Last week my wife took the 84 Sovereign tho her office. As she pulled into her
parking spot, she saw a colleague in his ratty (editorialising mine)
old Nissan. He pulled out jumper cables and asked for help. Now, my wife knows
that there are dangers inherent in an ignorant use of these things, so she was
reluctant, but was persuaded by his note of urgency. She told me when she phone
d me a few minutes later that when he connected to the Sovereign battery, she s
aw sparks and smoke! They did not continue. I arrived a few minutes later
in the Taurus, and suppressed my natural reactions, held the guy off for a
minute while I pulled out the owner’s manual and directed him to follow the
instructions exactly. I watched very carefully as he was about to connect
the negative cable from his car to the POSITIVE of the Taurus!!! Done
the right way, his car fired immediately and he was off, leaving me with
the knowledge that he had attempted the same thing with the Sovereign, and that
the sparking and smoke were the result of a reversed connection. The
Sovereign fired up immediately as usual, the voltmeter registered just
around 14 volts as usual, and I drove it home. It was driven the next day,
many starts and stops, normal voltmeter reading. It then sat for one day
unused. Friday morning I went to start it, and barely a half a crank from
the engine. It took a couple of minutes before I made the mental connection.
This car has never given the slightest indication of any problem, let alone
an electrical one. The battery is a powerful 850 cca group 74 bought only
a few months before. You have heard the joke about the fellow who had
two Jaguars just so one would always be available for use? Well, I do have
another Series 3 with the same battery, even newer. I swapped it in,
and the car fired immediately and throughout the day the starter was heard to
spin very quickly, the voltmeter registered 14 or so, etc. Before condemning
the battery I had the alternator output checked. Normal, said the shop,
although my mechanic told me that the fiasco could well have led to alternator
damage. The misused battery was put on a trickle charger, and it showed an
almost total discharge. Here is my question: I am assuming that the idiot
misconnector destroyed the battery (it eventually took a charge after a
number of hours), but I am now concerned, after reading that alternators can dr
ain the battery even when the engine is not running (yes, I read the refutation
) …Could the misadventure have caused alternator damage which subsequently dr
ained the battery, even though a function test showed it to be charging well?
I don’t really want to find my second (new) battery drained?
Opinions please.
Gregory Andrachuk
Victoria, Canada
How frustrating, Gregory. Why not put an ammeter in line with the
battery with the engine off, and see if there is a current drain? If
there is, you can unplug the alternator and see if it goes away.
Craig> -----Original Message-----
From: owner-xj@jag-lovers.org
[mailto:owner-xj@jag-lovers.org]On Behalf
Of Daddy
Sent: 18 October 1998 18:47
To: xj@jag-lovers.org
Subject: [xj] Sov. battery problem
Last week my wife took the 84 Sovereign tho her office. As
she pulled into her
parking spot, she saw a colleague in his ratty (editorialising mine)
old Nissan. He pulled out jumper cables and asked for help.
Now, my wife knows
that there are dangers inherent in an ignorant use of these
things, so she was
reluctant, but was persuaded by his note of urgency. She told
me when she phone
d me a few minutes later that when he connected to the
Sovereign battery, she s
aw sparks and smoke! They did not continue. I arrived a few
minutes later
in the Taurus, and suppressed my natural reactions, held the
guy off for a
minute while I pulled out the owner’s manual and directed him
to follow the
instructions exactly. I watched very carefully as he was
about to connect
the negative cable from his car to the POSITIVE of the
Taurus!!! Done
the right way, his car fired immediately and he was off,
leaving me with
the knowledge that he had attempted the same thing with the
Sovereign, and that
the sparking and smoke were the result of a reversed connection. The
Sovereign fired up immediately as usual, the voltmeter registered just
around 14 volts as usual, and I drove it home. It was driven
the next day,
many starts and stops, normal voltmeter reading. It then sat
for one day
unused. Friday morning I went to start it, and barely a half
a crank from
the engine. It took a couple of minutes before I made the
mental connection.
This car has never given the slightest indication of any
problem, let alone
an electrical one. The battery is a powerful 850 cca group 74
bought only
a few months before. You have heard the joke about the fellow who had
two Jaguars just so one would always be available for use?
Well, I do have
another Series 3 with the same battery, even newer. I swapped it in,
and the car fired immediately and throughout the day the
starter was heard to
spin very quickly, the voltmeter registered 14 or so, etc.
Before condemning
the battery I had the alternator output checked. Normal, said
the shop,
although my mechanic told me that the fiasco could well have
led to alternator
damage. The misused battery was put on a trickle charger, and
it showed an
almost total discharge. Here is my question: I am assuming
that the idiot
misconnector destroyed the battery (it eventually took a
charge after a
number of hours), but I am now concerned, after reading that
alternators can dr
ain the battery even when the engine is not running (yes, I
read the refutation
) …Could the misadventure have caused alternator damage
which subsequently dr
ained the battery, even though a function test showed it to
be charging well?
I don’t really want to find my second (new) battery drained?
Opinions please.
Gregory Andrachuk
Victoria, Canada