TL-DR - When in doubt, mash the throttle


I have had the XKR for about 3 weeks. Bought it from a friend. The car is clean and well cared for. The car has only been driven a few thousand miles in the last couple of years. I have been lurking the forum here since before even bringing the car home. I am glad that I found this resource.


My trouble began just a few days after getting the car home. It seems like the battery would not hold a charge for more than a couple of days. I put the battery on charge (in the car) and let it come up to full voltage. My issues started soon thereafter.


6/15/19, bring the car home for the first time. Clear space in the garage for the new ride. Take a spin around the neighborhood to show off to the friends, give a couple of rides to stoke the flames of envy.


6/17/19, Go for a ride, few miles at average speeds and conditions. No problems


6/21/19, battery is low on voltage. Hook up the battery charger and bring it up to full charge. Start car and let it idle in the driveway for 15 minutes or so. No problems.


6/22/19, Prep for the Saturday ride to the shore. Pop the hood, check the oil, start the car in the driveway and let it idle. Looking over the under-hood landscape, getting familiar with things. Look over wiring connections, air filter intake and vacuum lines, etc. I did not unplug or unhooked anything, just a visual going over. After about 5 or 6 minutes the engine idle RPM dropped and the engine shook, I had developed a misfire. The idle was rough. I looked at the display on the dash. I now have “Restricted Performance” and an amber light. After a short burst of profanity, I went to fetch my OBD scanner. Looks like I won’t be cruising to the shore today. Codes from OBD were P0301, P0351, P1316, P1797, P1111. It’s time for some research. From what I have read here, it’s all about the voltage. I have 12.3V at the battery terminals. Seems like it should be within limits but what the heck, so I disconnect the battery and hook up the charger. I let the charger run through a cycle and before hooking up the battery again I attempt a “reset” by touching the pos and neg cables together for 30 seconds or so and then the neg cable to the pos terminal on my battery. I hook up the battery, reset my windows and start it up. Misfire is gone and no “Restricted Performance” message. OK - that’s a win – lets go for a ride. Its evening now, time for wings, beers and baseball so I head for BWW which is close to home, a few miles round trip. No issues with performance, the MIL is lit but I expected that, I have not cleared any codes yet.


6/26/19, busy with work and family for the last few days but let’s see what’s going on with the car. Battery voltage is low so I hook up the charger again and let it run through a cycle and come up to full voltage. Start the car and let it idle in the driveway for 5 minute or so. Idle speed drops and misfire again. “Restricted Performance” is back on the dash with the amber light. Another short burst of profanity and I decide to do something else for a while. Over the next few days I read nearly every post relating to voltage fluctuations, diagnostic codes and troubleshooting that I can find.


6/29/19, disconnect battery and remove from the car. Clamp the pos and neg battery cables together for a few hours. Put the battery on the charger until cycle completes. Do a load test on the battery. Test shows low end of acceptable range after load test. OK, I will put in a new battery. AutoZone H8 gold $189 plus tax. Clean the terminal connections and hook up new battery. Check voltage, 12.4V. Start car. Misfire still present, Restricted Performance still lit. More profanity. At this point the wife is on the porch with the “I told you so” look that she has perfected. “What’s wrong with your car?” she asks knowingly. “Nothin” I lie, as I close the trunk after disconnecting the battery.


At this point I begin to do more research, looking for posts on this forum for people with similar issues. I start to plan my attack on the problem. I learn where component and ground connections are located so that they can be cleaned and reconnected. I am planning on swapping the coils on cylinders 1 and 2 to see if the misfire follows, cleaning the mas air sensor and throttle body, etc. I even found 1 post where someone said that the ECM connections might need to be cleaned because the drains at the cowl get clogged and may dump water onto the enclosure and foul the connections. After another tour / survey under the hood I decide that I need a few additional tools to make sure I can accomplish my planned repairs effectively and with a minimum of improvisation. Some new Torx drivers and socket extensions and swivel joints should do it. Electronics cleaner and Mass air sensor cleaner from CRC are also on the list.


