Hi,

I've recently bought a '99 (T plate, here in the UK) Daimler Super V8. All running beautifully. Today, I parked the car at work, and at the end of the day, it wouldn't unlock. No response to the key fob; if I put the key into the driver's door lock and turn it, I can hear a couple of clicks - as if it's trying to unlock, but something is not engaging properly.

The key is working in the boot (or "trunk", if you prefer).

At this stage, the car is still at work - my sympathetic wife happened to be in the area and rescued me.

I've read the various threads about problems with link rods, etc. But all the fixes seem to require undoing things from inside the car.

I'd rather not have to break a window to get in to it. Anybody got any bright ideas?

 

Although a long shot, and probably not working, you might try a hard reset on the battery (as you can open the boot with the key).
Disconnect the negative on the battery, and hold it on the positive for 10-30 seconds.
It might reset the control box.

 

Before cosmic battery reboot, try a set of jumper cables from the rescue car to your battery. Then try unlock again. Each persons car seems to have a slightly different 'dying battery cascade of failures'; mine took out unlocking as an early domino.
*[As the B+ drops & the lights flicker out in CANBussville the last processors standing appear to be breaking protocol & attempting a TRON version of AI]
*Try the jumper even if this part makes no sense.

 

Thanks for the reply. I tried that, and as you guessed, it didn't make any difference.

I hadn't seen Coventrywood's reply before going to work for the day, so didn't try that. I'll certainly investigate it, as I don't know a great deal about the battery age/condition. I did put a trickle charger on it a couple of weeks ago, when I knew I wouldn't be using the car for a few days. That seemed to indicate the battery was ok, but that's obviously not particularly accurate.

As I was able to see the car in daylight today, I can see that the driver side door lock pull is sitting much lower in its housing than the other three. I.e. whereas the passenger lock pulls are sitting flush to the top of the door trim, the driver's lock pull is sunken by (hard to say) half an inch or so. That sound familiar to anybody? I'm not finding anything if I google for it.

Having spoken to my local Jag service guru, I'm currently hoping that it's as simple as a flat battery in the remote - and that I managed to inadvertently deadlock it while locking it. He tells me that the deadlock prevents the door unlocking with the key. It's a long shot, but replacing the battery in the remote is an easy thing to try.

If it genuinely were a problem with the driver door (which was one of my earlier guesses), I can't see why that would stop the other doors unlocking. So, I've got everything crossed that the remote is the cause. If it does turn out to be that, you'll probably hear the cheering.

It really is a nuisance that it happened when it was in the work car park, rather than at home - no tools to hand, nor convenient access or time to work on it.

 

I have no experience in this with Jaguar, but was asked to help on a same problem with a BMW320 of my brother in law.

He experiences some problems on locking / unlocking of the drivers door, after some days followed by a complete dead car.
We managed to open the trunk, and after a lot of struggle lowered the rear seat, then have one of his boys climbing through.
However, even opening from the inside was impossible, as a broken door actuator simply kept everything locked.

As said, I have no idea on a Jaguar, but you might have something broken or bent, resulting in the actuator in such position that nothing works any more.

If the extra battery trick does not work, I guess you will need a specialist (the local car thief might be cheaper then the Jaguar dealer ) to open your car and proceed from there.

 

A big problem with this car is the SCLM Security Control Locking Module. It is located underneath the fuse box in the boot.Water collects in the compartment and corrodes the module connections. If you are unsuccessful with the fob battery and jumpers you might want to pull the module and clean and reseat the contacts.
As always disconnect the battery before disconnecting the module.

 

Not sure I want to pay somebody to practice how to steal my car, and tell him where to find the car! Maybe I could erase his memory after he opened it for me!


You might be on to something there.

Here's the latest in the saga:

It isn't due to a flat battery - at lunchtime, I hooked up a colleague's car via jump leads, and there was still no response to the remote or the key in the door.

So, I reluctantly admitted defeat and called my breakdown cover.

Soon afterwards, a guy turned up with a flatbed, ready to take the car to the local Jag specialist. I gave him the key and, just to convince himself that it wouldn't open, he tried turning the key in the lock.

And the car unlocked!

At this point, I said a few choice words that I'll not repeat in polite company.

The lock was definitely a bit sticky, so we applied some (more) WD40, and repeatedly locked/unlocked and it steadily loosened up.

At some point in this, he leant in and started the car - it started perfectly on the first turn. So, battery is fine.

Still no response to the remote. But I can get into the car, which is a huge improvement!

The bloke drove his flatbed away, leaving the car with me.

At the end of my work day, I went back to the car, and for a laugh tried the remote - and it unlocked. Drove the car home, and locked it - with the remote.

1 hour later, I went to get something out of the back of the car, and the remote wouldn't unlock the car, or release the boot. But it did open fine when I put the key in the door.

So, it might be that the problems were simply that the remote is becoming intermittent (even with the brand new battery I put in it), coupled with an almost seized lock on the drivers door, which is now alleviated.

But it's a bit cool and damp here (3C / 37F), so I'm wondering if there's a bit of a dodgy contact related to the remote somewhere. When I get a moment, I'll follow avern1's directions to the SCLM.

Thanks for the support.

It'll make for a fun story to tell the grandkids.

 

Well, at least you got her kind of up and running, always better to have the car in your own driveway then at the repair shop.
I do agree it might be the SCLM, symptoms are weird indeed.

However, before you go there, clean out your FOB.
The contacts on the board inside the FOB are prone to contamination.
The rubber from the push buttons clog up the contacts.

Pry your remote open as you did to change the batteries.
Carefully remove the rubber pad from the small board.
You will see small circles on each of the push button locations.
They have relief, and are probably completely gummed up with black sooth, especially your OPEN and CLOSE ones.

You can remove this sooth with a small eraser, but I do it with cleaning alcohol and an ear cleaning stick, which gives better results.
Do the same for the inside of the rubber buttons, then install everything again.

Finally, some remotes are using 2 batteries, others just one.
I think (check though!) the older ones (with the small key-lug) use 2 batteries, the newer ones with the larger key-lug use one.
Be sure you use the correct batteries.

Strangely, it always seems that the car needs 2-3 attempts before it reacts completely on the cleaned FOB, but then it should be fine.
I just did mine yesterday, and with same batteries went from almost non functioning to a perfect 15 meter reach.

Worth a try before digging into the SCLM.

 

+ 1. Clean the FOB contacts.

Congratulation on making the key work