Hi All,

A newbie here (and total non techie by the way), many thanks for all your welcoming messages.

My 2000 XJ8 (93,000 miles) has recently (the last 2 weeks) started displaying messages and I would be grateful if anyone can recognise these symptoms and offer any ideas.

Always starts first time but the engine picture is almost always illuminated on the rev counter dial. When driving the Restricted Performance (plus orange warning light) message comes on and off regularly.

Occasionally, I have also had Engine Stalls and also I've had Gearbox Fault (plus orange warning light).

With the Gearbox Fault, if I turn the engine off and re-start it is ok again.

However, not sure if I'm getting paranoid but I'm sure I've noticed a fear gear changes sounding clunky (when changing down at lower speeds).

Not sure if this helps but I also sometimes get the Traction Unavailable after going over a bump or pothole (again at lower speeds).

I've seen on the forum that a weak battery can cause problems. I bought a new battery just over a year ago and in August after a 2 week holiday the battery was flat - is that normal? How long would you expect a battery to last (assuming I drive the car most days). I re-charged the battery for 24 hours and had no problems until all of these messages.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Best wishes.

 

lofty- welcome!
Let me give a go on some of your issues.
The "engine light" is also called the CEL (check engine light). It means that yiou have some stored codes. Get these read, write down the exact code numbers and then have it reset. Auto Zone or Advance Auto will do that for free.
The transmission code can be any number of things- look to the archives- but lets get the CEL dealt with first
After a bump, do you really get "traction unavailable" or is it just the indication that traction is working? If it is unavailable, you most likely either have a bad wheel sensor connector or the motor connector solder joint problem in the antilock module. Again, see archives.
As to the battery, the battery should not flatten in two weeks, although there are many reports of this problem. As to what it is, I do not think that has been determined. Also, my personal experience, and analysis is that "low battery" causing operation problems is only specific to some cars. In other words, enough people report that so that I believe there must be some truth to the reports, but I have looked at the charging anf power circuits with a scope and observed the three cases of X308s I own and see no indication of a old or weak battery causing problems other than starting. Maybe some alternators put out more trashy voltage than others, or maybe some ECDUs have deteriorated capacitors, I just don't know.
Check the main power leads under the dash for tightness. They are on the ecu plastic cover housing on the right side just in front of the hood latch and at the fuse block on the other side. disconnect the battery before tightening! These main power leads look like 6mm or so tubes but they are cables- with rubber boots over the bolt connectors. Also, check the engine grounding strap for tightness. It is a braided conductor, on the right side as I recall.
Again, go after the CEL codes first, then we can help on the other stuff.

 

Thank you Sparkenzap, I will get the codes and post back

 

Finally managed to get to a garage...

The code reader displayed P0333, I'm hoping that helps and gives a clue as to what my problems are.

Many thanks in advance.

 

Hey! If you need the transmission Fluid changing I have some Jag Spec fluid for sale. Check out my post on the issue for more details. I'm located in Liverpool, getting it to you could be arranged.

Here is my Post on the matter:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=43292

Hope things work out for you. S.

 

The P0333 code is reporting that the knock sensor on the left side is out of range. Not an unheard of problem but a little difficult to address without a little wrench twisting. Could be a loose connection up to a failed or failing sensor. If you are not comfortable removing the intake manifold you might seek out a local independent Jaguar technician for assistance. The major expense will be the labor so I might opt to replace both sensors while under there.

Welcome! We all love our cars a little more by doing what work ourselves that we feel comfortable with.

 

Sounds like an intake air problem... very familiar with the nuances of these symptoms since my car used to do it, exactly as you described, on and off for the first couple of years till I went through the motions of finding the problems. If I had listened to the jag mech and about 10 other shops I visited, half my engine would have been replaced by now. Instead, other than some head scratching trying to find the real problem, I spent $10.00 on electrical cleaning sprays.... it's going on 4 years now without so much a hiccup.... except once when a tiny little crack developed on the last 1/8 inch of a vacuum hose.... that was annoying.

Here are a few things you can easily look into...

if the perf. restricted. comes on real random, it is a problem in the front end of the intake near the air box. if it comes on more when you're at idle, and disappears (more often than not) when you hit 35 to 55, then it's near the back end of the intake near the throttle area, such as a small vacuum leak.

check to make sure there are no cracks in your intake tube. typically near the junction near the MAF sensor, or underneath the tube (reach down and see if you can feel wet oil anywhere underneath the tube. If you do, it's got a small hole somewhere.

With the car on and idleing, preferably while displaying the CEL/Performance Restricted, wiggle the plug connected to the MAF sensor. If there's a hiccup in engine speed, you've got a dirty connection to the MAF. It can look totally spotless and still have low resistance due to oxidation on the pins that you or I can't even see.

Start there Hope that helps.

 

oh, I need to add, at least on my car....

Yes, a vacuum leak, intake leak or problem with the MAF connector can throw gear box warnings, weird shift patterns, hard shifts, very odd downshifts, stalling, trouble codes for lean banks, bad co2, bad throttle body, bad egr valve and the list goes on.... trust me, if I made a ton of money, I would have had everything replaced that the computers said to replace... I'm still on all original everything, with the exception of normal wear and tear items + fuel pumps at 160k miles and the car runs smooth as silk.

 

Thank you technetx and test point, I will take your advice and let you know how things fare

 

Although technetex mentions valid issues, I don't believe any of these can cause a P0333 directly. This code implies that the output signal of the knock sensor is outside of normal operating ranges - such would occur if the sensor was bad, if the output connection from the sensor was intermittent or high resistance (loose/dirty/corroded connector contact), or if the sensor output were shorted to supply voltage.

Please see 'possible causes' for P0333 in table attached below:

 

Quad, agreed! All I know with this car is check the contacts first At one point in time, I did get a P0333 from a couple of shops... "replace the knock sensors" was all I heard for months... I figured if it's intermittent, might as well clean the contacts... sure enough, 3-4 years later, no problems. I think Jag should put some sort of contact enhancer / corrosion inhibitor in their electrical connections, considering how overly sensitive the system is. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's annoying

Thanks for your PDF... it's kinda nice actually seeing some documentation on this car! Then again, I think the less I knew about the car saved me some serious parts replacement! LOL

 

Hi All, gave my mechanic friend your postings and he couldn't find any bad contacts etc.

However, that was 2 weeks ago and the warning messages have all stopped, the only things that are different from 2 weeks ago are:

1. Was there a actually a bad contact and checking the sensors fixed it.
2. I added some injector cleaner in a tank of fuel (a desperate and inexpensive long shot).
3. The weather temperature has dropped quite a bit (it has been between +3 and
-5 degrees C) (I warned you I was a non-techie!)

Not sure what you guys can make of any of that or if any of the above makes any sense, but if point 3 has any influence does anyone have a house in Alaska they would like to part-exchange for a place in SW England.

Thank you for all your help and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a good New Year

 

Lofty, one thing cold weather will do, is find any weakness in electrics. You can confidently count this out as the car is operating in cold conditions. I recon a re-seat might have got it, fingers crossed for you!

 

Lofty, I have found that just unplugging and replugging some of the Jag's connectors can fix an intermittent connection due to moisture or corrosion, so you may have resolved the issue with the attempt to unplug and measure the sensor.