Jaguar S-type battery drain?
Discussion
Hello All,
I have a Jaguar S-Type 2002 (facelift) 2.5 V6 sport manual. When I bought the car (recently) the battery was dead and the car had to be jump started.
The car was serviced (Jag specialist) and the battery
changed (Bosch), after receiving the car back and running around for the weekend the car was left for 5 days, the car would then not start (totally dead) and had to be jump started again.
The car was sent back to the garage, after investigation they
detected a battery drain of approx 750 milli-amps (0.75A), checked after shutdown 45+ mins, normal discharge should be aprox 20-40 milli-amps(0.04A), they have informed me that they have checked out all usual suspects, interior lights, ALL fuses (pull each fuse, check drain process), door switches,phone, alarm, etc etc. all check-out OK. They have told me that the alarm does self arm which they find strange.
They are struggling to find root-cause of the drain, they thought potential issue with RECM, GECM, as they are staying active and are not shutting down. However today they had a customer car in for service, same spec as mine
(apart from Auto) and have swapped RECM & GECM , it still drains so they have eliminated this as cause.
Help!.........Any ideas how to diagnose the cause or ideas of what the cause of the drain is?, as I do not wish to fund changing expensive modules unnecessarily. The garage mechanics are ex Jag dealer techs so I don't know were to go and am getting
desperate, especially if they can't find the root-cause. The car has now been with them 11days.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
I have a Jaguar S-Type 2002 (facelift) 2.5 V6 sport manual. When I bought the car (recently) the battery was dead and the car had to be jump started.
The car was serviced (Jag specialist) and the battery
changed (Bosch), after receiving the car back and running around for the weekend the car was left for 5 days, the car would then not start (totally dead) and had to be jump started again.
The car was sent back to the garage, after investigation they
detected a battery drain of approx 750 milli-amps (0.75A), checked after shutdown 45+ mins, normal discharge should be aprox 20-40 milli-amps(0.04A), they have informed me that they have checked out all usual suspects, interior lights, ALL fuses (pull each fuse, check drain process), door switches,phone, alarm, etc etc. all check-out OK. They have told me that the alarm does self arm which they find strange.
They are struggling to find root-cause of the drain, they thought potential issue with RECM, GECM, as they are staying active and are not shutting down. However today they had a customer car in for service, same spec as mine
(apart from Auto) and have swapped RECM & GECM , it still drains so they have eliminated this as cause.
Help!.........Any ideas how to diagnose the cause or ideas of what the cause of the drain is?, as I do not wish to fund changing expensive modules unnecessarily. The garage mechanics are ex Jag dealer techs so I don't know were to go and am getting
desperate, especially if they can't find the root-cause. The car has now been with them 11days.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Leave it with the Jag guys !!!!! Have had a few S'Type's with battery drain. Has the car got a tracker ? If it has, is it wired up correctly ? Has the car got ANY after market accesories ?? I had a DSM ( Drivers seat module ) on one car that as far as I can remeber was draining on an un-fused circuit. You could suggest that they disconnect either the fuse boxes completely, or disconnect each module seperatly to try and find the cause. Has the car had any signs of water into the boot.... if the water has got quite deep in the boot it may have got into electrial harness's and could be shortin things out, or keeping modules ' Awake '.
The alarm self armm as far as I can remember is an option, if they can check/ change the options, might be worth it just as a matter of interest.
Only goto an auto electrician, if they are familiar with all the systems on the Jag, ie CAN, BUS etc. I bet the auto leccy doesn't even know about the shut down drain off.....
The alarm self armm as far as I can remember is an option, if they can check/ change the options, might be worth it just as a matter of interest.
Only goto an auto electrician, if they are familiar with all the systems on the Jag, ie CAN, BUS etc. I bet the auto leccy doesn't even know about the shut down drain off.....
Cars still at the garage (6 weeks now) after extensive investigation they called in a auto Elec specialist, he has identified controller area network (CAN) failure, they are now checking all device linked into the circuit and are about half way through, hopefully should be sorted soon......I hope (fingers crossed)
Anything further on this? The reason i ask is my dad has a similar model car with the same problem, the only difference is the car hardly gets used maybe once or twice a week, the garage just said it was normal but i suspect a car should hold a charge for a little longer than 3 days before it goes flat.
Its posible that a CAN fault can cause the modules to stay awake, they dont see the signal to go to sleep on the network, but CAN faults are usually more apparent, like a load of different things all stop working at once.
Almost every CAN network fault I ever had on 2002on S-types was down to a corroided wire in the wiring harness under the front bumper cover, sort of under the headlight area. The insulation was cut when the harness made, just a small slit, over the years water/dampness got in corroided the wire. You have to cut the harness open, remove the black outer tape, and then you can see like a green lump on one of the wires, its hard to find there got to be 50 wires or so in that harness and 2 or 3 twisted pairs.
