I’m having a problem with my 2005 XJ8 VDP (X350) that no one I have spoken to can seem to solve and I have been unable to find any mention of it anywhere in my searches on the Internet.

The car had been working fine until about a month ago. I was several miles away from my house and it started raining. But I discovered that every time I turned my windshield wipers ON (any mode) the engine quit. At first I was told it was the battery so I replaced it with a new one – no difference. I have checked and swapped all the fuses and relays with no change. Everyone seems totally baffled about what this could be.

I’m beginning to suspect a fault in the wiper control stalk. If the engine is not running the wipers work fine in all modes. However, if you park the wipers, turn them off and then start the engine, they rise a few inches above the park position (once they even did a full window sweep). This makes me think that somehow they’re getting a little electrical input when you start the engine.

Does anyone have ideas? Thank you very much for any suggestions. Take care.

 

What happens if you turn on wipers and then try to start the car?

 

The best place to start is get the codes read with SDD

Id advise the purchase of the mongoose cable and so you can do this yourself otherwise you need a friendly member to do this for you or a dealer

SDD should tell you the reason for the shutdown and where to look at fixing it

This will be a Jag specific code so its doubtful a generic code scanner will help you

Cheers
34by151

 

Faults in a control stalks have been reported on this forum.

Used spares are available and they are easy to replace.

 

Thank you for the responses. Let me try to address them.
1: If the wipers are on and you start the car, They are disconnected automatically during the start sequence. The car starts okay but as soon as the wiper starts again the engine dies.
2: I am currently looking for my reader to see if there are any faults shown. I just returned to New York from driving six days - Dallas, Memphis, Atlanta, Buffalo - and I'm not sure where my OBD reader ended up.
3: I was advised to do considerable more troubleshooting before I replaced the stalk. But I will do some more looking on the Internet.

Thanks again for the help fellas. For many years I have rebuild older Jaguars and Bentleys. However in 1992 I was struck buy a truck while working on a car. Besides not having enough experience on the newer cars, I had many broken bones and a brain injury - these have slowed me down quite a bit. Thanks a lot for your help.

 

On my last trip here I had the wiper problem but it did not show any fault codes.

 

34 by151 is absolutely right when he advocates a sytematic approach and

he has much more experience with a Mongoose than I have but somehow

I am not surprised that you have not found any codes.

Thinking back it was one of our regular contributors who had a problem

with his headlights when they would suddenly switch off briefly, not a

pleasant fault.

The root cause was the wiring in the lighting stalk.

The stalk is attached to a cassette which fits in behind the steering wheel.

 

As I said
"This will be a Jag specific code so its doubtful a generic code scanner will help you"

If a module has shutdown the engine for any reason there will be a code, plain and simple. You need SDD/Mongoose, a generic scanner will not show the Jag Specific codes

Cheers
34by151

 

Thanks for the information guys. To show my ignorance I did not even know what a mongoose was until I searched on the Internet. I found one sold by auto tool that appears to plug into the car socket and then a computer USB. It is sold with software compatible with 99-2014 Jaguar. Does that sound like the item I should get? I have been using a reader that worked perfectly okay with my Jaguars so far. But I'm willing to try the mongoose to see if it gives me any codes. Am I correct about the hookup of this unit? Thanks again.

 

Here is the link for the mongoose I purchased

V139 JLR Mangoose SDD Pro for Jaguar and Land Rover Support Till 2014

It will come with the factory SDD diagnostics

Also if you go back to V1.25 you will have both SDD and IDS factory diagnostics

You may want to check out the Mongoose thread as well

Cheers
34by151

 

Thank you for the reference. I ordered one we will see what happens. Take care.

 

This problem doesn't sound the kind of fault that's liable to throw a meaningful code. My money is a wiring fault/short in the steering column harness associated with the windshield wiper. I would inspect all wiring as it exits the column first, only as a preliminary step to disassembly of the various column covers and the WW control assembly itself. You are looking for frayed wires or bad connectors with defective pins, etc..


Just a superficial wild a-- guess, don't you know, before you get too involved.

 

I am assuming the vehicle is undrivable at the moment and if that is a

problem while you are waiting for your Mongoose,and it could be weeks,

you could:

Replace the stalk which is cheap and easy.

Remove wiper motor (PITA) check out assoc. wiring and connections and

check out the motor itself. Note that the motor does contain park switches

which could be faulty.

You need to be aware that my experience was that the software with Mongoose

was faulty and eventually I bought new software from another source.

It appears to work ok now but I never have any faults! (fingers crossed)

 

I haven't heard of the wiper stalk causing an engine shutdown
Flickering lamps and wipers yes, but shutdown no

Its something major to cause a shutdown and the reason will be logged in the lifecycle area. The logged reason may not be the cause though

While you wait for a cable you could also try driving with the cable disconnected and see if the shutdown reoccurs. If it does its not the stalk

Im guessing the root cause may be some water ingress or a short/bad earth somewhere, but just a guess

Cheers
34by151

 

Thanks very much for the information. I'm in the process of taking the cover off they rear of the engine compartment and disconnecting the electrical harness to the wiper motor. I thought I would try to see if the engine still quits if I turn the stalk switch on with the motor disconnected. I believe if that happens it tells me that there is a wiring problem in the harness or stalk/switches. Does that sound reasonable? Thanks again.

Yes the car is pretty much undrivable because if it rains while I am moving - I am dead meat. I will be getting the mongoose in today or tomorrow. Take care.

 

In some areas of Texas no wipers is not a problem. Only rains a couple times a year.
But whatever is killing the engine may get worse and leave you walking. The issue is a little scary. If it is the the wiper motor, I am changing mine.

 

Panelhead and others----------
This issue sounds like a "one-in-a-million" thing. Markvman's car has a problem that will never raise it's head again--or it may happen to mine tomorrow, either way I'll wait until he finds the problem before I change or do anything.
Just a word of caution.....

 

Thanks gentleman. It has been raining on and off the last three weeks in North Texas. But the car is located in upstate New York near Buffalo/Niagara Falls. It's been raining there on and off the last week too - but also snow and ice. I'm still working on getting the wiper arms off but hope to troubleshoot this further today. Take care. I will keep you posted.

 

Searched high and low for the answer to this on the Internet and various forums - no luck. I have removed all the quick fasteners and the windscreen wipers for the panel immediately forward of the windscreen to access the windscreen wiper motor. But it appears to be firmly attached at the base of the windscreen and I do not see how to remove the panel. Do you need to run a blade around the base of the windscreen? I'm a little nervous about doing that now afraid I will destroy the seal. Any help will be appreciated.

Also I was only able to get to OBD codes P1367 & P1368. Both are ignition system failure Group 1 and 2. don't seem associated with my wiper/engine problem.

Thanks.

 

I don't pretend to know the answer to the fault and I am only advocating what I would do if it was my Jag.

I did list the stalk replacement FIRST since I believe that is a relatively easy job and may solve the problem.

The panel below the windscreen will come out-it clips into the plastic at the base of the screen but to do this the first time you need to be brave and hold it up say 30 deg from the horizontal and 'tear' it out from one end.

Before you do anymore check your drains are not blocked-there are two!

Info here:

Mad electrical problems