7/5/19, Sometimes you just need to walk away for a few days to look at something with a clear head, and sometimes that does not help at all. I put the battery on the charger for a cycle. I disconnect a few of the more accessible electrical connections and clean and reconnect. Remove the Kand N air filter and replace with good quality paper filter. Hard reset by clamping the pos and neg cables together for 30 minutes or so. While the battery is disconnected, I turn on the headlights and press the horn to hopefully fully discharge any remaining energy in the system. Battery up to full voltage now. 12.5V Clean connections and before reconnecting I touch the neg cable to the pos post for 10 seconds. Reconnect battery. Double check my work under the hood. Everything is reconnected and in place, no spare parts or stray tools. I cross my fingers and start the car. Misfire still present, Restricted Performance still lit. I am disappointed. It looks like I will be getting to know this car a lot better in the days to come. Certainly not what I wanted or expected so soon after bring this car home a few weeks ago.


7/6/19, OK time to stop dancing around the issue and take the problem head on. Only thing is this, it’s hot today, and its humid, and thunderstorms are expected this afternoon. I’m not in the best mood. OK, let’s see what I can accomplish. I check battery voltage, 12.4V. I disconnect the battery and do the hard reset. Reconnect the battery and start the car. NO Restricted Performance – NO misfire. Alrighty then, let’s go for a ride to see what happens. I leave the car idling in the driveway and go into the house for long enough to change into a non-sweaty shirt and get my glasses, about 2 minutes. When I come back out of the house we are back to “Restricted performance” and mis-fire. I am not happy about this, But I went through the trouble of putting on a shirt and getting my glasses so I am going to drive the car anyway. It’s time to take out some of my frustrations. I drive through my neighborhood development with the car running a bit rough. I pull out onto the highway out front and mash the throttle. As the car hits second gear it bucks hard, catches its breath and takes off. I look down after it goes through the gears, the “restricted Performance” is gone but the MIL is flashing. I am all in at this point. Up the highway a couple of miles, u turn, and heading back the MIL calms to the steady indicator. Car is now running like I remember. I decide to keep going. I’m at less than ¼ tank so I figure this is a good time to fill up with fresh gas. God only knows how old the gas in the tank is. 14 Gallons of Sunoco’s finest and I am back on the highway. I decide to go into town for some stop and go traffic. All seems good. Thunderstorms are threatening so this seems like a good time to get back home. Total of about 20 miles driven. I pull into the driveway and retrieve my code reader from the garage. Same codes as before, no changes. Car is idling and running fine. I clear my codes, MIL is out. The only code left in the system is the P1000 from the clearing of the codes. I let the car cool down for a few hours and will test drive again before the end of the day.


Update - I let the car cool off for a few hours. The wife and I take a ride to the grocery store for a few things. No MIL, No nasty messages. Drop off the wife at home with the groceries and out for another drive. Tried a few different driving styles, from hard acceleration to grandpa mode. Mix of highway and stop and go traffic. Still no MIL or other cause for concern. Could it be that the car just needed the cobwebs blown off? Maybe it was the air filter? I know that I still have a draw on the battery that I need to locate and fix and I will work on that but I’m not convinced that I have actually solved anything here. I feel like if I don’t start and drive this car daily it will continue to cause me fits. I will return to this thread with updates if things change. I am open to suggestions from the more experienced members as to probable causes or courses of action. Thanks for reading.

 

I had similar problems with my 2002 XK8, I replaced the MAF sensor with a cheapy from Ebay, it cleared the CEL but I could not accelerate hard at all. I ordered a different MAF sensor from Amazon and replaced the O rings on the breather tube between the valve cover and the air intake just because they were rather brittle. That fixed my problem. I hope yours can be fixed as easily as mine was.

 

I’m at less than ¼ tank so I figure this is a good time to fill up with fresh gas. God only knows how old the gas in the tank is. 14 Gallons of Sunoco’s finest and I am back on the highway.


The problem might of been old gas. Since you said it has only been driven a few thousand miles in the past 2 years it is a good bet.


I would check the voltage at the battery with the car running to see if the system is charging the battery. I think it should be charging at 14.7v if memory serves me correctly. The electronics don't like the voltage below 12.5v. Replacing the battery was good start.

 

O2XKRNJ,

Agree with BobRoy, that old fuel was probably the concern aka "...blowing the cobwebs off."

I've a 1999 XK8 4.0L na, which was a bit of a faff when I first got her over a year ago. She had previously been sat in storage for 2 years. She didn't run well at all when I first test drove it and I noticed the fuel tank was low.. So during the test drive, I stopped and put in new fuel and boy did that make a difference in the test drive. She perked up noticeably and was far smoother at speed.

I initially did have lots of warning lights/messages, but I figured this was because the battery had been disconnected for a while, so the monitoring cycles needed clearing. The reality was I just dropped a new battery in, reset, and voila - most of the warning messages disappeared.

