Hi all; been viewing this site for some time....long story short I purchased a 1999 XJR three years ago and have had two engine failures to date; first the infamouds water pump the second not sure other than the salvage jard I purcheses from were crooks to be nice about it and one fuel pump was found to be bad possibly creating a lean condition at under boost at high RPM (possibly I must assume ) ....I now after much hassle with warranties of no value ect.. have had installed steel sleeves and fully rebuilt engine which is close to being finished....

My present question is: has anyone found the root cause as to why?? the ABS and Traction control lights come on in the dash???

I seen this occurence here before but nothing concluded thus the inquiry if anyone could please help get my XJR back on the road....needless to say I have spent a small fortune just to get thus far....

These dash light warnings occured prior to rebuilding the engine and it would come and go..now my import mechanic figures these are hard codes (not just resetable by removing battery terminal) and has ordered software to see if he can identify the source next week ...

any help here with this guys??

Thanks in advance...

 

Well. I do not know how you could have missed the "conclusion". The message happens when there is a fault in the ABS system. Duh, you say. The problem is usually reported to be of one of three origins. One, many folks report low battery voltage causes there's, but I assume that would just be a transient codition until the battery was charged up. Two, the warning can be caused by bad wheel sensors- generally one not reporting the right speed. Cleaning the connectors and the sensors is reported to fix that. The third reason is what I found on two odfmy X-308s- a bad solder joint in on the ABS module motor socket. The repair is fairly easy but requires sawing the module appart on the assembly joint. There is a guy or two on e-bay (again look for the archives) that will do it for less that $100. if you don't want to start sawing- but thats what he does, I would suppose. Auto Enginuity with Jag extensions, or IDS or WDS software can all tell you what the specific problem is, but not the low end scanners.

How about some reports on the sleeve job- Who, what, where, how, how much and so on. Lots of us would like to know about your methosd and results.
Thanks

 

Thanks for quick reply; steel sleeve job costs $5,500.00 and includes shipping to and back. I opt to have my motor rebuilt instead of them sending me a rebuild of their own. it includes a number of upgrades including best tensioners available ; probably from the 2003 new timing chain ; molly piston rings ; new bearings and upgraded water pump ; engine decked and one year warranty to your door.

I am at home now but be glad to give more details when I get back to my office on tuesday.

as far as these lights showing up on the dash I located an old case on thia forum where this ocurred and it did not show remedy..today I signed up again as a member after a couple of years off the forum and just asked if anyone knew so thanks... I will talk to my mechanic on tuesday and see if the info given here helps....I suppose I can do a search here..haha

hope to bet my baby running soon..with the fuel pumps new it should fly..it also has the lower pully change from eurotoys..cleaned out fuel injectors and sure hope this car lasts for once or it will be shot and sold for pieces...but I think it should be ok now....sure hope so anyways....

ask any specific questions if anyone needs to on the rebuild..for the price it is far far better than getting a salvage motor with no history...I know that....

Thanks.

 

Should add the steel sleeves are included in the rebuild for $5,500.00..they would not just do the sleeves by itself and no rebuild... so for the price mentioned you get the whole package with a number of upgrades badly needed for a 1999 engine.

I can provide feedback one I get a few miles on the motor...

 

I get the ABS message when my car has been sitting and the weather has been damp. If I drive for a bit on a dry day, then shut the car off, the light generally goes away next time I start it.
I conclude that either the wheel sensors are dirty, or a sensor connector has a bit of corrosion and needs to be cleaned and reconnected. So, mostly just an annoyance so far.

 

Where is the computer and how does one unhook it from the cables or whatever the connection is?

 

I have had this message show up from time to time, but it disappears fairly quickly. This usually happens after the car has been sitting for a long time, which may be due to the low battery voltage discussed above.

 

Not sure if this helps but according to what I have read the abs connectors and wheel sensors have a slight gap in them when they are connected to their matching ends. This allows dirt to gather in the creases and signals a fault code. A friend cleaned up his abs sensors and then covered the gap with electrical tape. Has been fine ever since

 

I opted to do the solder repair on my 03 XJ8 (thanks again for all the great pics and step by step procedure), but there are a couple of sites on E-Bay that sell "rebuilt" units with warranties (caveat emptor) starting at $45+shipping. The light on the dash (and the associated message center warnings about traction control and auto speed control being unavailable) are generated at start-up when the ABS computer does its' P.O.S.T. and does not get a satisfactory ABS pump cycle. It is not a code that you will read with a scanner and you probably don't want to spend the money to have your local dealer hook it up to their hardware.(Very expensive) You can remove the ABS module without removing any brake lines from the valve body (you will have to bend them some after removing the plastic clips) and either repair it yourself (quite easy using the posts in this forum) or try one of the E-Bay units (which I can't recommend one way or the other as I have not tried one myself). Good luck with your Kitty.

 

Last week I was traveling and my car was in the driveway for about 8 days. When I got home and started it I got the ABS and Traction Control Fail message. At first I thought "oh great, more repairs to do" and went about running my errands. After a few minutes and a couple of stops the message went away.

Nice to see the car fixed itself for a change.

 

Take a look at this post. It refers to an xk8 but it might help you investigate your problem.
Good Old ABS/Traction Control Light - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum