Hi This is my first post im needing some knowledge . my car is a 1998 4.0 sovereign.

I should give you the full story so you know the creation of my problem so maybe I can get a fix.

"weeks ago I lost my key and fob, I only had one which of course in the 3 years I have had the car I should have rectified but I didn't and here I am.

Went to dealer for a key after initially saying they are obsolete I ordered one and then was told in fact it was not available but they gave me the tibbe code. Ordered 2 keys from a company called key moon and they arrived i borrowed a thinkdiag machine to program the keys as i only have snap on

First issue is i can't stop the alarm going off and this appears to be preventing me from programming the keys .

I am not 100% sure the scanner can code but it does go through the process as far as putting in the new keys but falls short and all the time the alarm is going off , i have removed fuses f11 and f13 from under the bonnet so there is no noise to upset the neighbours . I read somewhere the alarm should turn off when you unlock the car but it doesnt and never has because when my fob went wrong the alarm would go off if i didnt switch the ignition on quickly when opening the car .

move on a day and i find the orignal key by accident in a place I had already looked but I found them fob and key. Trouble is in trying to program the new ones now the original won't work either so im assuming when I tried to program a new fob and key I removed the original coding. I know the manual procedure for the fob but it wont let me do that either !
So does anyone have a way of shutting the alarm down so I can try to program the keys again?

It helps i can unlock the car but i cannot run it to use it so im only slightly further forward from finding the key .

thank you in advance.

Marino

 

I would never attempt this unless I was using the proper Jaguar software SDD?
Even then it's a dangerous and high stress operation. With only one key you must remove all keys and start completely over.

The problem with this is after you have wiped the existing keys IF anything happens you now have a bricked car. Sounds like your very close to that right now?
I have been in that situation and can say it is not good!

So get a working SDD. Make sure the battery has a DC power supply hooked to it with at least a 40 Amp rating. NOT a battery charger!!!
Next make sure the laptop running SDD is plugged into AC power. You simply can't afford to have any power glitches when working with SDD and especially something so important as reprogramming keys.

Sorry but I don't have any shortcuts and hope you can post back with how it came out?
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Marino, if you use your original key to unlock the door lock cylinder, would the lights inside the car turn on? I’m wondering if the door lock assembly needs to be removed, throughly cleaned then lubricated. If your interior lights don’t turn on after you unlock the door, it’s possible that you either have a microswitch going bad or the door lock assembly is binding up due to age. You need to be able to disable the alarm the right way first.

 

good point I will check tomorrow and I will get the battery charged and also I’ll get the battery maintainer from work as the cars at home .

 

Was asked to post how I got on . So its all sorted ill try to explain the journey and the maybe mistakes I made along the way and how I was advised to fix it and how I eventually did fix.

So i purchased sdd/ids scanner from mongoose . Connected it all in but still no joy coding or turning the alarm off.

The issue was still the alarm would not turn off. Contacted Berkshire Jaguar and spoke to a really helpful guy who knew my problem immediately. Sold me a key recognition module, receiver and key . I fitted them and hey presto we have an alarm off. Then I was faced with coding the key to the ecu as although it would crank it would not start. My dilemma was what if I had an issue now I will be back to where I started, I knew I wouldn't but because I'd had so many issues and 2 months had passed I was apprehensive. So in a moment of thought, I plugged the original module back in and the receiver as they were already decoded I had nothing to lose. The alarm stayed off . Went through the programming procedure coding the original key and the 2 new keys I had bought and now I have 3 keys working and went on to program 2 fobs I have 3 but one will not program. I'm fairly sure its wrong as its slightly different i bought it off ebay .

The relief was huge . I could have programmed the new unit but then I would have had only 1 key and a different door key so it worked out well . Costly but my own fault for not getting more keys before this happened.

I still have the new module and key if anyone ever needs to do what I have then let me know.

 

Glad you found a way to resolve that issue. The alarm system on these cars is pernicious when not
in sync. It is always a good thing to have more than one programmed key.

 

I was lucky: found a local locksmith who had a new key and fob in stock and software package to program the new key and the old. Found the locksmith through a friend we see in the bar on occasion who sells antique cars, locally . . .

 

I’ve just noticed you’re in the UK and not too far away from me, I may take you up on your offer in the future. My car only came with one key and whilst I can get replacements cut I’m not sure about programming them.

There were two types of fob used on the X308, the 97-99 cars had a larger fob with an engraved “Growler” emblem whereas the 00-03 cars had a smaller fob with an embossed emblem.

 

Cheers for that, I know I need an early fob to sort a working spare now.