I drove my wife to work Friday and noticed that the "battery not charging" light was on. I was unable to deal with it Friday and it rained heavily all weekend. Jumped it this morning and it started with no issues...

However...

No power to windows, Car will not shift out of park and ABS and TRAC warnings are lit?? I can't ever recall a situation where once the car was running there was no power to windows, radio etc. Would a problem with the alternator, voltage reg etc cause this type of issue or can a dead battery do it...

Obviously in a bit over my head in terms of knowledge...all help greatly appreciated.

 

The 'battery no charging light' is likely to be one or more of the following:

1. battery
2. alternator fault
3. broken / slipping drivebelt

Item (2) could be the alternator itself or the alternator regulator fuse. This is in the LH engine compartment fuse box. It's Fuse No 2 and is 5 amp.

You have to be extremely careful when jump starting these vehicles or damage can occur to the Jaguar's electrical system. Precautions include where the jump cables are connected (negative should never be connected directly to the Jaguar battery negative terminal) and not running the booster vehicle's engine when starting.

That's a lengthy list of electrical faults. The battery must be a suspect and, if it is failing or partially discharged, this will only contribute to the problem. Do you have facilities to fully charge it off the car and have it tested? Dermining battery condition is a first step.

Graham

 

GGG. To clarify, does that mean you should NOT have the booster vehicles engine running when starting?

 

the computers need rebooting after being drained and working on such low voltages...get that 'charging' issue checked before dropping a new battery in it too. Reboot after you get the battery (whether new or old) up to full charge.

 

Yes - Jaguar instructions for the jump start procedure are the exact opposite of what you'll have been doing on other cars for years!

The emergency start using jump leads is detailed in sections 4-8 and 4-9 of the Vehicle Care Handbook (Jaguar publication reference JJM 18 16 14/00) for the US 2000 model year. If you haven't got this, it and all the other relevant handbooks for your vehicle are available for download through this thread:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-2003-a-67827/

Graham

 

Thanks for the replies...

I disconnected the battery and had it charged (it's fine). I did hook it back up and got the same battery warning (everything else is fine). It doesn't appear that just reconnecting did any damage so I probably got lucky their. I will read the recommended material and check items noted above.

The vehicle was bought as a bit of a project. "Quality" 2000-2002 were all going in the $12,000+ range (in TX) and I couldn't find one that didn't have multiple indications of "issues". I had it checked out by both a transmission house (Business friend) and mechanic who gave it passing grades for Engine and Trans. Got it for a little under half of original ebay since the front strut mounts were shot and it needed to have the front suspension rebuilt.

Only major negative development since I got it is an oil leak at the crankshaft seal. It's not major (yet) but is obviously high on the "to do" list. Could this have caused this (oil on belts etc)??

Autozone charged battery and offered to check alternator...any chance they could cause an issue or is that a prudent way to check it??

 

Did you follow H2Oboy's advice to reboot?

Battery must be OK or Autozone would have tried to sell you a new one if there was any doubt! Now the battery is charged, you can test the alternator on the vehicle using a multimeter. Here's the Jaguar procedure for alternator testing:

JTIS - Testing the Battery Circuit.pdf

Graham