Hello - I have a 1998 XJR with 85k miles. I recently had a radar detector hard wired in the car.

Recently, mostly during in town driving and almost always at slow speeds, I've encountered a few problems.

First - the car throws the ABS/Traction control error (most frequently at slow speeds)....then typically at a stand-still, it sometimes will do something like turn off the radio or the air conditioner. Sometimes when I turn off the car (assuming if i turn it off and turn it back on) for a few minutes, none of the electrical accessories work. I can't open the trunk, arm the alarm, etc. Then miraculously, after the having the car off a few minutes, the accessories will all work again.

The car does this often, but not every time I drive. None of the other problems happen w/o the abs error happening first.

One thing to mention, is the radar detector was initially hooked in to my ac (by the idiot installer). So when I turned off the ac, it would turn off the detector. Now the radar detector is wired directly to the battery (without accessing any of the wires in the harness next to the steering wheel).

Does anybody have any idea what the potential problem(s) could be? I replaced the car battery after these incidents (advice from the forum) but the problem isn't gone.

I appreciate your guidance.

David Rogers

 

Have you tried disconnecting the radar det. completely? All my Jag's allways have printed warnings about installing electrical devices because of possible interference with the cars complex electrical system. It might be the fequency that the device emits that is causing the problem.

 

I dropped $450 on an escort 9500i (which everyone should buy immediately). I am in outside sales and put many miles on the car. I don't want to just assume the detector is the problem.

A new problem today was at slow speeds I got the abs error then a few seconds later a "system check" error and the car died. It immediately started back up.

Any other ideas? Thanks

 

I still say that if none of these problems started until after the det. was installed I would look there. Unlesss when it was first hooked up to the airconditioner the installer shorted something out. He may even have tried a couple of other circuits and damaged them before using the aircon. If you unplug the radar det. and you still have the issues then you can rule it out. If the issues go away then that's it.

 

this is a follow up to an older post, closing the issue....thanks


fix
replacing the battery cut the frequency of these issues down 80%. I was made aware the voltage was off on the alternator, and it was suggested i replace it. On my way to take the car in, i was .5 miles away from Ken's Austin British Motorcarslocation, and the belt to the power steering broke along with the tensioners. Replacing the tensioners and belt fixed all of these problem listed above, also my car ran smoother.

DR