I purchased a 1998 XK8 4 weeks ago, had it parked at girlfriends and she drove a couple times. I picked it up week ago and abs light and stability/control failure came on. Shut it off and restarted, went away for 20 min drive. Left work and they have been on since. I read about cleaning the sensors, maybe that is just it.

More concerning is when I got ready to leave her house last night, she asked what noise was, She was outside car, it was in idle and I was inside. I got out and it is coming in front somewhere in engine area near passenger "tire". It is an intermittent humming/buzzing you can hear plainly on that front side outside. Maybe few seconds doing it then quite for few seconds and back again. Almost like a solenoid or motor going on and off. Didn't notice it until yesterday and wasn't there when I bought the car.

Any ideas on what this is.

Thanks,

Scoutster

 

Yes. It could be the reluctor ring. It gets lots of dirt, rust etc up from the road and it tells the abs sensor what speed your doing how the wheel is turning etc. This is mine as it was originally before I replaced it and cleaned up the entire area. Take a look click me to see The ring is the bit with cogs in the middle.

As for the noise it could be anything. You will have to record it and put it up on here.

 

A front cable could have a internal break, and of course, it could be the solder joints for the abs pump. Without a jag code reader it's guesswork.

The noise may be an idler bearing on the serpentine belt. Listen with the hood open or even remove the belt and see if it stops.