Worth a look, takes about an hour and half or so to get the bumper off and have a good look.
But the CAN faults we had back then were always major lack of comms between modules, random dash error and electric park brake not working all at the same time sort of thing. Not just a battery drain.
Favorites for battery drain on 2002on stype are the two modules you already ruled out. I had a door module and an instrument pack play up and keep FEM awake before.
Put an amp clamp round the wires that go to the door modules, see if they pulling any amps.
Almost every CAN network fault I ever had on 2002on S-types was down to a corroided wire in the wiring harness under the front bumper cover, sort of under the headlight area. The insulation was cut when the harness made, just a small slit, over the years water/dampness got in corroided the wire. You have to cut the harness open, remove the black outer tape, and then you can see like a green lump on one of the wires, its hard to find there got to be 50 wires or so in that harness and 2 or 3 twisted pairs.
Worth a look, takes about an hour and half or so to get the bumper off and have a good look.
But the CAN faults we had back then were always major lack of comms between modules, random dash error and electric park brake not working all at the same time sort of thing. Not just a battery drain.
Favorites for battery drain on 2002on stype are the two modules you already ruled out. I had a door module and an instrument pack play up and keep FEM awake before.
Put an amp clamp round the wires that go to the door modules, see if they pulling any amps.
Holy thread resurrection but...
My 2001 S-Type was plagued with intermittent battery drain. For a few weeks it would behave perfectly, then suddenty it would drain a whole battery in 5-6 hours. Totally unpredictable and bloody annoying - I ended up carrying a spare fully charged battery with me at all times and got quite deft at swapping them over. (Of course when it did it twice in two days I was stuffed...)
Anyway, one night I drove home, locked the car and went in to the house. Then I realised I'd left something in the car and went back. WTF? the clock display is glowing brightly and the red LED isn't flashing... I think I've caught it in the act. I unlock the car, turn the ignition on, then off, then relock the car. Still doing it. Eventually I have to restart the engine, then turn off and relock. Back to normal!
So exactly what the problem is/was I still don't know, but at least I know how to tell when it's about to do it
My 2001 S-Type was plagued with intermittent battery drain. For a few weeks it would behave perfectly, then suddenty it would drain a whole battery in 5-6 hours. Totally unpredictable and bloody annoying - I ended up carrying a spare fully charged battery with me at all times and got quite deft at swapping them over. (Of course when it did it twice in two days I was stuffed...)
Anyway, one night I drove home, locked the car and went in to the house. Then I realised I'd left something in the car and went back. WTF? the clock display is glowing brightly and the red LED isn't flashing... I think I've caught it in the act. I unlock the car, turn the ignition on, then off, then relock the car. Still doing it. Eventually I have to restart the engine, then turn off and relock. Back to normal!
So exactly what the problem is/was I still don't know, but at least I know how to tell when it's about to do it
Hi Simpo Two
i have an Stype Jag 2002 model with exactly the same proble - continual battery drain - jaguar service guys cannot find the problem - have checked 3 times now -0 everything appears OK - but battery continues to fully drain sometimes takes 2 -3 days sometimes takes 10 - 14 days but it drains fully - cat will not start - after noting you found at one stage the radio module brighly lit and red security light off I have been checking - last night I found exactly the same. I activated the security to open the car - no change - locked the car - no change - started the car - back to normal.
The jag guys have checked the ignition around 1 month ago and fixed!! but still same problem - any suggestions anyone??
i have an Stype Jag 2002 model with exactly the same proble - continual battery drain - jaguar service guys cannot find the problem - have checked 3 times now -0 everything appears OK - but battery continues to fully drain sometimes takes 2 -3 days sometimes takes 10 - 14 days but it drains fully - cat will not start - after noting you found at one stage the radio module brighly lit and red security light off I have been checking - last night I found exactly the same. I activated the security to open the car - no change - locked the car - no change - started the car - back to normal.
The jag guys have checked the ignition around 1 month ago and fixed!! but still same problem - any suggestions anyone??
Eaglemcb said:
but still same problem - any suggestions anyone??
Very interesting; the same solution although mine wasn't a continual drain, just a very big drain sometimes.I knew no-one would ever find the fault because the car only did it periodically. My solution was simply to check the display and LED each time I left the car
Lucky me. I now have this issue too.
The car decharged itself after a 1 hour drive in free flowing traffic followed by 1.5 hours of queing. Followed by being parked in a field for 7 hours. (visited the Devon County Show)
Thought nothing more of it. Assuming i had left something on or something had caused the alarm problems being parked on a steep slope in a field.
Drove home, parked up, went to bed.
Woke this morning to find the battery dead, AGAIN!
Going to try a new battery.
Any suggestions as to what to try after?
The car decharged itself after a 1 hour drive in free flowing traffic followed by 1.5 hours of queing. Followed by being parked in a field for 7 hours. (visited the Devon County Show)
Thought nothing more of it. Assuming i had left something on or something had caused the alarm problems being parked on a steep slope in a field.
