Hello, I have been reading through the forum posts trying to find out if anyone has had similar problems but unable to find any. Recently I purchased a car that had ABS light activated on occasion and I was telling myself that usually it's a sensor and is not a difficult fix. I took it to a shop that works on Jaguars and when they took it for a test drive it stopped running completely and they told me that the problem is actually the Central Junction Box near the driver side A post foot area. They tried to fix the vehicle by making sure there was no corrosion and cleaning all the connections. The Central Junction Box is not being manufactured and I decided to try and find a replacement from a used parts supplier. So far I have had the car looked at by three repair shops including Jaguar Land Rover of Tacoma WA and all have told me the same thing. The last shop has worked with me to get the car working again by installing two Central Junction Boxes to see if they can get the car working again but no luck. This shop is called Park Place Service in Bellevue WA that specializes in exotic cars. For some reason I have had two specialty shops try to fix this car and one Jaguar Land Rover shop with no luck.

From what I understand these parts need to be programmed when they are replaced because they are VIN specific. I have spent about $5000 on having shops tell me they don't know how to fix the car as well as towing back and forth between shops. My question to the forum is where can I have these electronics programmed and is there any repair shops in the Seattle area that are capable of getting my car back running again. I have done extensive research learning about this and I feel frustrated that a car that's a 2007 is becoming disposable because nobody seems to have the equipment to program the vehicle. I am tempted to purchase some sort of engine diagnostic tool that could possibly program these parts to match but if three shops don't want to fix it i'm not sure if I can fix this car. I have found one company near London that may repair and reprogram these electric units but nothing in the USA.

Thanks to all that read this post.

Kevin

 

yeah for this problem, you'll want (or need) need SDD (Jaguar's proprietary software) many of us have. You're not going to get anywhere with other off brands and you don't want the clone versions imo. Jaguar now uses a different software and it isn't backward compatible with SDD. You can go out to the General forum and read copious threads about the software.

Hopefully someone on this forum lives near you and has the software.

That said, you note that you had a shop diagnose the problem as the CJB. I presume they used SDD to reach that diagnosis. You may want to ask them to confirm how they came to that conclusion. Also, did the other repair shops independently diagnose the CJB as the source or just follow your lead?

Is it throwing a code other than ABS?

 

Kevin,

Go here for the electrical guide: https://www.mediafire.com/file/krt4i...09096.pdf/file

And the service manual: http://www.mediafire.com/file/9uy78b...32752.pdf/file

(the above are the same links used many times here ar the Forum, so they've been proved safe.)

Start learning the CJB electrics and what connects to it. Also, what Sean said: why did they diagnose the CJB as bad? Bad how? With what diagnosing tool? There should have been codes, or a specific failure much more specific that "the CJB is bad". Also, I hope someone who currently has their SDD activeand active can confirm that the CJB requires reprogramming. I'd do so but will not be near my XK or SDD until June.

Panthera.

 

I agree with others posting above. The FIRST step in troubleshooting this issue MUST have been a diagnostics session or sessions as you've now had three different specialists draining your bank balance. They should have provided a printout and highlighted relevant error codes that led to their conclusion the CJB is faulty. As the last shop tried substituting two other CJB's I think it's not unreasonable to question this may perhaps not be the cause of the issue.

Throwing parts at a Jaguar is expensive and should be the LAST and not the FIRST choice when troubleshooting. If a new CJB had been available, you would probably have had one supplied and fitted by the first specialist and, from the later substitution tests, it's likely it would not have resolved the issue.

It requires dealer level dignostics to investigate this type of fault. JLR SDD (Symptom Driven Diagnostics) is the one for the X150. It was superseded by JLR Pathfinder for 2017 onwards models but you can ignore this later software.

Two options:
1. find an independent with SDD and the knowledge to use it properly. I'd ignore JLR Dealers for this. Their business model is to sell and service current vehicles. The chances of finding one with a technician trained and experienced in troubleshooting electronic issues on a model seven years after production ceased is remote.

OR

2. obtain SDD, a genuine (NOT 'clone') interface and a suitable power supply to investigate the issue yourself.

You've already poured a lot of money into this issue with little discernible progress. It's time to carefully consider all possible causes and systematically eliminate each.

Graham

 

We have found the relays in the CJB are often the issue. They are readily available and easy to substitute. Failing that the information above is spot on!

 

Thank you for posting that! I have been on a long term search to see if I can figure out exactly what goes bad in these junction boxes? I know they contain much more than just fuses and relays compared to the older junction boxes but it seems strange that replacement is the only option and no one seems to know what has actually failed?

I mean if it's relays that a straight forward repair?
.
.
.

 

As the relays are easily changed it is always the first option for us. We change all 3 while in there. It seems it is a security relay that causes the issue but we are unsure which of the three that is.

