Hi Everyone

Thought I would see if anyone here could help me diagnose a glitch I am having with my 99 XK8 convertible.

I'm having been having some various electrical glitches and was wondering if anyone can help me sort out the cause(s).

HISTORY
(1) occasionally I would get a "REAR BULB FAILURE" warning on my display. This is something occurs about 5% of the time I apply the breaks.

(2) one night I got in the car and went to close the door and it wouldn't close. What happened is that the hook on the door grasp latch was in the closed/locked position and could not grasp the corresponding part on the door frame. I played with it a bit to get it to open, and eventually did and after some difficulty got the door to close and stay closed. The car then didn't start. why? I don't know, but after some more messing around and opening and closing the door, I got it to start. It's been a month now and no more problems with the door closing, but the WINDOW MEMORY went out a week ago. Some kind people here helped me sort that out. I drove off on a hour trip. When I got to my destination I cracked the windows a bit to keep the car cooler, and I noticed the antenna didn't go down all the way (left about an inch up). When I came back to drive home the car was completely DEAD. It didnt even TRY to start up, there was NO POWER at all. Lights didn't work, the automatic truck release didn't work, etc. With the windows issue and all, I thought, "well its the battery". So I tried to jump it - with two different cars... no luck - not any response. The only thing I noticed was TWO RED WARNING LIGHTS one on the oil pressure and one on the gauge on the other side of the clock (I forget what that is- maybe the charging). these stayed on even when the key was not in. Lost, I made arrangements to get it towed to a dealership and went to get a rental. When the tow came I asked to see if we could try a jump one last time. The tow guy had a jumper kit rather than jumper cables and it started up immediately. I was a bit dumbfounded having tried jumper cables twice just 90 minutes before. Well I said let me see what happens if I cut the engine and try again without the jump. Well, this time everything worked fine. I turned on the headlights and started it. They did not dim at all (making me think the battery was fine). I turned it off and restarted it about five more times with no issue. The battery hadn't been charged, that was not likely the issue. I reset the window memory and restarted, shut off and restarted it again, so it didn't repeat the issue that had happened before, with me fixing the memory, driving and it dying.

Since I already had the rental car, I parked the jag in a safe place and will pick it up after the 3 day weekend. Clearly something is going on and now I am getting concerned about taking long trips with her.

GIVEN THE HISTORY OF THESE ISSUES WHAT DO YOU THINK IT COULD BE?

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

<p>How old is the battery?&nbsp; Typical battery life is 3 to 5 years.&nbsp; There is a date code on the battery that will help if you don't know</p><p>Have you had the battery/charging system tested- Advance Auto, Autozone - any one of them will test and advise.</p><p>rear bulb failure could be tied to battery but is most likely brake switch or faulty ground connection at the plug on the rear light housing</p>

 

Thank you for the input. I will look at the battery date when I get back to the car and the battery will be the first thing I check. However, if it were just the battery it wouldn't have been dead, not starting even with a jump, then be able to start the car 5-6 more times with the lights on and the lights not dimming when turned over. The battery "looks" new. I know that doesn't mean it is, but there is no corrosion, etc. I thought at first yeah it is the battery, but with it then starting the car over and over again when before it wouldn't start at all when being jumped, that leads me to think it is something else, given the behavior I outlined.

 

Could also be the neg battery cable has gone bad at the end that goes to the body/chassis.


Dave

 

<p></p><p>Could very well have been the battery if there was&nbsp;a&nbsp;poor&nbsp;connection between the good battery and yours or if the battery in the good car had insufficient&nbsp;charge to cause your car to kick over.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

 

For (1), this is typically an issue with the brake switch. There are tons of posts. It is behind the brake pedal, a pain to replace, but not too expensive.

For (2), although I am not personally familiar with this, there has been many reports of issues with the various cables between the battery and fuse blocks: crimping issues at the battery, and loose cables under the fuse blocks. Probably one of those pain-to-diagnose but zero-dollar issues.

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Thank you for all the input. Maybe I am missing something or I explained it poorly.... here goes, shorter version


(1) when the car was dead, it wouldn't start or try to start or lights come on, even dimly as they would with a low battery. I tried jumping the car with two other cars using jumper cables. NOTHING

(2) 2 hours later the tow guy used a portable jumper box and she started immediately. Then without the jumper box or charging the battery at all, it started 5-6 times more with lights on no problem. I could go drive it right now if I wanted.

THE CONCERN IS: The battery didnt magically get a full charge sitting there for 2 hours. I know that much. The connections at the battery terminals are excellent. I guess it could be a connection somewhere else that is loose, but the car wasnt moved and it would be odd that it would re-connect just sitting there.

I will def. have the battery tested, but I have a strong suspicion it is something else. Batteries themselves do not magically get recharged, and if it were the battery it would have started when I tried jumping it twice earlier.

