Hi guys. I'm having some weird faults pop up on my car. While pulling into a parking spot, I got a sequence of error messages and then the car was rendered undrivable almost.

I think it went: parking break error, then dsc fault. I may have even got a gearbox fault one sandwiched between those 2. The check engine light came on and it said engine management failure or something like that. At that point, the car idle increased to 1100 rpm and was running very rough. It was like the car was running on half the cylinders.

Is it possible that my worn out parking break pads are causing some kind of crazy sensor problem that are leading to the other problems?

I will add that if I shut the car off and immediately restart within 5 seconds, the error messages and rough running are still there. If I let it off for more than 30 seconds, then the check engine light remains, but the other codes are gone. I've got the error codes about 6 times over the last 20 miles and it pretty much only happend as I'm stopping or when I'm stopped with my foot on the brake.

 

Check your battery, it's connection, condition, charge, etc,

Likely dead battery or battery problem, these types of problems are commonly described on here and regularly turn out to be dead battery issue,

good luck,

 

+1 on the battery.

Seems like the car starts to revolt long before you even know the battery is bad. I had a very simliar issue going on with mine a while back but I had my original factory battery still. Just replaced last summer, not to bad for a 2003!

 

+2, its time is up

 

+3 on battery

 

That's wierd. I replaced it about a year ago with an oversized interstate. I'll check the voltage.

 

It shouldn't have failed. Checking the voltage is only useful if it shows low (means fail), as an OK voltage is not a Pass (because you need to know what it does worst case during starting and running).

I suppose low volts, if you have that, in this sort of case may point to a drain or failing alternator. Or poor connection.

 

I think it may have been a combination of night driving and turning up the stereo too loud. The amplifier polls probably about 75 A when it's going really strong. I drove the car today and the check engine light was off things appear to be back to normal. We'll see

 

75a... O m g

 

Interstate batteries (for some reason) are not up to the challenge with these cars, especially with you pulling 75 amps...

 

Is it too late for +4 on failed battery?

 

Well, maybe not failed so much as flattened and not entirely its fault. Maybe need an uprated alternator!

It may have failed, even so, as some do not like being flattened.

 

Hey guys. So I've been taking it easy on the car recently in light of the recent events. So last night I was driving home from dinner and the car flipped out after I got off the freeway and 20 miles of highway driving. There went my theory about the stereo flatlining the battery. At this point, I think either the battery is shot, the alternator isn't working as it is or I have an electrical issue elsewhere causing the battery to be drained.

I hooked up the charger today and the battery was indeed low. The battery is about 6-9 months old, so I'll see if they can swap it out. If that fixes it, great, since it won't cost me anything. In the meantime, my jag is going to be treated like a chevy volt (plugged in quite often).

 

Have you thought about switching to a red (or yellow) top Optima battery? It would help a lot more with your stereo

 

Actually I have thought about it. My friend has a sponsorship from a battery manufacturer and has a ton of those type of batteries sitting around. It is a thought, but this battery is almost brand new so I'll probably replace it and take it easy on the concert level listening!

 

so am i the only one that interpreted his symptoms as "limp home" mode.? given the fact that my car has limped on me so00oooOOooo many times prior to giving the throttle body and all the connections a thorough cleaning.. if its determined that the battery isn't the culprit of the problem, i would look into the throttle body next qwiketz

 

Chiming in, yep, time for a new battery, or the alternator is failing or both.

 

He says his battery was low. That can upset any/all of the modules and cause any kind of behaviour but has nothing to do with what you describe re TB.

 

Agreed. In a situation as described here, the battery is always the initial suspect....

 

Hey guys. As an update. I charged the battery and it went a way for a day or two. Yesterday the car was running fine until I took it out to dinner. On the way home it freaked out and the sequence went something like

=> dsc failure, parkbrake failure, gearbox fault, engine mangement system failure

Once you get to the last one, the car idles at 1100 rpm rough and is not drivable at all. It's not in restricted performance mode. It will only idle in gear and so you can only go about 3-5 mph. Once I shut it off, it started without the fault but then it happed again in a few blocks. The third time I got it, I timed it with the light so that I could get the car running/accelearating instead of idling. My thought was the additional output of the alternator may keep it from happening. I got the car home the additional mile, put it on the charge and drove it to work today. I'm leaving early for an appointment and then after that I'm going to take it over to the local autozone to get the codes pulled and have the battery tested.

I pulled the fuse from the stereo in an effort to isolate things so it's not that. I'm suspecting a weak battery but we'll see. Last night when I put it on the charger, it was once again in the middle of the low to high swing of the charger. I'm thinking that it's not really a horrible battery (since the car restarts fine and doesn't have trouble cranking) but rather that it's voltage is just low enough to cause the car to freak out under a good electrical load (such as at night).