I'm not sure all this counts as "fond memories" but sure sounds like your scenario.

 

An old adage/proverb to consider - "Old cars need to be driven, otherwise they just rust and die" - Does the X100 count as "Old" yet?

 

Lots of threads on the possible sources of battery drain. Some solutions as simple as cleaning the cover in the keyhole behind the steering wheel. Normal way is to check the current draw from the battery when the car is "asleep" and start pulling fuses to isolate the issue to a certain area.

Someone recently posted a problem as his premium music system amp was drawing 1A+ even when the car was off. The give away was the amp unit was hot and the amp's fan was constantly running. Possible other sources are late addition modification from previous owners, usually under the centre console "glove" box, where they may have mistakenly used a permanently on power connection, rather than an ignition controlled power connection.

A last resort, by another forum member, was to put in a temporary track racing/marine boat style kill switch for the battery electrics.

 

As others have said, once you sort your electrical issue be sure to drive the car on a regular basis. These cars indeed hold up better when they are exercised regularly....

 

Try replacing your Battery Ground Cable with a new one....! All sort of things happen when it goes bad.....Some of them sound pretty much like what's happening to you...……..Worth a try!

Billy Clyde in Houston

 

First to the members who took the time to read and respond,thank you to all for the replies. I have an update, but first...Muncie6spd - I have cleaned the Mass air sensor and feel good about it for now. Any further performance related issues and i may change it. BobRoy and DavidYau - yes the fresh fuel seemed to help the running conditions a bit. bcprice36 - I will put the ohm meter on the neg cable but I think the problem is upstream from there. The interior of the trunk where the battery and electrical components are located is in pristine condition, as is the under hood wiring, hoses and connections. Almost car show ready. Even the undercarriage is clean. DavidYau - there are no modifications that I can identify, electrical or other on the car other than the tinted windows. I plan on doing the electrical drain diagnosis this coming week. Jon89 - Yes, i agree that the car needs to be driven regularly in order to bring it back to nominal condition. Its not exactly what i had in mind when I bought it but the car, but it wont have any value if it is not roadworthy and reliable. I don't want to boast but this car was well kept and is in very good condition. That is the main reason i bought it, and the main reason I am so disappointed with the early onset of issues I seem to be having.

OK, now how about an update?
Update 7/7/19, I went out for an early Sunday morning drive. The car started and drove perfectly. No error codes or performance issues. Roughly 30 miles round trip in about an hour. Starting to feel good about the car again. It’s still a bit warm today so I leave the car in the driveway with the windows down. In the afternoon I had some free time so I thought that it would be an opportunity to program the radio presets and also program Homelinkto my garage door openers. Success on both counts. What the heck, let’s go for another short drive. I put the key in the ignition, attempt to start and NADA, a dull click is all I get. WTF with this car? Is this going to be my Jag owner experience? I tried a few things such as key in and out a few times, jiggle the shifter and try again, still no crank no start, an audible click can be heard. I pop the trunk and check battery voltage, I have 12.6V. I pop the cover off of the fuse box in the trunk and check voltage 12.57 volts. Next I pulled each of the relays out one by one at the fuse box in the trunk and re-seated them back into their original spot. I checked voltage at a couple of relay terminals and I have battery voltage there. I go back to thedrivers seat put in the key and give it a crank. The car starts normally. MIL is lit on the dash code P1797. The car appears to be running normally. I let the car idle for a few minutes to see if any other codes or messages will show up, there is none. I clear the code P1797, the P1000 remains. The MIL goes out. I go for a short drive, about 20 miles or so with a pit stop at the 7-11. Car starts normally after my stop and no codes or performance issues on the way home. My trust in the reliability of this car is thin. At this point I wouldn’t take it on a road trip or even out on a date night until I have come to some understanding of the issues and made the appropriate repair. Does anybody have a thought as to the next logical step to take? I think i will start with the body and battery grounding and go from there.

 

02XKRNJ

As I said, check the ground cable as it is probably 17 or 18 years old! Some times they get loose where they are pressed....or it may have rust where connected to the Body....Just do it!

BC

 

I will take your advice BC. Thanks

 

Here is a link to the Electrical Guide. It will show where the ground points are located and the power distribution.


http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Auto.../jagxk2002.pdf

 

+1 to BC’s suggestion on the battery -ve cable. You’ve classic signs of a bad battery connection.

Also check the battery +ve cable. It is very short and connects to the car’s High Power junction box and the nut here is known to work loose.


well worth making sure this connection is clean by sanding it until it’s bright and shiney and use electrical contact cleaner (not WD40) on the contact surfaces.

