My car will not start

MTSQ

MEMBER
1998 JAGUAR XJ8
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
107,000 MILES

Well, for starters my car had been making a terrible clicking noise and seemingly losing power while idling. So my first thought was that I needed an oil change. While waiting for payday, the car sat for a week.
I went to try and start it today and it started for a moment after giving it some gas and then it shut off.
I tried to restart it and instead of turning over, the engine would not even crank instead it is making a scraping noise, even when I tried to give it gas. I do not know much about cars or engines but any ideas would be fantastic.
Thank you!

1 Reply

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
13,465 POSTS

Welcome to 2CarPros.

Well my first though is that the battery is extremely low and you can either put a battery charger on it or use a battery jump pack and see if it will start. As it sat for a week and is now that discharged I will further post that you need to have the battery and charging system tested to see if it is charging properly and the battery is actually good, once you do get it started.

Next the clicking and losing power are not good signs. Those could be low oil related. As such you should check the oil level before you attempt to start it. Ideally it should be on level ground, then take a paper towel or rag, pull the dip stick out. Wipe it off, then reinstall it. Now pull it and read the level. If it is low simply add some to bring it up to the full mark. If it is dark brown/black it needs to be changed once you get it started and run a bit.

If you can charge or have it jump started with a pack, and the oil level is okay you can make a recording of the sound and post it on this site and we can try to identify what the problem is.