Hi Again, After spending a happy Sunday cleaning and polishing the car, when I went to start it I had no ignition the screen was stuck on the Jag logo and the centre panel wouldn't light up and strangely the side lights were on though the lighting controls were off. I could lock and unlock the car with the fob and the headlights would come on, again from the fob but no other controls would work.

I removed the negative lead from the battery and when refitted the side lights were off and the car was happy again, after resetting the windows and clock the car ran fine, possibly even better than before as the odd convertible top issue had vanished and it worked beautifully.

Forward to Tuesday morning when I opened the garage to take it for servicing and the battery was completely dead, recharged the battery and refitted it and same fault as before, side lights are constantly on but no ignition, car opens and locks on the key fob.

Should the key slot in the centre armrest reset the car because if I put the key in it does nothing.

Battery is fine with 12.8 V and is only a year old so don't think it's that, its the strange side light issue which I can't Understand.

Car did this last week when I went to collect it but reset after removing the battery lead...seems something has properly broken now..BECM?

Any ideas very gratefully received.

Regards
Ian

 

Putting the smartkey in the slot doesn't reset anything. It justs enables 'handshake' between vehicle and smartkey if the smartkey battery is low.

Vehicle battery would usually be number one suspect but your actions have eliminated that. The best start to troubleshooting is an SDD session if you have it available.

Graham

 

Entirely disconnect the battery.
Fully charge it.
Let it sit for a few days THEN check its voltage. (Or simply do a capacity test).
I have other suspicions.

 

I agree with guy (and probably 75% of this forum), it's probably the battery, maybe also the alternator. Since you spent time with the modules active while you washed it, it's the battery. This exact scenario has played out dozens of times in this forum.

 

Exact same situation occurred when I was detailing my new to me xk...except after an overnight charge life was good.
Wj

 

Know that whenever a battery gets fully discharged, its life expectancy is shortened. All the more reason to look out for electrical glitches, which is the early warning system for its imminent demise. You may want to have a load test done on your battery to determine its health.

 

Spitjag, As you have read, the XKR have proven to be EXTREMELY sensitive to battery related issues. As you read more on this forum you will begin to realize that there seems to be recurring discussions and ultimately most ( if not all?) end up somehow being related to the battery. At least it certainly seems that way!

 

Hi and thanks to those of you who replied. I've had a great many JLR products and am aware of their requirements for healthy batteries, my previous XK (150) would often display a host of error messages if the voltage got a little low but it would always at least light up the centre panel and attempt to start. The key will open and close the car, sound the alarm and turn on the headlights but pressing the start/stop button brings no power to the car, the steering wheel is locked and I can't move the gear selector or release the handbrake. The oddest thing is, as soon as the battery is connected the side lights come on. I've got a diagnostic reader and am able to look at some of the modules though as I can't get the ignition on information is limited. The BCM says its waiting for an ignition authorisation (B1009), but after testing the start stop button outputs the control is seeing it being pressed. The only other Fault is a B1D17 Battery backed sounder but I can't see that inhibiting the ignition circuit.
I've put another battery on it today out of my Discovery and it's still the same so Im stumped. If I could get it out of Park and the Handbrake off that would be a help as I've very little room to work in my garage.
Cheers Ian

 

Well, if you can absolutely rule out the battery, then the next step would be to show all thrown codes.
Assuming of course all fuses, including the main junction box are good.

 

Ian,

I thought on first reading that your actions had effectively already eliminated the usual suspect of the main battery and swapping now confirms this.

Lock/Unlock and Arm/Disarm working normally suggests both security module and smartkey are OK and this issue is one of ignition authorisation. Not having SDD or equivalent hampers diagnosing extended 9 character DTC's but the core B1009 does suggest two possibilities:

1. Instrument Cluster
2. Power and/or ground to CJB

This is the relevant DTC list which confirms the above as likely to be the possible cause:





If you can get the beast out of the garage, checking (2) is then available. Unfortunately, if it is (1) then you are going to need more sophisticated diagnostics or outside expert assistance.

Graham

 

The side lights being illuminated is the visible sign of the last gasps of a dying battery. It seems counter-intuitive, in fact irrational, but in the XK/XKR this is what happens. The fact that a battery is only a year old is irrelevant; we have had many cases presented with similar symptoms and the answer has always proved to be in the condition of the battery.
I note that the battery from a Land Rover was substituted, with no improvement. This suggests that the fault, if not located in the battery, may be in the battery connections or ground connections rather than in a far more involved explanation. Simply arguing here for the application of a simplified Occam’s Razor - that is, that the simplest explanation is often the correct one (that is not exactly what Occam’s theory said but you get the point…).

 

Hi SOV21 many thanks for your input, it's interesting and most reassuring that you have seen the sidelight issue before as it gives me hope it is a grounding or connection fault as whilst I can tackle any mechanical problem, electronics are a complete mystery to me. I'll try and strip out the battery connections and test the grounds tomorrow. Thanks again.

