Limp mode again this morning!!!!!!!

I decided not to continue the "Dealer Says New Tranny" thread because this will most likely be my final thread on this forum as I exit Jag ownership as quickly as I can.

I called Lucas at the dealership and told him what happened and after a lot of discussion; his best answer to "next steps" was to get rid of the car. Nothing gives you confidence like the dealership throwing in the towel! By the way, I could hear in Lucas' voice prior to his final answer the distinct subtle tone of, "Oh God, please don't bring that car back here!". While he was very polite, the message was received loud and clear. The only two other options he recommended (which were guesses at the solution) were: a new instrument pack $1500 plus installation (if it turns out not to be the problem - warranty won't pay and I have to eat the cost) or a new body harness at $5000-$7000 plus 28 hours of labor (not covered by warranty). Neither are an option at this point.

As I am not a person to give up without a personal fight. I intend to perform the following actions as a final effort to resolve the problem.

1) Locate, clean the mass air flow sensor - Dealer never said anything about it
2) Check all of the relays again (myself) to see that they are pushed in
3) Check for cracks in the belows from the air filter to the throttle body
4) Use "dry gas" and fill up from a different gas station (I do tend to use the same one)
5) Try Leedman's filter capacitor fix
6) Check as many connections as I can find and make sure they are tight and sealed

If none of these attempts fix the problem; I am making arrangements to part the car out. I have a friend that owns a small used car lot. I will park the car there and let people buy parts until it is gone. I will take great pleasure in using a sledge hammer on any pieces left. I will not be responsible for propogating the bile (appropriate reference for a green car) this car represents. Jaguar will never see another dime of my money or anyone I can persuade.

While I have had problems with cars before (nothing to this extreme) and know that some cars can be problematic, I never had a dealeship give up on a car before! Jaguar has provided me with a first and final impression. YMMV but perception is 100% reality when it happens to you. I will post my findings on each of the steps.

 

Damn, whilst I have not followed all the some 100+ posts in the previous.

If the car was warranted via the dealer, why at this point do you not have the option of returning the car to them as being 'unfit for purpose' and either getting your money back or have them offer an upgrade car?

Right now, I guess that you are 'spitting feathers' so would I be.

NB. stick around, the forum is people based.

 

The dealership that is servicing the car is not where I purchased the car. The purchase dealership warranty was 3 months or 3000 miles. I purchased an aftermarket extended warranty and have been taking it to suggested Jag dealers.

 

Wow. Lucas must be feeling like Richard Dryfus in "What about Bob"

If someone told me this story, my first thought would be... flood car.

If you do part it don't do the sledgehammer thing. The body parts are worth $$$$ Believe me I know.

 

i wish i was a little closer so i could do some tests on it. i am going to go read through all the posts, and see if i can come up with something.

 

Is there no lemon law in your state?

 

Whatever you do, do not pay $5k for a new harness, at that point just scrap the car. 3.0's are a dime a dozen.

 

I think you need a new instrument panle i found this TSB that have most of your issuse i will try to send it to you.

TECHNICAL BULLETIN
02/2003
Subject
INSTRUMENT CLUSTER WARNINGS
Model: S-TYPE
Year: 2002.5 to 2003 VIN M45255 to M70720
Section: 413 Instrument Panel
Sub-Section: 413-01 Instrument Cluster
Summary
S413-02v2: This Technical Bulletin has been issued to address customer complaints of spurious
warning lamp illuminations (Oil, Electronic Parking Brake etc). These may be accompanied by
various system malfunctions such as fuel gauges indicating empty with substantial fuel in the tank,
speedometer needles dropping to zero, direction indicator warning flashing at twice the normal
speed etc.
The concern in the majority of cases has been temporarily resolved by carrying out a battery hard
reset.
JSB-02/03-S413-02v2 -EN Page 1 of 4
This Technical Bulletin has been issued for the change in the configuration procedure for the
instrument cluster that now includes steering column calibration, and is a replacement for
Technical Bulletin S413-02. Please destroy all copies of S413-02 and replace it with this
Technical Bulletin S413-02v2.
Action
Instrument Cluster (IC) assemblies with revised software should be installed to resolve this issue.
Replacement should be undertaken on a customer complaint basis only, with the exception that if a
Dealer is aware of any vehicle that has had repeat failures the IC should be replaced at the first
opportunity. Follow the workshop procedure outlined below.
Workshop Procedure
Note: Ensure all programmed keys and locking remotes are available.

