Hello all! I have an 04 Jaguar XJ8. The other night I came home reversed the car into my parking stall, shut it off and the next morning I go to start her, and no crank. I turned the key to the on/acc position and was greeted with a slew of fault codes including, trans fault, dsc not available, air suspension, park brake, etc... on attempt to start the car, car does not crank. I noticed the shifter was stuck in park, and that the solenoid was not actuating when the brake was pressed. the brake lights do illuminate though. I crawled under the car and checked the bracket for the shift cable and it was good. I then disconnected the lock mechanism attaching to the solenoid under the j gate and am able to shift the car into all gears now. Unfortunately on the j gate the neutral indicator stays lit up regardless of what gear the car is in. I don't believe I here the fuel pump prime either when the ignition is turned on. Im assuming the problem has to be electrical as the car ran flawlessly prior to being parked. I volt metered the battery and received a reading of 12.2 volts. I also checked the "F33" fuse and it was good. The only things I have yet to check are the transmission range sensor as well as the starter really. I will be doing that today. If anyone has any input or any trouble shooting advice, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm looking forward to getting this car up and out on the road ASAP!

 

It is possible that your battery has failed-they can fail'just like that'!

I suggest you remove battery and have it tested by putting a load across

and observing voltage drop. NB A test with a hand held electronic device is no good.

 

+1 on battery.

 

12.2 is too low. How old is the battery?

 

Thank you for the advice! I will get the battery load tested tomorrow, I've had an experience before where a battery tested over 12v but had a bad cell and failed under load. I'll start with making a 100% sure the battery is good and the car is receiving the correct voltage! Keeping fingers crossed this is an easy fix.

 

How old is the battery?

 

+1 Battery.

 

Read the error codes if any. You might be looking at a CAN bus error. In any case, read the codes and post.

 

Well I got the battery load tested and it turned out to be bad. Assuming that was good news i bought a new battery, but that did not solve my problem. Then I remembered about the hard reset, so I turned the ignition to on and left the battery leads together for a while. Unfortunately that didn't solve my problem either. So now I have a new battery, so that's good. I can't read any codes with my OBII reader, it keeps saying error. Same with my scanner thing that does the live temp. and such. I found that strange. The "N" for neutral on the "j-gate" stays lit regardless of what gear the car is shifted into. I did here a strange clicking noise upon shifting the car into neutral. Pressing the brake does not actuate the shifter lock solenoid. It's still throwing every fault in the book ABS, Air Susp., Transmission, Park Brake, etc... Are there any additional fuses other than the "f33" that I should check? Please explain this CAN data stream because I guess its tied into the brake switch and j-gate. I'm starting to get frustrated. What could cause it to mess up over night? Thank you all for your input!

 

check the 2 bolts for the shifter cable on the side of the transmission. Odds are they are either loose or missing. I believe that is the source of your lack of shifting issue.

 

That was one of the first things I did, both bolts holding the bracket for the shift cable are nice and snug. What would cause my scanner not to be able to read any codes?

 

Generic scanners cannot read all the Jaguar codes. Sometimes it is a bad earth that causes a lot of problems. For instance there are three earthing points behind the headlamps that corrode and even in bad cases break off, and cause all sorts of faults to be displayed. Of course this may not be your problem, but its worth checking anyway. If you lift the front plastic cover over the radiator you'll see them, two on one side and one the other. Are they secure and not corroded. Be careful, as the stud and nut is aluminium, and if corroded will break off with a slight spanner action, thus forcing you to replace them.


However, I'm fairly sure there was a Technical Bulletin issued by Jaguar some years ago when these cars were young that addressed the issue you are reporting. Only a main agent, or maybe a Jaguar specialist can tell you. A search of this forum for the X350 may find something. Has anything been done on the transmission recently ? There is a socket at the back of the tranny that takes a plug providing information to the TCM that's inside the gearbox. If one or more of the pins gets dirty or contaminated, data cannot be exchanged and error codes result.

 

I made sure the scanner that I bought could read Jaguar specific codes. I've used it both on the xj8 and xjr, but now it just keeps coming back saying error. I checked the grounds behind the headlights and all the contacts were good. I realized today also that I cannot get the car into neutral. Even though the Neutral indicator light (N) is lit on the"j-gate" and the shifter in neutral, I cannot get the care to move. I attempted to adjust the shifter in different positions then try to push the car, but i couldn't get it to budge. Tomorrow I plan to get back under the car and inspect the shift cable and see if I cant manually shift the trans into neutral and get the car to roll free. I forgot to mention that when I parked the car, I had reversed into position, then shifted into neutral, set the parking brake, and then shifted into park. When the parking break was removed, the rear wheels slightly rolled off the drive way into the grass. I'm wondering if this could have caused any issues with a sensor in the transmission?

 

I would bet even money that something is out of position as per the transmission shifter cable. In that situation, the engine will never attempt to crank over.

 

Alright, I was able to shift the car and roll it onto flat ground. Here are my symptoms. When key is turned to on position, I am greeted with all kinds of fault codes (i.e. Parking brake, trans., air susp., dsc not available, etc...) The neutral light on the j-gate stays illuminated, regardless of the shifter position, the shift lock solenoid does not activate when the brake is pressed, it has since been bypassed. Car will not crank. I've checked the battery, performed a hard reset, checked the bolts mounting the shift cable to the trans., the grounds behind the headlights, and fuse "F33" I'm assuming this has to be an electrical issue, something with the CAN data stream. I'm unfamiliar with what to trouble shoot next or what could be causing my problem.

 

I am not as studied on the 350 as the 308, but when my 3p8 did the No Crank, it turned out to be a failing PC board connector on the shifter indicator module. If I remember correctly, the CAN modules are Abs, ECM, TCM, Shifter Module and the instrument cluster. The cluster and the Abs are the two terminators of the CAN. You can start by cleaning the connectors and checking for chaffed wires, broken wires or pins that have backed out of the connectors a bit. There is info on this in the x308 forum.

 

Left side or right? Any chance you know the size in case I need to replace?

My wife was driving the car, went to back up and the after doing so, couldn't get the shifter to shift out of reverse. She managed to back it into a parking space and then put the shifter into park. Now will not move out of park. I've found other info that indicates it might be the shifter module with a broken piece. Thoughts? Trying to get the shifter module out, but running into an issue that I need to remove the ashtray cover module and can't find how to remove it - looks like there are two caps near the front of the module, but don't see how to remove them. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Drivers side of the trans. I don't recall the size of the bolts but might be m5 or m6 bolts. You'll probably find them loose. If one is missing match it up at the auto store.

Check this before trying to get to the J Gate assembly in the console.

 

If like mine, 8mm hex. Don't know how long the bolts are, though.

 

I've had this problem on two occasions. The first was battery related, a new battery solved it. The second time a cup of coffee was spilled on the center J-gate console and got down to the wiring and shorted thing out. I took the J-gate console out, dried it and it's wiring using a hair drier and a can of electrical connector spray. After reinstalling, everything worked as it should. It may be a benefit to you to clean all of the electrical connector on the J-gate console. Can't hurt.