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I bought this car in March 2016 and though there has been few quirks (Blind Spot Monitor malfunction intermittently, gearbox faulty warning), I have managed. This past Sunday, my nightmare arrived and I hope you guys can help.
Day 1: I drove the car Saturday night without any problems and tried to drive on Sunday but the gearknob stuck in P. I was able to get the engine running, gearknob rises, brake lights work, I pressed onto brake pedal hard but could not turn out of P. The check engine light came on.
Day 2: Having researched online, several possibilities include fuse, parking switch solenoid not detecting my foot in brake pedal, common issue with the gear knob incited a Technical Service Bulletin in 2010.
I called my independent Jaguar mechanic here in Toronto and he cannot do house calls because he doesn't have time and needs tools in his garage to check any issues. Local Jaguar dealership service dept says they are not insure to work off-premises.
I found a Jaguar Land Rover manual on transporting vehicles to engage the gear to N so at least I could move it or attempt to sway it (to unlock a jammed parking pin) but I couldn't turn the override slotted dial cause I couldn't turn it far enough with my coin.
2009 Jaguar XF emergency park release, picture of centre console
Day 3: because the coin I used was too thin to turn the dial, I thought of using the end of a teaspoon which successfully turned the dial 90° as instructed. This allowed me to lift the red strap to engage Emergency Park Release (EPR) so I could turn the dial to gearknob N but the knob didn't budge as expected.
The Jaguar instruction wasn't clear but I discovered I need to lift the red strap and accompanying lever to vertical position in order for gear to be in N (no need to turn gear knob).
Jaguar XF Emergency Park Release lever needs to be lifted to vertical position
I managed to push the car a little, 2 ft / 1 metre, but car failed to start when I entered the car.
I returned the Emergency Park Release (EPR) to it's original location but dash warning says Gear not in Park.
Now the Gearbox Fault is lit up.
I tried to start the engine and it seems like my battery has drained and radio, lights barely come on when I enter the car. This battery was installed 11 March 2016 (now I suspect a battery leak problem in this car).
Jaguar XF stuck in P battery warning
I live in a condo with underground parking. My parking ramp is circular and I don't even think a tow truck can pull my car out of garage.
My best choice is if a tow truck can pull the car out. If not, I'd have to recruit 10 strong men to help push the car up the ramp to ground level for tow truck to pick it up. I am lost!
I want to cry. Any advice would be sincerely appreciated.
Last edited by tangjasonjaguar; 06-01-2016 at 03:50 PM.
Sorry to hear about your issues. First thing I'd do is get a battery charger on it so you have power. Lots of electrical gremlins when power is weak so hard to know what's real and what's phantom
Also worth checking if your car had the faulty gear sector replaced - the early 2009 cars had a dry joint on the circuit somewhere that gave an intermittent fault. Would be surprised if it wasn't already done - but if not that could be your issue.
It does appear you have severe battery drain if that's a brand new battery. So maybe a contributor
But assuming you can then start the car and still not get it out of park I'd suggest doing the gear release mechanism and have it towed to a dealer or to an Indy who knows jags well. I'm sure a reputable tow company will be able to get it out of the garage. I wouldn't go to an Indy that doesn't know these cars as they may spin around trying to fault find. Dealers are not cheap - so once you have the diagnostics done you can revisit if you have them do the work itself or take it elsewhere
What a massive*******.
The early fault lights are a little indicative of what can show up as a low battery problem. Even though the battery was replaced it's not unknown for a bad one to crop up from new, and it would be unfortunate to say the least if all these problems were just due to a bad battery.
Did you check the voltage of the new battery after installing it and check that the terminals were properly tightened?
I'm just trying to think positively here as it would be much cheaper and less grief to just buy another new battery and test that before getting it towed to a dealer. and it wouldn't go to waste.
Day 5. I purchased a 12A battery charger. When I went to the garage, 24 hours since last visit, the car engine started and the gear knob rose as normal but still cannot shift out of P.
So I attempted to plug in newly acquired battery charger to car battery but the charger cable is fused too tight. Once I clamp onto positive side of car battery, the cable cannot stretch to the negative side which is centre of the boot (middle of spare tire).
Even though the engine started, I was wanted to charge the battery to ensure that the voltage would be full but I was unsuccessful. I have to return the battery charger and try it again with different charger with a cable that has a longer pos-neg split.
I will also be calling tow companies to see if anybody can get out of my garage because it is a circular ramp which means the car would scratch. Video of my garage
The negative lead doesn't have to clamped to the spare wheel tie down rod, any earthed nut or bolt near the battery will do. I use the body end of the battery tie down clamp.
On most automatics with the 'P' position until the brake pedal is depressed, it is the brake light switch. I had the same problem on my wife's New Beetle.
Do the brake lights work ? Even if they do, I would get this switch checked out.
Other thing not unknown is for the transmission cable to be loose where it enters the transmission and giving false indication to the gear selector assembly.
On most automatics with the 'P' position until the brake pedal is depressed, it is the brake light switch. I had the same problem on my wife's New Beetle.
Do the brake lights work ? Even if they do, I would get this switch checked out.
Other thing not unknown is for the transmission cable to be loose where it enters the transmission and giving false indication to the gear selector assembly.
The brake lights work. How can I check the brake light switch?
How can I check if transmission cable is loose?
I am not handy like that and follow youtube videos and clear instructions. Mechanics refuse to do outcalls because they don't have their tools.
Mate. have you checked the battery yet?
Charge it and check the voltage across the terminals. Anything below 12.5v with the engine not running and it will be causing a miriad of false warnings and potential problems.
If you haven't got one buy a cheap multimeter (probably around $10)
Do yourself a favour and get this sorted before you do anything else. Get the electrics working properly and do one thing at a time, then test. If that doesn't work do the next thing and test.
Doing lots of things together without testing will get you nowhere,
Mate. have you checked the battery yet?
Charge it and check the voltage across the terminals. Anything below 12.5v with the engine not running and it will be causing a miriad of false warnings and potential problems.
If you haven't got one buy a cheap multimeter (probably around $10)
Do yourself a favour and get this sorted before you do anything else. Get the electrics working properly and do one thing at a time, then test. If that doesn't work do the next thing and test.
Doing lots of things together without testing will get you nowhere,
I think the OP made this more difficult that it needed to be by not focusing on a towing contractor that could just fetch the vehicle and get it to a shop.
I finally got it out of my underground garage which i mentioned has a circular ramp and low ceiling. Only one tow company in Toronto had a tow truck that was low enough to squeeze into my garage. It wouldn't pass even if it was 1 inch taller. The tow driver works tight spaces and even he said it was the craziest challenge. After towing up one level, he had to unhook the car, reposition the Jaguar XF by pushing it and re-hooked it to move another level upward to ground.
My indy jaguar mechanic diagnosed it as the faulty transmission selector module. He said there was a gear and belt within that cause the gear to be tuck. He located a replacement from a Jaguar dealer. This replacement was available because the start/stop button had faded and the dealership provided the owner with a brand new unit. Mike (the indy mechanic) substituted my original start/stop button onto the replacement transmission selector module.
second hand transmission selector module - 300 $CAD, labour 250 $CAD.
Welcome back..Got any pictures of the replacement Module now installed? Looks like the old module took a beating getting it out..and did this actually fix your problem?..You never really mentioned if it did.
06-01-2016, 02:52 PM
2009 XF stuck in P nightmare