Drove home, parked up, went to bed.
Woke this morning to find the battery dead, AGAIN!
Going to try a new battery.
Any suggestions as to what to try after?
my only suggestion would be to sell asap it you cannot find the cause easily, your issue sounds different to mine...its a few years ago now, but my car spent 3 month with a jag specialist near Chester, they checked everything, stripped the interior and could still not find root cause of failure, they even took the bumper off to check harness as mentioned above...nightmare!in the end they put it down to a possible trapped loom behind the IP (dash)keeping boot module 'awake', car probably always had the fault from factory, was fine if you used daily, but leave it for more than 3 days it would not start... i sold the car on...would never buy another jag. (been on Mercs since...) Good luck!
Edited by Bentleyboy007 on Sunday 19th May 12:00
Edited by Bentleyboy007 on Sunday 19th May 12:02
Edited by Bentleyboy007 on Sunday 19th May 20:11
Bentleyboy007 said:
my only suggestion would be to sell asap it you cannot find the cause easily, you issue sounds different to mine...its a few years ago now, but my car spent 3 month with a jag specialist near Chester, they checked everything, stripped the interior and could still not find root cause of failure, they even took the bumper off to check harness as mentioned above...nightmare!in the end they put it down to a possible trapped loom behind the IP (dash)keeping boot module 'awake', car probably always had the fault from factory, was fine if you used daily, but leave it for more than 3 days it would not start... i sold the car on...would never buy another jag. (been on Mercs since...) Good luck!
Urgh. Thats not reassuring! Edited by Bentleyboy007 on Sunday 19th May 12:00
Edited by Bentleyboy007 on Sunday 19th May 12:02
Not sure whether to call this bad, or good luck, but now the ignition barrel is jammed and the key wont go in.
The plus side is, from reading up, a faulty ignition barrel can cause the car to not switch off completely when the car is turned off hence continuing to drain the battery.
I have an automotive locksmith booked for tuesday to sort the lock out. Bloody anoyed because i had the car booked in for a custom exhaust on Tuesday, i now wont be able to make it! Grr.
The plus side is, from reading up, a faulty ignition barrel can cause the car to not switch off completely when the car is turned off hence continuing to drain the battery.
I have an automotive locksmith booked for tuesday to sort the lock out. Bloody anoyed because i had the car booked in for a custom exhaust on Tuesday, i now wont be able to make it! Grr.
Jaguar #1: 1992-94 Jaguar sedans (Bosch reman alternators AL191X and AL192X) are prone to batteries in a low state of charge due to cooling fans staying on after the ignition has been shut off. The cause of this condition has been traced to corrosion in the cooling fan control module. To repair this condition, the corrosion must be removed from the control module, but the real culprit is how the corrosion gets there.
The corrosion is caused by water entering the ground wire cores and traveling inside the wire insulation to the module. To prevent this from happening again, the ground wire eyelet connectors on the left inner front fender panel must be disconnected and sealed with heat shrink tubing to prevent water from entering the wires again.
Jaguar #2: Owners of 1994 XJ6s and XJ12s (Bosch reman alternators AL9343X, AL192X) may get tired of taking their cats back to the car vet for repeated cases of discharged batteries. In many cases, these kitties are suffering from a feline disease known as "cooling fan run on".
This condition is brought on by corrosion in the cooling fan wiring harness connector. To cure this condition, the existing harness connection has to be located behind the front left side fog lamp. If an inspection of the harness connector shows it to be corroded, Jaguar suggests that it be replaced with a new radiator fan switch kit - part numbers JLM12040 (XJ6s) and JLM12041 (XJ12s).
Upon installation of the replacement connectors, all wiring connections should be done with the use of a "Duraseal" connector to prevent corrosion in the future.
The corrosion is caused by water entering the ground wire cores and traveling inside the wire insulation to the module. To prevent this from happening again, the ground wire eyelet connectors on the left inner front fender panel must be disconnected and sealed with heat shrink tubing to prevent water from entering the wires again.
Jaguar #2: Owners of 1994 XJ6s and XJ12s (Bosch reman alternators AL9343X, AL192X) may get tired of taking their cats back to the car vet for repeated cases of discharged batteries. In many cases, these kitties are suffering from a feline disease known as "cooling fan run on".
This condition is brought on by corrosion in the cooling fan wiring harness connector. To cure this condition, the existing harness connection has to be located behind the front left side fog lamp. If an inspection of the harness connector shows it to be corroded, Jaguar suggests that it be replaced with a new radiator fan switch kit - part numbers JLM12040 (XJ6s) and JLM12041 (XJ12s).
Upon installation of the replacement connectors, all wiring connections should be done with the use of a "Duraseal" connector to prevent corrosion in the future.
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