Battery fully charged, still no start. All gauages and radio light up. Just the single "click" when attempting to start and nothing else.

 

Maybe that 400 AMP fuse in the trunk is open circuit. Worth a look. Only other thing is the starter gone poof. If you don't have a digital multi-meter it's probably a good idea to get one from your local auto parts store - usually not that expensive.

 

I'll take another look at the box in the truck but everything looked OK. Good connections and such. I'm guessing the single click is the starter getting power but for some reason it won't try and crank.

 

I've never actually checked that 400 Amp fuse, not sure if a visual check of it would help, a digital multi meter would be able to check the fuse continuity. Yes the click does seem to indicate the starter solenoid is operating.

 

Thank you everyone for the help, problem is solved. Took apart the connection from the alternator to the starter and cleaned it really well. Started right up. 16 years of dirt and corrosion was all it took to make a bad connection.

 

Good news.

 

Just wondering if that poor connection was causing the lack of charging?

 

I'd venture to say no, only because the car started fine prior, I think me taking the connection apart, using grimey dirty hands, and tucking connection away under the grimey underside while I was working likely caused enough gunk to just make a bad connection. It's also entirely possible when I initially resecured the connection I simply didn't have it tight enough either, it was done 1 hour before I needed to go to work for night shift so I didn't take the time to clean the connection and really make sure it was good.