 

Thanks for the help and I will try to find someone in the area that has the their SDD that can diagnose the problem accurately. It's so frustrating that so many so called Jaguar specialists are unable to really figure this out. I really hope that I don't need to become my own mechanic in this issue. I didn't realize that I needed to really determine if they had this diagnostic tool.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

I will in the future try to determine if they have this software before committing to another repair bill. The vehicle started to have other error codes as well but not sure till I pick up the car hopefully next week to have it stored till I can find another mechanic qualified to repair the vehicle.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

This is some great advice and very complete. I will try to find someone that has the SDD software. Hopefully I can get this car running before the end of summer.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

Kevin,

I'm optimistic you can get the car running and wish you good luck on the timescale. Keep us posted on progress.

Graham

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/29422057212...mis&media=COPY

I also see something that can be included called Pathfinder and I wasn’t sure if it was a Land Rover feature.

Thanks

Kevin

 

As far as I know a junction box is just a junction box and there’s nothing the program in it. Maybe somebody else can fill me in on the details but junction boxes or just wires going to connectors that either go to a fuse or relay or both and there’s nothing inside there that’s programmable

Definitely need more detail on the shops diagnosis. What did they find and why they thinking the box needs to be programmed?

scratch all that that I just wrote. I just looked at the schematics and sure enough, it looks like there’s something that’s programmable in there. Who knew?

sdd will help for sure.

 

Kevin,

(I've removed the "to be ignored" posts from your Intro thread)

I'll just give the outline here. There's plenty of threads discussing the installation and use of Jaguar diagnostics. Check the General Tech Help forum.

The diagnostics for the X150 is JLR SDD (Sympton Driven Diagnostics). Models from 2017 onwards require the later JLR Pathfinder. Although designed for online use, "cracked" versions of SDD are available which do not require connection to JLR servers. Pathfinder requires a permanent TOPIx (payable) connection to JLR servers and is very expensive to run.

An example of the difference is SDD can do anything on my XK but it won't even recognise connection to my F-Pace.

Graham

 

I bought the SDD so hopefully I can reprogram one of the two others so it works in my car.

I was told many things about the Central Junction Box being plug and play. From all I have read it’s VIN specific so hopefully I can try to get one of the spare CJB to work.

I’m sure I’ll have many questions once it arrives trying to figure out how to get spare parts to be reconfigured for my car.

Thanks for the help!

Kevin

 

I wasn’t expecting to buy a car that I used for one month to have an electrical gremlin. It’s going to be almost a year bouncing between shops trying to fix my car without SDD.

My experience level is limited since I haven’t had to work on my cars much for the last 20 years. I guess I’ve been lucky with my cars lately. So two years of high school auto shop and the occasional fixing brakes, oil changes, and minor repairs will bring me back in time. I feel comfortable with my YouTube SDD degree / Jaguar repair and with the forums help I will get this car running again.

i was wanting a project car but what the heck! Lol

Thanks for everyone’s help!

Kevin

 

Hello,

I think a few people on the forum have posted some really helpful advice on getting my car fixed and running again and I appreciate that. I obtained the hardware and software needed to diagnose the problem and I have spent about 6 hours watching youtube videos and reading the SDD manual and XK wiring manual posted in the forum above. I have been trying to develop a game plan for the diagnosis and repair and I think I will try to get the car with all original parts installed and go through the process of trying to identify what is happening. I have access to generating codes for engineering the setup or configuration file if I need to install the used CJB since Jaguar doesn't build new ones anymore. I'm sure I will have questions while working on the vehicle so if anyone wants to PM me and provide any help that would be great.

I know historically the CJB has been prone to getting water damage and having electrical problems or failure from window washer tank or hoses and possibly rain water I suppose since I live in Seattle. One thing I'm a little confused over is the process for accepting a new used part. I guess once in engineering mode it will somehow recognize a new part and try to communicate with the part and accept the new part. I have watched a video of the parking break module being replaced on youtube and it seemed like a fairly straight forward process. The software I purchased from the UK has a code generator for the engineering portion. Important to keep the battery plugged into a charger that can produce more than 20 amps so the voltage stays above 12.5 during the SDD operation since the process

I will try to get it going sometime next week.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

Please let members know how this setup works for you. I looked at the descriptor and was interested to see that it can duplicate keys, something I've been keen to get done. Best luck with your project!

 

please be aware and do not just swap back the original parts. When using SDD, and you want to replace any module, let SDD guide you. It will identify the one you have in and then tell you when to remove it and replace it with the new one. maybe you know this now but in case you didn't....

 

Unfortunately the last mechanic thought it was a plug and play replacement so I think it would be best to start with the original and run the SDD. But I’m not sure so I will try to let the software tell me what to do like you said. One thing I’m not sure of is if it will recognize the whole Central Junction Box as having a problem or one aspect of it. I can only go off what the three mechanics have told me so far because I haven’t hooked up machine yet. I was trying to obtain a battery charger that has high amps of about 30-50amps. I’m also considering using jumper cables from a car running if I can’t get the charger.

Thanks