Auto Transmission Failure

[franrca]

Hi All

Now the car is garaged and used less frequently I appear to be experiencing more issues than when I was using it daily - the latest...

Yesterday I went through the regular process of charging the battery to get the car started - it's not currently holding it's charge and is running down within a week despite being bought about 6 months ago (i.e it's not ancient)...that's something I need to look into.

The difference on this occassion was that when I charged the battery a really loud vibrating type sound was coming from just behind the passenger side headlamp and the tone of this changed depending on whether it was on trickle, rapid or jump start.

This sounded quite worrying, but as I couldn't smell any burning I kept at it periodically (perhaps stupidly). It's weird - whilst all the lights etc worked, it just wouldn't start, even in the jump start setting.

After a long time the noise stopped and suddenly the jump start worked and the car fired up.

Now the auto transmission light is on and on checking the car running, it's not in limp home mode, but is listless, acceleration is down - no sport mode and no kick down...so driveable, but like a 1.6L engine (1980s!)

Any idea what the weird vibrating loud sound was caused by? - I'll take it into my garage when I can, but just wanted to see if anyone had any idea as to what I've broken this time.

thanks for any suggestions

Richard

[steve_m]

When you say it wouldn't start, was it turning over and not firing or not turning over at all?

[franrca]

Just a quick follow-up; started the car this morning (after small effort) and it's running and the warning light is now off. Given it's snowing at the moment, I can't take it out and tell if that is an accurate reflection of the car's capability, but clearly things aren't right.

@steve_m - At first nothing whilst the loud noise was happening and then it was doing the clicking noise (starter motor I assume) and eventually once the noise had stopped it clicked faster and then fired up.

[steve_m]

I'm wondering if the alternator has been damaged.
From memory the diode pack can fail causing it drain the battery down and cause all sorts of problems.
A 6 month old battery is no guarantee that it is still any good and these cars are very sensitive to low voltage problems.
My V12 won't turn over slowly if the battery voltage is too low; it either turns over properly or the starter relay just clicks in and out repeatedly.
At least the transmission warning light has gone out!
If you are having problems keeping the battery charged then invest in a Ctek or similar battery charger/conditioner; well worth the outlay.
Others with more experience will chime in once they are back from Sunday lunch down the pub!

[franrca]

Thanks Steve - is there a CTEK model that you would recommend? I do think I'm doing more damage by my constant charging of the battery and jump starting, so a conditioner seems to be the way to go (as well as fixing the draining issue).

[ptjs1]

Richard,

I suspect that the noise behind the passenger headlight will be the alarm siren. When an XJS goes battery-flat, then is reactivated, the alarm kicks in and depending on the level of voltage (and the state of that horn) it can make weird noises.

I suspect that when you got the battery voltage above a certain level, the alarm cut out and the car then started.

As regards the auto transmission, there is a likelihood that the fluid drained back from the gearbox into the sump and may have got unhappy when first run as the fluid level in the valve chest etc could be low. Drive the car a few more times, check the level using the proper procedure and see if everything goes back to normal.

2 thoughts:

- Always keep the battery topped up using a trickle conditioner. The ones I have are CTEK MXS 5.0. A really good model. But look carefully at prices. There are massive differences so look around on ebay

- Drive the car! The Jaguar gods hate their cars not getting regular use and try and teach the owners a lesson by showing them the folly of long-term lack of use!

Cheers

Paul

[steve_m]

+1 on driving the car; Jags hate not being used and will let you know in all sorts of nefarious ways if you ignore them.
The alarm thing never occurred to me because I have had 5 XJS' and none of them had a working alarm.

[3.8etypephil]

I can only emphasise the advice given to use the car; it's not just Jags which don't respond well to being idle, when I ran my repair and restoration business, I had several TVR and Lotus customers, those using their cars as daily drivers suffered far fewer problems than those who had hobby / sunny day cars.

[franrca]

Thanks all.

I did wonder about the original alarm (although it's semi-disconnected and I have a modern alarm and immobiliser fitted to replace it), but discounted that, to an extent, once the auto-transmission issue kicked in. I reckon you're right though Paul.

I do try and use the car every 2 weeks or so now for at least the prescribed 30 miles (as you have discussed on another thread), but I lapsed yesterday by just running it in situ. The rubbish weather is what kills me

I'll have a look at the CTEK MXS 5.0. with a view to buying asap, although there's something else going on draining the battery which I'll need to look at - may well be the alternator.

I have read that a battery charger on regular trickle will kill a battery, so assume a charger/conditioner is kinder.

[ng4xjs]

I'm having to use mine at the moment which is not ideal. Just driven back from my parents in Yorkshire to Kent o Sunday. I don't have snow tyres and in truth just a tad interesting at times. I've taken to cleaning the wheel arches with one o those water-less solutions to get rid of the salt. Hope to have my AWD X Type available next week (my wife has commandeered it). What do others do?

Nick

[Tintin]

I'm afraid I'm a bit of a wimp and don't take the car out in salty conditions. If I did and I wanted to be rid of the salt that had splashed up underneath, I would probably take it out again and drive through a bunch of puddles as soon as a spell of very wet and mild weather arrived - to rinse it all off!

Robbie

[franrca]

I've booked the car in for mid Jan, but it's currently a non-runner, so getting it to the garage will be interesting.

Current symptoms:

Battery isn't behaving, but I have a jump starter charger, so getting it started shouldn't be an issue if this were the only problem.

Just turning the key in the ignition starts the wipers which again appears to be a symptom of electrical issues and there's a low hum, but no firing or even ticking - that's without the battery being hooked upto the charger...open the door and the interior lights go on etc, so it's not dead...but probably not enough to start it up.

Worryingly there's a little pool of water that appears on the floor under the manifold when attempting to start as above. It's not a flood and doesn't appear to have any relationship with the radiator.

Is any of this suggestive? The leakage is odd.

I'll most likely get green flag out to try and start or trailer it at the required time, but just wondering.

[ptjs1]

Richard,

It might be an idea to do a couple of things before you send the car in. You could save yourself a bit of money if you can give the garage a clearer insight as to the problems.

Be very clear about the battery issue. I suggest you do two things:
- disconnect the battery today. Measure its voltage. Connect the charger. Measure the voltage whilst charging. After 24 hours, measure voltage again whilst still charging. Turn off charger and disconnect. Aftre 5 mins, measure voltage.

- If voltage above 12 volts, reconnect to car. Wait 2 minutes. Measure voltage at battery terminals. Now measure at at bulkhead terminals. If any noticeable difference, there's a problem in the electrical leads to the front of the car (and thence also the starting circuits).

- Check out the "water" leak. Which manifold side? Inlet side = lots of coolant pipes. Exhaust side = less so. Is it really not coolant? If engine is cold and it's not coolant, that's a bit weird. Most coolant pipes can't really leak "not much" coolant just on churning the starter, but a leaking water pump housing might do that.

Good luck and do let us all know what is the outcome.

Cheers

Paul

[franrca]

Thanks Paul - will disconnect the battery and do so diagnostics as suggested plus will try and find out more re this new leak.

BTW, I got the CTEK 5 gizmo and plugged it in - it stopped on step 5 with the error light...i.e. battery unable to hold the charge.

[BigCatXJS]

I'm afraid I'm a bit of a wimp and don't take the car out in salty conditions.....

I'm with you on this. I DO lay mine up for six months to avoid this and the inevitable tin worm that does not require much encouragement with the water and salt. I'm lazy and cannot be bothered to keep cleaning the car after each dirty run either!

Richard - sorry you are continuing to hit issues with the XJS Hope that you get the issues resolved soon.