new car (well new to me) and problems already!!!
Discussion
picked up my '95 x300 Sov 4.0 on Sat (private sale) car drove extremely well on the drive home and all day Saturday. Sunday morning I go to pick a mate up (about a mile away)car starts and runs no problem, I stop the engine and go in for a few minutes, we come out and it starts no problem but then about 2 miles up the road I slow for some traffic lights and it stalls, I knock it into neutral and it restarts straight away, only to stall again right away, I restart it and it drives on with no stalling, but I notice the gearbox warning light is on, so I pull over stop car ticks over no problem I stop the engine and the G/B lights goes out as normal, and stayed off the rest of the day the car seems fine no stalling no warning light. Today it's exactly the same short initial journey and it's stalling again G/B warning light on again, but as before the light goes off once it's restarted and once warmed up there's no further problems, Anyone any idea what's wrong with it?
a new battery eh, it as no problems turning over and starts right away, but I have just bought a great big Varta for the TVR, so it worth a try I'll stick that on tomorrow see if it solves the problem, are there any rights and wrongs re battery changing ?? afew years ago I changed the battery on a new Punto diesel and it went mad!! warning lights all over the shop it needed the air bags resetting by Fiat!!! a right pain in the a##e, it was under warranty so it didn't cost me anything, does the Jag need to maintain 12V while swapping the battery?
No problems whilst changing the battery - just make sure you have the radio code first though! 
That was also my first thought, the battery, when I read this thread....XJ's seem to give 'funny messages' at apparent low voltages, even though the car starts fine.
Apart from that, how many miles has it done? and is there any history of a gearbox oil change? the 'sealed for life' boxes are not for life at all, and do require an oil change; as do all the fluids to keep your XJ 'sweet'
That was also my first thought, the battery, when I read this thread....XJ's seem to give 'funny messages' at apparent low voltages, even though the car starts fine.
Apart from that, how many miles has it done? and is there any history of a gearbox oil change? the 'sealed for life' boxes are not for life at all, and do require an oil change; as do all the fluids to keep your XJ 'sweet'
just been told on Jag-lovers that stalling in gear (drive) causes the G/B warning light anyone else experienced this?
I'll fit the new battery tomorrow give that a try, but surely this wouldn't cause the stalling, I'm thinking temp related so maybe a coolent temp sensor? or EGR ? idle valve?
I'll fit the new battery tomorrow give that a try, but surely this wouldn't cause the stalling, I'm thinking temp related so maybe a coolent temp sensor? or EGR ? idle valve?
Most likley cause is the idle control valve or a random air leak. The valve could be worn or contaminated at your mileage and not reacting quickly enough to varying engine loads or you may have a leaky hose - or possibly even a inlet manifold gasket leak.
Does the car idle ok at a steady 750/800 RPM? What happens if you leave it idling and turn the steering from lock to lock, go from N to D or swich the air con on? Does the RPM stay steady as the load varies or is it wobbly and erratic?
I'd have a really careful check of all the breather and vacuum hoses to make sure none of them have perished or split and disconnect and reconnect (to clean them) all the engine related electricial contacts under the bonnet. Run if for a few days and see if there's any change.
If not then either have the car scanned to see if there's any fault codes to help find the cause or just fiting new idle control valve might be worth a try. £65 from British Car Parts.
Does the car idle ok at a steady 750/800 RPM? What happens if you leave it idling and turn the steering from lock to lock, go from N to D or swich the air con on? Does the RPM stay steady as the load varies or is it wobbly and erratic?
I'd have a really careful check of all the breather and vacuum hoses to make sure none of them have perished or split and disconnect and reconnect (to clean them) all the engine related electricial contacts under the bonnet. Run if for a few days and see if there's any change.
If not then either have the car scanned to see if there's any fault codes to help find the cause or just fiting new idle control valve might be worth a try. £65 from British Car Parts.
budd said:
thanks for that I'll have a good root about, check all the conections, pipes etc.Is it worth cleaning the idle valve or is it a throw away part?
You could try a shot of carb cleaner and a wipe and see what happens. I'd either not faff about too much though - or take care whereabouts you drive it until it's sorted - a randomly stalling car is just asking for some moron to hit it up the arse.Edited by Jaguar steve on Tuesday 10th February 14:36
Well the big cat has been on top form today, short journey into town no stalling, it ran perfectly, despite it been on it's best behaviour when I got home I had a root round the engine bay checked various connections and generally had a good nose about, the only thing of note was a bolt missing on the inlet manifold so I replaced that but nothing else seemed to be amiss I also the battery, with the new one I bought for the TVR just for good measure. So here's hoping the glitch's of Sun/Mon are just that and I've seen th last of the problems, (that's not tempting fate is it?).Another thing is the n/s headlight bulb blown what type are the bulbs and is it possible to fit HIDs? if not not what is a popular bulb upgrade?
Time will tell if it's fixed or not fingers crossed,
re HIDs, looking at the std bulb and mounting assembly, the bulb is mounted into this assembly which in turn twists into the headlight refector, the problem is this assmbly also carries the power via a multi plug whilst holding the bulb in place. This will make fitting HID bulbs very difficult unless the bulb mounting fitting is butchered to accept the HID bulb and allow the wires through to connect up to the HID ballast, it's doesn't look like a simple retro fit job. However I had HID's fitted to my preivous car and they do make a big difference to night driving the main beam often not needed so if there is a simply way to fit them they are well worth doing , because if you shop around kits are available from £50.
re HIDs, looking at the std bulb and mounting assembly, the bulb is mounted into this assembly which in turn twists into the headlight refector, the problem is this assmbly also carries the power via a multi plug whilst holding the bulb in place. This will make fitting HID bulbs very difficult unless the bulb mounting fitting is butchered to accept the HID bulb and allow the wires through to connect up to the HID ballast, it's doesn't look like a simple retro fit job. However I had HID's fitted to my preivous car and they do make a big difference to night driving the main beam often not needed so if there is a simply way to fit them they are well worth doing , because if you shop around kits are available from £50.
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