 

Hell's Bells!

Sorry to hear this, I'm going to revise my earlier opinion and agree that you should probably get rid of it, I can't see any sense in throwing thousands at it on the off chance that you may find the fault.

Let us know how your final attampts at a fix go.

 

I think it doesn't go into "limp home" with those issues. Anyone know for sure?
If I'm right, changing it as per the above TSB won't fix anything.

 

im curious to see the electrical aspect of the vehicle. Has anyone looked at the VSS wiring yet??? or the Tach wiring yet???

There is a really good reason i am asking about these 2 wires specifically.

 

I don't know. I just let the dealer do their thing. Is this something I can check?

 

I will begin looking into this next week.

 

I thought that was only on new vehicles?

 

Ohio has protection for used vehicles also. Not as extensive as new cars though.

 

Wow, Bert, just read through ALL of "Dealer says new Tranny" and now this thread.

You certainly haven't had your sorrows to seek, I'm sorry to say. The one upside is the way that the fantastic membership base all posted away trying to help as best they could. Its just a shame that it doesn't seem to have resolved your issue in this case..

On a side note, a similar issue I had with my sons Renault Clio. Everything would be good, then bam into limp mode getting around 20mph, no power when pressing the gas, electrical warning lights, sometimes stuttering when calling for power as well.....very very intermittent too, a real PITA.

After much research, we removed the battery and cleaned all the terminals / cables and replaced with a smearing of grease...certainly helped!
We then found there was a really common issue with the wiring loom chafing in thousands of these cars causing all sorts of gremlins, but couldn't find this issue on ours.
We further checked ALL engine electrical conections for signs of wear and cleaned them up as best we could.
The throttle body was removed and thoroughly cleaned, new spark plugs and new HT leads.

The next step was to replace the coil and throttle potentiamoter, but the above seemed to clear the faults and there's been NO reoccurnece in the past 3 weeks........prior to that it happened on a daily basis at least once.

Ok, its a totally different animal, much less intricate and indeed very basic, but similar in terms of problems and possibly resolutions.

Whatever, you decide to do with your car I wish you the best of luck and rest assured we're all here to help as best we can

All the best

 

well first off, if it had a remote starter in it, make sure all wiring was removed, not just cut. If the tach line was tapped behind the cluster, and it grounds out, it will fault the car. On some units i have seen wiring get hooked up to the VSS (vehicle speed signal) wiring, and if that wire touches ground, it will fault a crap load of things. especially the tranny and cruise and Engine electronics.

im pulling at strings at this point for a logical reason this is happening to you. Also if the old installer used those god damn t-taps on the factory lines, it could be cus through and barely making contact, and intermittently losing its connection. wanna know how many times i have had to repair these issues for other shops/installers??? too many to count..................


Like i said, i am trying to figure it our based on the info provided.

 

As I was getting ready to take out the mass air flow sensor, I noticed these two issues. Take a look at the picture.

First - Inside the bellow (I don't know what else to call it) there is a vertical crack about 1/4" long. Anything I need to worry about?

Second - When I pushed in on the connector shown, the connector snapped as if it was not properly seated. I am going to drive the car and see what happens before I continue taking the sensor out to see if it is dirty.

 

Well, it can't run properly if there's a crack opening and/or closing anywhere in the intake that's after the MAF.

And it wouldn't like an intermittent connection of the MAF. Not one bit.

I'd like to think that these have somehow just occurred because for sure they ought to have been found by the people who've already worked on the car!!

edit: you may not be able to see any dirt on the sensor but using MAF cleaner could still be a good idea - though I really hope it's already been tried by now

 

Asked Lucas about the tach line behind the instrument cluster and he said it was not tapped. He did not know what the VSS wire was - so no answer there. He did confirm that t-taps had been used for the remote starter install. He said they removed as much of the remote starter wiring as possible without damaging the body harness.

While I was there I asked about the crack in the hose I mentioned and he said they did not notice it. I know where I can get one to replace mine and so I will replace it tomorrow.

As always, I appreciate everyone's efforts in helping me. Yesterday, I was venting wildly. Today, I am giving it the old college try before I kick this b*tch to the curb!