Hey all - tried searching the forum to see if anyone else has this particular issue or if I have a new one. Bought a used 2003 2.5 X-Type this fall, and have loved it thus far until about a month ago. I was on my way home from work and had driven about 1.5 miles and I started to slow down, hit a small bump in the road (normal Illinois roads) and my dash lit up the ABS Light, Parking Brake light, and Check Engine Light. Also, my readout read "Gearbox Fault." Pulled over, waited about a minute, and restarted the car, and same lights/fault showed. So, I drove the car to the dealership in Limp-home mode, and dropped it off. After taking a look at it, found a blown ABS module fuse (#96) and that was causing the gearbox fault to flash on the dash. After replacing the fuse, they reset it, and drove it and were able to duplicate the same failure. After getting a hold of Jag Tech Support,they thought originally, that it was due to me changing the tires (about a month prior to this occurrence) and having to recalibrate the sensors.

Unfortunately, when I went to pick up the car, I got 2 feet out of the dealership garage, and it did the exact same thing (this time from merely applying the brake). So, there it stayed, and it took them about another week. What I was told, was that the "body harness" was causing the issue. They patched a wire past the one (that I assume) they thought was grounding, to temporarily fix the problem, as there was no ETA on when a replacement body harness would be available. Drove the car home, no problems.

Drove the car to work a couple of days later, no problems. On the way home from work, I got much farther from the original failure location, but it did the same thing, this time while turning (small road bump). Was not far from home, so took home, replaced fuse, and was able to replicate the failure by hitting the brake suddenly. So now, the vehicle sits. It's not a huge issue as I have another car, but it's not meant to just sit parked and look pretty.

Environmental factors that could have played into the scenarios where it failed, was that it was about 80+ degrees on the days that it failed. On the day I took it home from the dealership it was in the mid-60's low 70's.

Now has anyone had this happen to them? I do no think the harness is the issue (at least the actual wire), but it could potentially be the connector. However, I am leaning towards the actual ABS module as the culprit. I used to work for a instrumentation/valve company, and it is not unusual for electronics components (transducers, etc.) to pull higher amperage when warmer and short as well.

My other question is in regards to the fuse, if the issue is simply that the module is pulling greater than the 7.5A, would replacing the fuse with a 10A or 15A be of concern? I am very leary of frying the module, but if it's the culprit, it's under warranty and should be replaced.

Sorry for the long message, but I'd just like to put as much info out there as possible. Suggestions/thoughts?

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'm still leaning towards the ABS module being the culprit, but in the harness connection point (pin connector at ABS module), but we shall see if the new harness does the trick, when and if it arrives.

I've trouble shooted quite a few of this sort of thingfor stereo installs, alternator/battery issues, and window motors/switches. I know what you mean about trying to track down a short in a loom - a whole heck of a lot of fun. I'm going to try and trace the connection at the fuse block to where they put the patch wire in to figure out what exactly they thought was grounding and where. Short might be a result of worn wire and they just didn't go back far enough (if I'm lucky). I just wanted to get some thoughts on the higher fuse.

Btw, thanks for the help on the radio install. I managed to track down a in-dash kit on eBay through an outfit out of the UK. They also were able to sell me a wire harness to match up the factory harness. This issue came up right as I was about to replace the HU, so that will have to wait for now.

Sorry to hear about your ills. This dealership has been great to work with so far in terms of courtesy, but I hate having to tell a dealer what to do or how to go about something b/c that's why I took the car there. But, such is life...

 

No accidents on the car (CARFAX or myself). I'll let you all know how it turns out. I'm going to do some troubleshooting this weekend.

For the HU, I've been debating this for a while. I thought about going double DIN with the full touch screen, but I'm not sure how it will react in the winter when it gets near zero F. I'm fairly partial to Clarion, as I've always had very good luck with their decks but if I go thetouchscreenroute it will either be the JVC/Jensen. Both have very good features and very good numbers for the money.

Otherwise if I go the single DIN, it will be the Clarion DXZ775USB or Sony CDX-GT805DX (with the add-on box for USB/iPod/Aux). Both have PAC SWI jack style boxes, so I can keep the steering wheel controls (easily)and would (after adding the add-on box for the Sony) USB and iPod control.I will use the extra dash space to add RCA jacks, USB jack, potentially another 12V Cigarette lighter jack, and possibly an iPod jack (or I will wire one up to sit in the glove box). I've never had the luxury of double DIN type space in any of my vehicles (1 1/2 at most), so there's a whole lot of real estate to play with if I go the single DIN route.

I have the Premi/Alpine system (components in doors and sub in trunk), but the sub is pretty dang anemic IMO. I will be dynamatting the doors and trunk."Might" replace the mid/woofers but right now I don't have a complaint per se with the SQ. Will be adding a sub, either single 12 or 10 (if I'm concerned about space).Again, still haven't completely made up my mind on model/brand.I bought several different brands of 10's for my other car to test them to find the one I liked best (a Cerwin VMAX, Alphasonik 400 series, Pioneer, and Boston Acoustics G2). I ended upkeeping theBoston G2 (if anyone wants opinions of the others, I'll be glad to give it - I tested all 4 in both sealed and ported boxes, as well as both indoors and in car). I'd like to try something different, so I'm probably going to do another round of tests, probably testing the Clarion PX Series,MTX 7500 and two others (still debating this). Thoughts?

Depending on the power req's for it, I may use my trusty ESX Q175.2 amp (RMS@ 12V,550x1at 4, 2, or 1 ohm).If it's higher, I'll have to lookat a Class D (most likely a Kenwood KAC-X1R or MTX TC8001). I'm not particularly impressed with any Class D's out there right now in a $ vs power category. The old JBL BP1200.1 was a great deal, but the market has been pretty saturated with less than spectacular monoamps as of late (is it too much to ask for 1 ohm stability?).

I will probably replace the battery with an Optima battery as well (and of course add the obligatory cap as well).

 

I'll take a look at the Pioneer - I've run one HU, and it was fairly stable - nothing totally impressive but it did the job.I'll take a look, but it'll probably be the JVC or Jensen. I'm not worried about finding a decent price, I'll be using eBay, http://www.sonicelectronix.com, http://www.millionbuy.com, or http://www.sounddomain.com. I've ordered from all of them and never had any problems.

 

Just wanted to post an update on my ABS fuse issue, and possibly provide some assistance to anyone else who has something similar happen to them. Car was finally fixed about 3 weeks ago. I wanted to make sure it did not occur again until I posted. It was the body harness as the dealer thought, but it took them 2 months to fix (sat there for over a month). The body harness (which includes the harness connections for the ABS module) passes over a metal shelf right behind the instrument cluster. Over time, small vibration/rubbing occurred enough to wear through the corrugated tubing, and rub the ABS wire enough to short it. They found a similar issue on a car out of warranty about 2 weeks after mine had been sitting at the dealership - where other wires were grounding, and had actually started to melt. On the out of warranty car, they replaced the wires, but had to wait to get permission from their warranty support person to do it on my car (long story in itself). They took some tubing and cut it length wise and wrapped it around the shelf w/zip ties, replaced the bad section of wire, new corrugated tubing, and reattached everything and I have not had an issue since (knock on wood). They have also issued a service note to Jag, and their may be some type of service letter/bulletin issued for this as they have seen it on two vehicles.

Haven't done anything with the HU yet, as I didn't really see the point with it's ETA back from the dealer was unknown. Going with a Clarion HU, and going to try and fabricate something to mount shallow-mount sub(s) in the same spot as the Alpine/premi trunk sub (2 10's or 1 12). Will keep you posted.