Hello Gents

I have not used my car since early 2020, since Corona panic took over. Recently tried to use the car, and although the battery has always been kept charged, the car developed various faults.
I drove it to the mechanic to clear them all, but 2 issues continue not to be cleared, namely:
1. The headlights will turn on when I shift the gear lever from the parked position even when the lights are switched off. Mind you, when that happens, the screen and instrument panel lights do not dim as when the actual lights are turned on. All other functions of the light switch are normal.
2. When I turn of the car and need to exit, the doors will still be in locked position and I can only open the locks with the hand held remote controller. If I pull the unlock lever on the door or the lock/open button on the panel above the LED screen, nothing happens.
Having said that, at times they do work but I can't remember under what circumstances they do and don't. I will have another go at this tomorrow to pin point it more accurately.
I would have thought that I can program the doors to lock/unlock from the LED screen but cannot seem to find out how.

Grateful for any suggestions to help out on any of the above.

Thank you.

 

Hi
I suggest you scan the vehicle and look for fault codes.
I have been surprised how extensive the fault code system is.
Post the codes here and we can take it from there.
With modern cars a scanner is a must otherwise we are stumbling in the dark.

You cannot program the locks from the touch screen.
Dash lights should not dim when the headlights are switched on

 

Thank you Meirion1 for your comments.
Although I had the mechanic clear all the faults, but will have a go again.
With regards to the dimming of the lights when the headlights are on, maybe I used the wrong expression by saying the dash dims.
What I mean is that when the lights are turned on, the LED screen as well as the gauges of the instrument panel will dim down a bit, the usual change between day & night mode.
In my case, when I engage gear, the lights will turn on even if the light switch is in the off position, but without dimming the LED screen and gauges dimming down.
But if I turn the lights switch to on position, then they dim a bit as normally.

Anyway I will have the car scanned again and see if it gets my problem solved.
I have another issue with the suspension to which I have made another post and will wait for replies there before taking the car for another scan.

Thx again

 

Sounds like you have the daytime running light setting now activated.
My headlights come on for daytime running as soon as I start the car and pull the gearshift out of park....this is normal operation and you might be able to turn off that feature in the vehicle settings menu of the NAV screen.
This feature might have been previously turned off but become reactivated if the vehicle had the battery disconnected or if it had reached a too low voltage state.

As to your door unlocking problem, you might need to see if there is any "door status" you can pull with a reader on what your driver's door thinks it is doing at the time you have the exiting problem.
You might have a intermittent switch in that driver's door lock mechanism (there are three switches in the drivers door lock mechanism) that is failing to recognize the "lock state" of the door which could be defeating the unlock command if it thinks the door is already unlocked.

 

Hi Mark and many thanks for your helpful reply, certainly sheds good light towards where I should be heading and looking for.

Much appreciated indeed.
Cheers

 

Dear Farouk,

I would confirm Marks statements, the daytime running lights definitely work as he described and can be turned off via the settings menu.

Regarding the door issue, I have the same problem with my car, although not always and only with the drivers door.
The unlock button on the dash only works with the key at least on position 1, instead to so it is easier to use the remote fob to unlock the doors as you stated.
As for the fault, on my car I cannot pull any error code for the door and I suppose the fault is with one of the switches in the door lock, again as Mark stated.

Best regards,

Thomas

 

Just checked the schematic....driver's door latch actually has four switches not three as I initially thought.
You are probably looking a one of the upper two in the schematic being intermittent (lock status and/or unlock status) sending back an occasional incorrect state to the drivers door module.

 

I have a non working status switch on my Jag but it's not a problem
because I use the remote to lock the doors.
A repair looks difficult because the switch is integral in the actuator
unlike the microswitch which 'fire's the lock.

 

Thank you gents for your remarks, and thanks again Mark for the schematic.
I am just wondering if all of this is a result of moisture seeing that the lock was working fine before I abandoned the car for a couple of year??
I also noticed yesterday when checking on the suspension height to see if the level has dropped after the 3rd day standing, noticed that the buttons on the steering wheel that control radio volume, change stations etc are all acting incorrectly, nothing working as designated.
Again, everything was working ok before the long stoppage.
Should I attempt to use any of the electrical contact liquids that supposedly improves contacts and gets rid of humidity??

Just wondering

Regards

 

Starting to sound like the battery voltage is too low and on these cars that will just start throwing you random faults in any of the car's systems.
Check you battery voltage. At rest you should have 12.5 Volts to 12.8 Volts typically.
If your voltage is less, then either the battery is not fully charged, or it is an older battery and perhaps starting to develop a weaker cell.

Car batteries do not like being deeply discharged, nor left in a low state of charge for extended periods. Buckling and premature sulphation of the battery's plates can occur, reducing the service life of the battery.
They are engineered to provide high current bursts for engine starting in which the charge is then quickly replaced by the alternator, effectively the battery is only generally calling upon its top 20-30% of capacity, not being heavily discharged.
If the car is to sit for extended periods, it would be advisable to connect a good quality maintenance charger to the car to ensure the battery is kept in a good serviceable state.

The steering wheel radio control misbehavior is odd.
Fundamentally it is a two wire control line and those switches vary the amount of resistance being sent back to the audio unit's control input.
The common is a ground point, which if that ground has become bad, the effective resistance readings being sent to the control input could be out of range and creating misreading of the button functions.
The grounding point for the steering wheel audio controls is the ECM grounding point just behind the front wheel (left or right depending on LHD or RHD car). Grounds can be a source of issues if the contacts have become corroded or tarnished.
I'd inspect those contacts and give them a gentle clean before considering hunting any issues in the wiring harnesses.

 

Hi Mark and thanks again for your help.
One thing out of the way which is the daytime setting of the lights. Checked that today and indeed that was it, so I reprogrammed them to night time, and all is back to normal. Thanks

On the door issue, today the locking / unlocking functioned perfectly ok, so apparently no more issues there?

With regards to the battery, yes I always keep all my cars on trickle chargers all the time. I wasted many good $$$ replacing them in the past and hopefully they will now last much longer.
I purchased a bunch of them (https://no.co/products/charging/genius) the majority of them rated at 2 amps and a few 5 amps and they seem to be doing a very good job, and not expensive. They have good options on them, very convenient and can handle 6/12 V and various types of batteries as well as can give a boost charge.
So far I am quite satisfied with them although a couple seem have gone bad, but not sure if it is their fault or bad current in my country, as we keep alternating from the city supply to building generator due to lack of it !!!
But never the less, when I'm near the car in the next few days, I will also check the charging from the car itself as I remember my mechanic did mention something about low charging and I forgot to recheck that.

With regards to the ground points, yes indeed that could well be a source of many problems and I will try my best to locate as many as I can and check them out, starting with the ECM ones.
One clarification though, my car is 2004, would the schematic you posted of the 2006 work the same for mine?

Thanks a lot again for your kind help and contribution.

Kind regards

 

Hi Farouk,

The grounding points did not change through the years, so the 2006 info is relevant to your 2004 with respect to this still.

During the 2005 production year the XJ underwent a revision change in many modules.
There is a difference between X350, X356 and X358 models, apart from the styling changes that were the face lifting of the X350 to become the X358.
The X350 had the earlier electronics module package, but the X356 ( a transitional model) saw the introduction of the later series of modules that continued into the X358 production.

Glad to hear you have trickle charges on your fleet....that will definitely save you in the long run. I have found in the past that those chargers often have a practical life of 5-7 years before some of the internal components decay and the supply dies or becomes erratic.
It's a bit concerning for you that your power grid supply seems pretty unstable....and having to rely on building generators kicking in.