BTW if you’re charging the battery whilst the car is connected, bad battery cables can heat, so keep an eye on that. A lot of people swap out these old cables for 100% copper upgrades. Cheap fix.

 

Thank you to BC and David, this is where i will start to go over the grounding and cable connections. Also thanks to BobRoy for the guide. You guys are the best.

 

I just wanted to check back in to let the people following this thread that i am still working on solving the issues with my XKR. I have been a little bit busy with work but I did manage to clean up and reattach some of the easier to locate grounding connections. Unfortunately during a short test drive around the neighborhood I cut down my left rear tire. Somehow a 2 inch by 3 inch shard of metal was laying in the road. I didn't see it at all. Punctured the left rear tire, instantly went flat. A couple of kids close by may have learned a few new bad words that afternoon, sorry about that. I ordered 2 new Continental Extreme Contact 255/45/18 and had Mavis Tire install them yesterday. $460. I think i should start to keep a spreadsheet of the details of what I have been investing into this car regarding parts and materials, labor time and research. Misery loves documentation.
P.S. - I do love this car, I just wish it felt the same way about me

 

I record my out-of-pocket expenses on all of our vehicles and have done so since the late 1970s. But recording my actual labor repair hours would probably keep me angry all the time. My wife says I already stay angry enough as it is. No need to raise the bar on that measurement....

 

02!
Where is money best spent....for 20 years I played Golf at least 3 times a week......of course you have to have a drink or two after the round.....Hurt my back one day and had surgery......gave the Golf Clubs away and quit drinking...…..Now, I just work on "Sweet Sugar" and in the long run...save Money.....Those Extreme Contacts are really nice tires......

BCP

 

I have been hesitant posting this update (I don’t want to jinx myself), but I think we have solved the issue with the XKR. Long story short…. a bad coil at cylinder #1. I did take the advice of the more experienced guys who were kind enough to respond and I went through the ground connections and cleaned and reattach the various points. I replaced the ground wire connector under the car that goes from the trans to the body. I also bought the Battery Tender Plus and keep the car plugged in when it is parked. Back to the repair, one of the codes was P0301, cylinder #1 misfire. There were other codes as well, and that was making me chase phantoms that were not there. One of the symptoms originally was that the restricted performance and misfire would only appear after the car was warmed up. I believe there may have been a bad winding in coil #1 that would open only after the engine was hot. I was wrong not to try the more obvious choice of testing the coils earlier but I sure learned a lot in the process. After replacing the coil and spark plug at cylinder #1 my rough running engine was running fine again. Since changing the coil and plug last week I have driven about 100 miles over 4 separate trips. Only 1 time did the restricted performance light flash on and off, and a new code appear (P0174), but that was because I didn’t fully connect the part load breather pipe causing a slight vacuum leak. After reseating the part load breather we have had no codes and smooth sailing. I am happy again and I regret nothing. I feel like I know this car well now and look forward to learning more. I want to thank the guys who commented and helped me get the XKR back in shape. Now its on to some fun projects like sending the rear view mirror out to be rebuilt, and upgrading the navigation and entertainment system. I hope to be able to contribute to the community in the future. Now who wants to go for a drive?

 

O2XKRNJ,

Thanks for the update. Glad you got it sorted and your experiences sound like the car needed "running in" plus a new coil. Now you get to enjoy the X100 …. give it a good "spanking" as a reward for your efforts! LOL

As the XK8s, XKRs have low values, people can buy them cheap and have an entry level V8 too. Unfortunately people new to Jaguars don't realise that an old luxury car will need work esp. if the car had been neglected by the previous owner. I like getting the wrenches out in the garage and got my 1999 XK8 exactly for that reason. However once I fix one problem, another seems to appear, but I don't mind really.

It seems you have a handle on things, and you're planning on fixing the clouded rear view mirror and upgrading the Nav system. For the former, the chemical in the mirror is toxic so take care handling it. For the latter you may alternatively consider putting back in the standard 3 dial (oil pressure, clock, battery voltage) set up. IMHO with maps available on smart phones nowadays, car GPS isn't really needed. There are kits available to do this.

This forum will be the best tool in your tool box with good advice given promptly by knowledgeable folk. I sometimes even go "gold digging" searching Threads, written way back in time, as virtually every problem I've had, someone previously had found a fix for.

 

Check out this recent thread
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ay-how-200834/