Hi guys! I just found this forum as I am a very recent (and happy) F-Type owner. My car is a 2013 F-Type S Cabrio with ca 40.000 km (25.000 miles) on the clock. I have experienced some issues this and last week.. The car is going in for a check next week, but would love to get some reasons to why this is happening, as it is stressing me a little:

First problem with the car was that on Wednesday the 8th of May, suddenly when driving, the center screen just shut down, and restarted a few minutes later. This happened twice on the same day, and haven't seen this problem ever since. On the 9th, I had the car in for a transmission fluid change and the bigger 12V battery was replaced at the same time (I didn't know at this point that the car has two 12V batteries). The next problem (which still occurs) came on the 12th. I started the car, opened the roof, and it says "gearbox fault", not allowing me to switch into gear. Shutting down and locking the car clears the issue. This has been going on once in a while the whole week, clearing itself by restarting and locking the car. In addition, sometimes when opening the roof, it glitches ca 70% open, and closes slower, or when re-pressing the button, then it continues opening properly. No problems with the closing of the roof. I'm mentioning this just in case it has some relation to the other issues. On the 16th and 17th I have started to experience some other faults which occur a few minutes in to the drive (also clearing with restarting and locking the car): The car gives yellow triangles on the dash for: Traction control fault, ABS fault Emergency brake assist fault, parking brake fault, Dynamic mode not available.

I have done some research on this and possible explanations have been;

- 12V battery fault
- Alternator fault (tested, works)
- ABS or wheel speed sensor fault
- Bad earth points

Does someone have similar experiences? Should it be a simple fix, where to start?

Many thanks in advance!

Best,
Kasper

 

The first two things to check are as follows:

1. Put a battery charger or battery tender on the battery and fully charge it. Yes you just got a new battery, but there is no guarantee that new battery came fully charged. F-Types are very sensitive to battery issues.

2. Make sure after you turn the car off that the warning triangle on the dash goes out after ten minutes. If it does not the battery is being drained and you need to disconnect one of the battery cables for a minute to reset the system.

Good luck!

 

Thank you! I'll try these asap and report what happens.

Best,
Kasper

 

It is your battery at fault - meaning, that it is not fully charged and therefore not feeding various modules adequately. New batteries are rarely fully charged on installation, and often NEVER reach full charge if the use pattern is short runs.

 

Thank you! What would be the best procedure to get the batteries to full charge?

Best,
Kasper

 

Use a Battery Maintainer to fully charge the battery. (CTEK or Noco or Battery Tender are good brands).

Don't worry about the secondary battery (the smaller one towards the right side of the boot/trunk). Many owners disconnect it to disable the ECO Stop/Start system.

 

Exactly right on both points!

 

Exactly right on both points! The secondary battery only controls the irritating Stop/start system, no other function.

 

When this occurred with mine the battery was low. Exact same warnings, Gearbox Fault, Brake errors

 

The fact is that the sign of a battery issue can be almost ANY warning light, or any malfunction of any system, even when we can see no logical connection to a sub-par battery: convertible top issues, windows, seats, locks, poor performance….anything on the car that relies on a connection to an electronic module can simply be telling you that it needs more power. The amount of money and effort spent chasing “issues” that amounted to nothing more than low battery voltage is almost unbelievable. So believe this: verify the battery condition FIRST.

This is not a “Jaguar thing”; every luxury car maker (Aston Martin, Bugatti, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Maserati, Jaguar, BMW, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini….the list is very long) sells the CTEK battery maintainer under its own label, and for the reason stated above: hungry electronic modules.

 

Hey! Charged the battery over night with a CTEK. No effect, same issues. So apparently it's not about the low voltage on the battery. Is the ABS sensor the most probable cause in this case? Any thoughts?

Best,
Kasper

 

Now that the battery is fully charged try doing a systems reset.
Just disconnect the negative battery lead for 20 seconds or so then reconnect it.
Easiest way is to unbolt the earth lead running off the negative terminal from where it bolts to the floor of the boot/trunk, 13 mm nut IIRC.

 

Hi! Thank you for the participation so far! The battery was fully charged overnight, but the faults still persist. I am suspecting that it might be the faulty ABS sensor. Any advice and thoughts?

Best,
Kasper

 

Are you sure the battery is now fully charged? CTEKs do not charge batteries quickly. If the battery was really low it could take several days to fully charge it.

 

OZ so you dont actually have to remove the negative lead directly on the battery when doing a reset? helpful information to know because it looks like it is a pain to get to. Thank You.

 

Correct, no need to touch anything on either battery terminal, just unhook the earth/ground lead from the floor of the trunk/boot.
But DO NOT close the trunk/boot/hatch after you have done so!

 

yeah I found out the tough way when my battery died on me the other day that there is no way into the trunk with the dead battery

 

Hey,

Quick update with some good and bad news:

All the ESC, TC, ABS lights where caused by a faulty ABS sensor in the rear. That got replaced alongside the other 12V battery and now these work. However, the "gearbox fault" problem still persists. The Jaguar mechanincs (independent specialists) tried downloading a new gearbox software which did not solve the problem. The fault codes are related to one of the CAN buses. They are gonna further investigate the issue during the end of the week. Any thoughts?

Thanks!