If someone can explain how it could still just be the battery given the above facts, I would appreciate knowing. It doesn't make sense to me with the actions taken and the timeline.

 

99xk8guy,

Don't forget, you are only dealing with 12 volts, that's not a bit potential difference or not lot of "push" relatively speaking. It doesn't take much corrosion to isolate the terminals from 12 volts. Heck you may not even be able to see it, the corrosion. My friend I have seen bad connections, corrosion, bad terminals do this kind of thing all the time.

Excuse me if I missed it but I'm not sure if you had a chance to test the battery during or after one of these episodes. Where I'm coming from is I've seen it before: I brought my car to Autozone 3 minutes after jump starting her (the battery was dead as a door nail before the jump) and found the battery to TOK (test OK). It was a bad terminal to wire connection.

So just because you tried to jump it 2x earlier doesn't mean the battery was dead, it could have appeared flat, the jumper cables may have bit into the wrong piece of metal. I don't know about others but I've seen it many times before.

I hope we are right - it is pretty good news if this is just a swinging open connection somewhere. Good luck with it.

 

I brought the car back from where it was stranded today. She started right up, drove an hour home and seems fine. I put the battery on my charger and the battery was charged. SO IT WASN'T THE BATTERY. The terminal connections are clean, but who knows. I have a feeling it could be some hinky wiring or a relay.

All I can say is she was completley dead and unresponsive for some time then became responsive 2 hours later.

The only clues I have are :

(1) I reset the window memory right before I took her on an hour drive and she acted up right after that

(2) while she was dead the only thing working were warning lights on both the oil and the charging instrument gauges. These stayed on both, when the key was in, and when it was taken out. That is an odd phenomenon in itself. There are no oil issues with the car and as the battery is fine and the gauge shows normal charging when running, these odd warnings seem to be connected to the issue

It's the not knowing that makes me uneasy. I have driven this car from Florida to Toronto with not a single issue. she has 86k on her and runs strong. But where I spend the summer, Jag dealers are far and few between and any help figuring this out would be appreciated.

I appreciate everyone's input so far, thank you!

 

I suspect a power lead or connection - commonly an earth. Often a little dirt or corrosion. Overall, quite a few volts get through but not enough current so it won't start. Then it dries or flexes a little and all is "good". Well, no, it'll do it again

 

I am not the original owner and didnt get a manual with the purchase... would I be able to locate the leads using a manual or is this something best checked by a dealership. Electrical is not my forte, but if the manual has a diagram, I will find one and go about checking them. Thanks for the solid starting place.

 

Save yourself a lot of time. First step: Renew your battery!! These cars are VERY FUSSY about the slightest voltage variance and will give all kinds of seemingly unrelated strange problems.

Sam

 

Workshop manual JTIS is free download & includes copious electrical info. Owner Handbook is probably free from Jaguar's TOPIX - may be a link in stickies here.

 

how do you know if the trunk mounted high power fuses are bad, will this cause a power drain problem?

 

I had a similar problem and it turned out to be the ground strap from the battery. I believe it was the crimp on one end. The car was completely dead one day when I was coming home from work. Called the wife to come and get me. When she got there I touched the ground post and it was hot, and before I even jumped it the power came on when I jiggled the ground strap. I replaced the ground strap with a heavy solid one and no prob since. The terminals and ends were scrupulously clean.

 

Sometimes I think these cars are more electric than gas to begin with. Jag/Ford just did not plan it that way.......

 

woops

 

Interesting! If it were me I would check voltage of the battery then at the high power protection module then at each fuse box to be sure that power is reaching all fuse boxes. I would recommend that you capture your negative at the battery so you will need a long lead. It would be best testing when you seem to have no power. In the past several people have had trouble with the battery cables and grounds. Now remember that the starter has its own lead to the starter but starting is controlled by several switches, relays computers the other lead goes to 5 fuses boxes up front with an additional 1 fuse box in the trunk. You need to be sure you are getting power first.

 

I read the original post and I'm a bit skeptical.
You can tell your wife whatever you want, but don't come around here saying you came out of a video store.
It's like, No, Mom, that's not my weed. I'm holding it for a friend. Yeah, ok.
Did you see the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus shopping there?
Everyone knows that neither exists, not today anyway.
Maybe you were leaving the "ballet" but you don't want anyone to know.
OK, so tell us that you were leaving the gym. It sounds better.
LOL
So you were leaving the gym after a good workout and you discovered that you have joined the "failed timing chain tensioner club".
You lifted the car onto the flatbed by hand to help the driver.

Doesn't that sound better?

Seriously, if someone else is paying for the repair, you are in better shape than most.

 

Sept. of 2015 was the last time we heard from the OP. I wonder what the end of the story was ? I guess we'll never know.