 

I have indeed seen this exact issue. The car was a 2007 XK convertible, on a long, multi-day Jaguar club run.
On the third day the car stared to exhibit odd and troubling behaviour, the most irritating symptom being the failure of the side windows to drop to allow clearance at the weatherstripping. I’ll move to the end of the story. In the middle of the night in a hotel parking lot the car lights started flashing. Finally, the parking lights remained lit while all other activity ceased. Several club members who were familiar with the battery situation in the XK cars gathered around (now that we were awake) . Our immediate suspicion was that the battery had failed. Early the next morning a new and fully charged (that is important) battery was installed. Result: every symptom disappeared, the run was completed without further incident and there were no further issues during the next several years.

 

Hi, I've spent a very cold afternoon in the garage and can't find anything wrong other than the car is still dead, the side lights always on is the most perplexing issue and I'm sure is the probable cause of the catastrophic flat battery I experienced earlier in the week. I'm assuming if there was a problem with the smart key the system would flag that up but as I'm not getting to the ignition stage i'm suspecting a duff BCM. Are they a nightmare to change do they need to be coded? I've managed to persuade an auto electrician to look at it next week so hopefully he'll find something I've missed. My diagnostic tool is ok but what do I need to really fault find on this system?
Many Thanks

 

For a bit of cart-and-horse discussion: which comes first, the sidelights being illuminated or the near-dead battery? Is there a fault with the lighting circuit that drains the battery (I cannot recall this ever being reported with these cars) or is it a battery either faulty or old, and not putting out proper voltage (because the side lights being illuminated IS a sign of a dying battery in the XK).

 

Hi again and thanks for your input, I appreciate many members have indicated the battery is at fault or suspect but I have tried 5 different batteries now, all of which were working perfectly in their vehicles prior to removal. I've had the back seats out and checked power and earth at the fuseboard in the rear and run temporary earths from the battery to various points on the body with no effect. Due to my tight garage I am unable to get to the fuseboard in the glovebox but am planning on borrowing some wheeled dollies to enable me to extract the car and get better access. The sidelights constantly on issue is a strange thing and maybe symptomatic of a voltage deficit elsewhere in the system. Looking at purchasing a better level diagnostic reader so I can get a better understanding of what the car is 'waiting for'.

 

A few observations:
1. Mighty cold in the garage: battery internal resistance goes up as temperature goes down. Output voltage goes down.
2. As SOV211 notes: sidelights-on is a sign of a dying battery. Sidelights-on can be observed when the signal switch (stalk) is removed!
3. Battery disconnected resolves (some) issues. No mention of "rectification" (Battery terminals (not battery) connected together).
4. Five different batteries working in five different vehicles would be convincing if it were not a Jaguar as the subject of discussion.

Please take the battery to the "depot" for a stress test.

One last thought: "XKR dead in the water" made me think "flood vehicle".
Any chance that this vehicle may have a "wet" history?

Please report your resolution.

best regards,
Bill

 

Ok so a bit of an update. Went up the garage yesterday with some rollers to try and manhandle the car out so I could work on it, connected the battery and noticed the sidelights were not on, Hmmmm tried the start button all lit up and the car burst into life... I nearly cried. Got the car out reset the windows and the car is running great. No DTCs apart from a battery backed sounder fault (B1D17) and some spurious sat nav faults (which went away after a while) Took the car for a drive and running perfectly so I'm at a complete loss as to what the problem might be. I suspect it is a water issue fault as both times the car has failed it has been either raining heavily or I'd just had the car cleaned with a pressure washer. Maybe there's some water ingress somewhere and it's screwing up a module or Canbus signal until it dries out. I've obviously lost confidence with the car and don't know what to do now for the best, I've ordered a clone SDD Diagnostics kit so maybe once I've learnt how to use it I can investigate further should it happen again.

 

From experience, if you aren't going to drive it often you are going to suffer similar dumb things happening often. Ctek or similar smart charger or just use the poor thing. I'm up to 165k on my '07 using it as a commuter car, very seldom have issues with it anymore. Just stopped in to the forum because I forgot how to retract the E-brake puck. Finally doing rear brakes after quite a few years of ownership.

Gotta drive'em.

 

Had you just pressure washed or driven her in the rain before the issues started? That’s a tough thing to find. If you had just washed/driven in the rain, then it’s time to put your detective hat on and get to work. Try pressure washing just one half or one quarter of the car. Does that cause the problem? Keep working to smaller and smaller sections to narrow it down.

I had a Harley that did that years ago. On a trip to the Arctic Circle, it would sometimes not start or set the CEL. Turns out water would run down the wiring harness until it got to one connector at the ecm. If you were riding a long enough stretch, you could ride it long enough to dry it. If not, when you shut it off, it wouldn't start for days until it dud dry out. What a PITA!