Hey guys..

I've had my S-type for a couple months now.

It's an 03 3.0

Ever since I got it, the car whether stopped or in motion, the instrument cluster will randomly chime. Sometimes 2, 3 series of chimes in a row, other times just one.

There are NO warning lights or other issues with the car on the instrument cluster. Just this random chime. Sometimes it happens when u first start the car and pull away, other times when the car has been on the highway for over an hour....

Makes NO sense. Anything I should look for or check, possibly a setting or something like that??

Thanks in advance,

George

 

Very interesting (and frustrating, I know). Reminds me of the days when Jaguar (along with every other British marque) was notorious for electrical problems rising right out of thin air....

Random chiming without any information being displayed on what they mean makes me suspect an intermittent wiring or fusebox problem. I would start by pulling, inspecting, and re-seating every fuse in the vehicle. I wouldn't be surprised if you find one that isn't fully seated or perhaps even burned out....

One of your door actuators could also be flaky. With your key in the "on" position, open and close each door to ascertain that all of them properly activate the "door open" chime and then properly shut it off when the door is closed. If they all seem to function properly, I would still go ahead and lube each one of them with a dab of white lithium grease to keep them working just in case....

 

I rarely hear a similar an unidentified chime too . Are you driving your car with your locks on or off ?
This is what happened once . While driving with my door locks on , I just press the power lock button in the dash and just as my all doors unlocked and I heard a chime without any warning lights / messages .

 

there's a member in the XK8/R forum who is complaining of the same thing. You should read his thread and see if it may be similar in nature...maybe together you can resolve it.

Here it is.

 

What weather have you got? Is it a cold/ice warning, maybe?

 

It's cold. Near freezing during the day, well below in the evening.

My other cars have done that, but combined with a snowflake or blinking ext temp warning or something like that.

I'm going to check the door pins to make sure the car doesnt randomly think it has a door open... (Wouldn't it say that in the dash though??? like xxx door open??)

H20 boy, I'll go ahead and check out that XK8 Thread.

Thanks,

George

 

Random stypes randomly chime, jaguar was aware but never came out with a fix way back when. And no one ever identified why or when it would do it.

 

I am not sure of the reason and my 2005 S Type does not have random chimes. I also have a Lincoln LS which has a very different electrical system. But the LS also has the same complaint. Random and fairly wide spread chimes. One lucky thing is several Ford engineers frequent the LS boards and give excellent answers. One engineer stated that Ford had investigated the LS problem and came to the conclusion that the beeps were from data collisions on the cars electrical network. They really did not mean anything other than a data error. This seems to be confirmed by several LS guys actually seeing "Data Error" displayed on the DIC (Driver Information Center) when getting the random chimes.

Possibly this could be one source of these random chimes??
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Anyone have an electrical troubleshooting manual for the S-type? I have a pdf of one for my x-type, but not for the S..

I'm an EE, I actually have a phd in DSP, so maybe we can bring this back from the dead.

Did the Ford guys get anywhere with resolving the issue? Or they still have their hands up in the air?

If it was a can bus or data bus fault, I wonder why there would be no error on the dash. Or a flicker or something.

Also can anyone direct me to the LS board threads to see what has come about there...

Thanks for all the help.

George

 

It's an 03, apparently, so less like an LS than the earlier cars.

You can easily get electircal diagrams etc - get JTIS. Cheap on an auction site.

I'm interested in the useful LS boards to read, too

 

The LS discussion is inside a pay Lincoln LS site. So no links. But what he did say was no fix was found and no real problem outside of the beeps and several different error messages. Sometimes a "Data Error" ,"Gear Select Error", "E". Also said it could be TCM (Transmission Control Module) and the PCM communication errors. The LS uses a CAN bus system.
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Here is a copy of a partial discussion of the "LS Mystery Beep".


Originally Posted by LS4me
This is well documented. It is a momentary communications failure between the pcm and the transmission computer. It is nothing and a "cure" has never been found.
Not always. Mystery beeps have several possible sources. They do store a code that the factory scan tool can retrieve (if done soon enough after the event.)
I have seen mystery beeps caused by momentary comms failure to the REM, and by momentary steering angle sensor failure. I'm sure there are others too. Almost any minor electrical glitch could show up as a mystery beep.

I view them as a software bug. The software should either completely ignore events that correct themselves in less than a second, or it should keep the message up on the screen long enough to read it.
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Most serial databus and communication standards are designed for infrequent bit errors and data collision (if there are multiple devices on the bus) especially in a noisy environment. If so, the infrequent but expected bit or collision errors won't trigger a OBDII fault. Seems like this may result in some unexpected and random behavior. On the otherhand, if something stops responding or constantly gives a wrong reponse, its possible to trigger an error code.

 

The only random chimes I get on my 06 are when heavy rain or snow sets off my parking sensors. I also get an occassional chime if I'm moving slow in heavy traffic through town and some jackass is riding my rear bumper.

Regards:
Oldengineer

 

I downloaded the JTIS from this site but haven't set it up as of yet. I didn't realize that it had comprehensive electrical diagrams. For my x-type I actually had found an electrical troubleshooting manual, that had EVERY wiring diagram for the car. Fortunately the audio systems (which is the one thing I've used it for, are pretty much identical in the two cars).

I get a constant tempo chime... Ding Ding Ding Ding etc... Almost the same as a door ajar, or key left in the ignition.

My parking sensors when triggered (in reverse) have a higher pitched almost squeal like sound. Plus the tempo varies based on proximity to the sensed obstacle. Are the parking sensors even enabled on my 03 except when the car is in reverse?? Seems kind of pointless to have them enabled except when the potential to back into something exists. I wonder if that could be the culprit though... Something triggering the parking sensors in drive. I guess that could be tested easily enough by having someone manually trigger them while sitting in the driveway or something.

More to come...

Thanks for the help,

George

 

I was thinking parking sensors as well. Last night I pulled up at a stop light and a guy stopped behind me so close the sensor tripped and kept on going. I finally realized what it was but was helpless to stop it except shifting to neutral.

Eric

 

I had a problem with the reversing sensors too, they sounded in all gears and in wet weather, the module was replaced in the end.

 

I have a button on the overhead console that will cancel the rear sensor chime.

 

Anyone know if this is present in an 03?

It definitely feels as though the car has some sort of error that it wants to display, however the error doesn't last long enough for the car to display it, but once the chime sequence is initialized, the car proceeds with it.

Do the parking reverse sensors, and the dash chimes (door ajar, error message on dash etc) share the same chime / speaker?? My ears tell me know, but I guess it could possibly produce different frequencies depending on how it is activated.

George

 

no, park aid speaker is below the back parcel shelf, the random beep I reffered to earlier post is a BEEP, not a chime