Hey folks!
All was fine with my 97 XK8 today going to work and doing errands today. Two minutes after start up, a red warning light and " battery not charging" message along with loss of power steering occurred. There was no power loss or other symptoms other than the battery gauge low and blinking red and the air conditioning button blinking red.

Any ideas?

Nick
1997 XK8 convertible.

 

Did you look under the hood? Sounds like a belt let go.

 

Or perhaps under the bonnet.

 

I haven't looked under my bonnet yet. Too cold and dark out there. Thought I'd get some ideas for the morning

 

Yep, definitely sounds like a belt issue. I don't know how long you drove after the symptoms occurred, but the belt might have broken off entirely. If the belt is still there, check to make sure there's enough tension on it to drive the pulleys without slippage.

 

I pulled the belt off this morning and it was partially off and torn up along a long edge. The car was driven no more than a half mile since the first symptom last night, shut down in the driveway, and restarted for 10 seconds this morning.

Picking up the belt in an hour and hoping to put it in later.

Any good threads or pictorial guides anywhere?

Thanks

Nick

 

Have a look here :
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...acement-83551/

I found there wasn't enough room to get a conventional breaker bar and socket on to the nut, so had to use a smaller ring spanner (wrench ??) like in the picture on the other thread - but then wasn't strong enough to pull against the tension of the spring, so ended up with a 2 foot pipe over the end of the spanner.
That spring is *strong*. and I'm weak and feeble.

 

Thanks DevonDavid!

I'll keep everyone posted.

Might want to think about an exercise program to combat that weak and feeble
feeling...Dr. orders.

Nickc

 

Doc, if you did start and run for just 10 sec. this morning, you may have a case of cylinder wash due to raw fuel washing the oil from the cylinder walls when the engine is shut off without warming up.
If it doesn't start immediately push the gas pedal to the floor, which shuts off the injectors and turn the engine over for a about 15 sec. then let up on the pedal and see if it fires.
If that fails you may have to pull the plugs and put about 1/4 tsp oil into the cylinders of one bank to get some compression.
This may all be useless information as it may start okay, but I wouldn't want you struggling with a starting problem after fighting with the belt.

 

Thanks RJ. I changed the belt thanks to this forum and she started right up and ran in the driveway for 10 minutes. Ran it for a 30 minute test drive and it's perfect!

Thanks guys (and gals)

Nick