I am having all kinds of strange things happening to my Jag XJ8. First I am unable to put the car in gear. My interior lights not working. Trunk says "open" but it isn't. Strange clicking sound coming from the ?dash. Steering wheel sometimes goes up and down and in and out while driving. Unable to sometimes use fob to open trunk or car. Wipers work but not the fluid All of these issues seemed to happen at the same time. All fuses checked out. Can anyone help??

 

Sounds a lot like a bad or going bad body control module, however could also be wiring damage.

 

The X308 has king relays in points of the car that distribute electricity around the car

The ignition switch provides a ground to close these relays

The relays are called Ignition positive # 1 , Ignition positive # 2 , EMS Control , and Auxiliary positive relays

At the point of observing your faults you can have the ignition switch in the run position and rock them in and out of the sockets and feel for them to click

I'm not aware of a spare relay you can swap into a position and see if the problem goes away

But you can look at a headlight , A / C , or fog light relay with the same part #

Genuine Relays For Jaguar Xj 1998 - 2003 (from 812317 To F59525) Classic | Jaguar Land Rover Classic Parts

See page 37 and 39

jagrepair.com/images/AutoRepairPhotos/jagxj2001.pdf

 

I gave you the wrong model range for the king relays but was corrected

A clue would be the uncommented steering column movement

When you exit the car and remove the key you make or unmake the ignition linier switch from pin 4 to pin 5 which is a car frame ground

this is the security system shut down steps trigger which includes getting the column out of your way before the car " goes to sleep "

in the worst case scenario if you have to change the ignition switch it can be easily changed without the key barrel so no new key needed

You can spray lube this switch but it will be a dripping mess

usually this 4 to 5 switch fails to move and command your column movement on key removal and you observed the opposite as it is switching when you don't want to

these pics are for the X300 but the X308 is the same except for wire color

 

What is the age of the battery?

What is the voltage across the battery terminals with the ignition in the OFF position when checked with a voltmeter?

 

I had exactly the same problems with my 2000 X308. It was the power feed to the BPM. Have a look at the troubleshooting below before you do anything esle (ask me why I say that).

First, check the fuse - it's fuse #7 in the rear passenger compartment fusebox behind the cover/heelboard under the left hand seat. In my case that fuse was blown so the BPM wasn't getting the power it needed to run its operations (all the things you mention)
If that fuse if good, you then need to check the power is getting to the BPM. The connector in the connector box might be broken. I didn't have this particular issue but did for the power feed in one of the door module.

If the fuse is not good and it blows if you put a new one in, then you have a short somewhere. Here's where I got the best piece of troubleshooting advice from @motorcarman in these forums.

Unscrew the driver's side sun visor. In my case (UK) that's the right side. On LHD drive cars, I don't know whether it's the right or left side so worth checking both. You might find that at some point someone has refitted the visor and the screw has gone through the wire that connects to the vanity light in the visor itself - that causes a short which blows fuse #7 and disrupts the power feed to the BBPM.

In my case, I found about 9cm of burned wire with melted insulation. I snipped the wire as far away from she short circuit as I could, terminated it and stuffed it back into the roof lining far away from any screws. I lost the use of the vanity light but popped in a new fuse and, hey presto, everything worked! Total cost of about 50 cents for some heatshrink and insulation tape, and a new fuse. I may one day go back and reconnect the vanity light but I'm not vain, so probably not.

My biggest problem then was fixing the workarounds that the PO had spent money on to work around the problem which he clearly couldn't fix. The good news is that he'd bought a new BPM and Washer motor and given them to me as a solution for the electrical problems. I can now sell these.

Good luck

 

Thank you for your response. I have read this may be the problem.

 

I will be out for the day

The easiest thing would be to identify the relays and maybe swap one at a time each day and see if it goes away , this on the Premus that you have a floating relay contact or a burnt contact inside the relay

your best bet is not the EMS control relay as the engine is not faulting and is not the ignition positive relay in the left heelboard as this relay must be closed to power the secret fuse that controls the fuel pomp relay , your fuel pump is not stalling the engine

You have 2 fuses for the fuel pump relay , one is the muscle power that passes through to the pump and the other one is a relay control fuse

the ignition switch connector is where I found some fluid contamination and cleaned up

under the steering column the curved column cover comes off with 4 screws or clips and the rectangle 5 wire connector is there

Soooooooooo what is your Jaguar name , I named mine Lady Penelope because she's special , just ask her

 

Thank you so much for your responses. I will try to find out how to do what you have asked. I am not a mechanic and have no clue what a relay is. I have not named her as yet, but right now I would call her "Faulty Towers" as one thing after another is failing with her.

 

A relay is a devise that allows a high current to pass through controlled by a low current wire

A fuse is a different mater

An example is a king relay under the rear seat that has a low current control wire though the ignition switch up front

another example is the low current headlight switch wired to a relay to power the headlights with high current

Keep asking questions

 

What about Lady Mary from Downton Abby

Or Lady Sandy

Someone named her white one Freckles , I never asked

 

How about Lady Darlene

Lady Brittany

Lady Gloria

 

In your quest you can save this pic to a flash drive and take it to a office suppy store like Office Max and they can print it off for you

You don't need color but they can make it 11 X 17 if you would like

With the ignition key in your pocket you can remove a king relay and you would feel nothing as in no click

With the key in the run position ( the engine does not need to be started ) the king relays should click closed , by removing a king relay it will clink in your fingers back to the relayed , deenergized , open position

By inserting the relay back in you will feel it click in you fingers to the closed position , you in reality only need to feel it click in this last step of the key in the run position so you can do this by yourself as one person

Click on image twice to magnify and right click to drag around and left click to save as a JPEG file , the print shops need a JPEG file

The car does not need to be faulting at this time but is an exercise to get a feel and to understand your car for later at the moment it does fault