Not sure how I should have titled this one…

In case its not in my signature: 2012 XKR Vert 53k on the clock.

Went to the UPS store today, and when I went got back in my car, started it up, select Reverse, give it some gas, and nothing. Looked down to make sure I’m not in neutral, which I wasn’t, so switch back to Park, then reverse, then nothing again. Shut off the car, restart and take the same steps as above with the same results.

We (girlfriend and I) get out of the car, lock up. Wait about 10 seconds, unlock and go through the same process, with the same result: nothing in reverse.

Now I’m ready to call AAA and have it taken to the dealer. Get out of the car, lock it up, walk about 50’ to where it’s a little quieter, get my phone to make the call, but nope. Either my ego, determination, or I’m just hard headed, I wasn’t giving up.

Back in the car, start it up, try reverse, and nothing, try Drive and it goes a little bit (I'm really close to parking bumper), but it was like the brakes were on (the emergency brake is not engaged either). Then I put it in reverse and hit the gas harder and it starts moving, lots of resistance… I drop it in neutral (I’m on an ever so slight incline) and begin to slowly roll backwards. I get to the point where I can straighten the car, put it in drive and make it home (maybe 2 miles away). I figure I should back it into the driveway and then into the garage if I can get it into reverse (if I need it towed, at least I can go forward to get it out of the garage). The mystery continues: reverse works as if nothing ever happened and I back into my driveway.

After I was in the driveway (and away from the other garage door where the XF is parked), I decided to shut it off. Worse case if I can't move it, I can still get out with the sedan. No issues with starting, reverse, or drive. Now I’m not sure if I should be worried about an eminent failure in a bad location (anywhere away from home) or if I’m just being paranoid.

Any thoughts on this?

Also, I opened the hood in case something was burning while the engine was running and I could get a good whiff of anything cooking – nada. However, the engine was ‘ticking’… I did make a video of it and can post it. Maybe that’s the way the car always sounded, but I never noticed (rarely had the hood opened while the car was running).

Also, I had all the fluids changed about 4 months ago, except the super charger fluid (its on my list): oil, coolant, steering, brake, trans, and differential.

Thanks!
Jon

 

Likely the shifter assembly malfunctioned. Could be random or could be a sign of something to come. If a hard reset (battery disconnect) fixes it, then it's not mechanical. Also check your battery.

 

Well, the saga continues... replaced the battery and have been keeping it regularly on a maintainer.
Yesterday, I had the car in the driveway (for several days actually - normally in the garage, but would keep the maintainer connected during the day to keep the battery charged up), and finally cleanup my garage (tile work - what a mess from the saw).
She started up, backed up a bit to straighten her out, pulled in the garage, reversed again to get the car correct, moved forward and was nearly done. I wanted to back up a couple of inches, put it in reverse again, and the car lunged forward (thankfully my foot was on the brake).
Shut her off and figure I look at it later (the car was back in the garage) - reconnected the maintainer and would try again later.
After a couple of hours, tried again, and the car lunged forward when in reverse or neutral - putting the car in drive seemed normal (no lunging). Even in park it felt like the car wanted to go forward. Shut it off and the car stayed put.

One last try this morning:
1) I let the battery charge overnight on the battery tender (full charge this morning).
2) Did a hard reset on the battery (disconnected, then held +/- negative together for 30 seconds).
3) Reconnected the battery.
4) Started up and did the emergency parking brake as per the message on the dash (as per the reset)
5) When putting the car in N, R, and back in P, the car was trying to lunge forward.
6) While back in P, shut off the car.

I was able to access the emergency transmission release under the cup holders and rolled the car back a bit as the front of the car was now inches from the front wall of my garage.

I've emailed William at All Jaguar (hes' done maintenance work on my XKR and XF) and will wait to hear back from him - I should be able to get the car out of the garage by rolling it back in reverse, then once straighten out, put it in drive and take it to his shop. My only concern would be if I was causing more damage by driving it. Don't know if I'm better off getting a flatbed here to take it to him.

Any thoughts from anyone here?

No codes on the dash, no CEL either, other than Service Required indicator, which I'm assuming is for an oil change (I believe I'm pretty close to that time).

I'm really thinking about selling her once this gets sorted out (feels like my midlife crisis is over, and I still have my '16 XF - I just had all the fluids changed about 9 months ago, all but the supercharger fluid - was going to do that myself from the instructions I found on the forum).

thanks!
Jon

 

linkage. when my car was new it had to be adjusted…. if I recall correctly, selecting N and D were finicky then one day gave up the ghost. car was corrected in about 15 mins…. add to that the towing to the dealership.

 

That ‘hockey puck’ always made suspicious if it could be a failure point someday.