Hi Guys,

About 2 years ago I was driving down the road and got the Cruise Control Not Available and Check Rear Tail lights.

The message was present for 2 days. As soon as I read on this forum to replace the brake switch, and ordered a new switch the problem went away. I put the switch away and left it alone.

About 2 months ago I replaced the steering wheel. I have a Victory edition with a fully leather wrapped wheel and the leather was disintegrating.

I replaced the wheel without any issues. But then the day after I switched the wheel I got a yellow light with the Cruise Control Not Available message.

I had looked at the old steering wheel when I pulled it off, and said I have 2 building full of crap I keep I don't need this and tossed it in the trash. Of course the next morning was trash day and by the time the message popped up the wheel was gone.

I hypothesized that the new wheel from a 2001 - had a different switch pack than my 06. There are in fact different part numbers (supposedly) for the 2006 cruise control switch.

When I try to purchase the switch from online parts suppliers the switch that comes up for the 06 XK8 cruise ends up being for a different model car.

I bought a used "2006" cruise switch off ebay - but when it arrived someone had written 99 in paint pen on it.

I recently had the AC valve get blocked.

I let my mechanic pull out the entire dash to replace the evaporator, valve and heater core. He put everything back together and didn't find any issues. The Cruise message persisted.

I got the car back from the mechanic this afternoon. I pulled the wheel and switched the cruise switch -- Didn't make a difference.

I then replaces the brake switch --- I am a big guy, this was not an enjoyable experience. Still the message.

I got online and started reading and people said check the fuse.

The manual online goes up to a 2003. And I see fuses for the adaptive cruise control (my car does not have) but no fuses for just the cruise control.

Any idea where I can look? I almost never use the cruise control, but I hate having an error light and message on the dash.

Thanks for any help

Dave B

 

I would start with a hard reset. Key out of ignition, doors, top and windows closed, disconnect negative battery terminal, disconnect positive terminal and touch the two battery cables together for 15 seconds. Reattach positive cable first, tighten down, then do the same with negative terminal. Start the engine. Radio and climate control off. This procedure will reset your window functions. Press and hold down both window switches until you hear a soft click from both window motors and then press and hold up both window switches until a soft click is heard.

Now that's out of the way, did the error message disappear? If it's gone, try your cruise control again. Make sure the LED is lite up next to your sport mode switch. If the button is up and red LED is on, your good to go try your cruise control again and report back. If it all fails, you'll have to get some codes pulled from a proper scantool.

 

Thank you for the advice. I will try this tomorrow morning. Question the button next to my sport mode switch is the Speed Limiter button. Does this make a difference?

Dave B

 

I'm not familiar with the 06, but the switch next to the sport button on all the Jags I have seen is the cruise control button.

 

I only have the Sport Mode button on my bezel, 2003 XKR Convertible, and besides the roof control button, there are no other buttons next to or around the bezel for the CC, or anything else. I have Adaptive CC, and I believe it is controlled only through the switch-pack and the Forward Alert on/off button on the knee bolster.

 

On my 2006 XK8, without Adaptive Cruise Control, the switch next to the Sport Mode switch toggles the system between Speed Limiter mode and Cruise Control mode.

 

Wow that's interesting I never heard of speed limiter. Does it disallow you from going above a chosen (preset) special? If so I wonder why one would ever use it. Maybe this is one of those you learn something new every day. . . I just never thought of needing something like that except maybe going downhill as I approach a known speed trap location.

Let me know, maybe it means something completely different. Thanks

 

You're right John. Now I remember reading about it, and it limits the speed going downhill. It's sort of like having a resposible adult riding with me. No wait, that was my conscience, and I got rid of it when I was a teenager sixty years ago.

 

Actually, the speed limiter does NOT limit the speed of the vehicle going downhill, as it does not apply the brakes or downshift in order to slow the car. If, on a downgrade, gravity causes the vehicle to exceed the preset speed by more than a couple MPH, the yellow warning light and a text message are displayed. It DOES limit throttle application, so that on relatively level ground or upgrades the speed is limited to a speed which the driver can preset. The driver can speed up or slow down normally as desired, but when the preset speed is reached, further pressure on the accelerator has no effect on vehicle speed (unless the accelerator is floored, cancelling the speed limiter function). It is not cancelled by application of throttle or brakes, but is cancelled by a button on the steering wheel, or switching to cruise control mode, or flooring the accelerator. I use it quite a bit as it helps prevent tickets from the many speed cameras in this area.

 

Bakntyme, Thanks for the great explaination. I imaging those speed cameras are a headache for sure.

I was trying to think of a situation where you'd legitimately need to floor it and outrun a threat, which might be impeded by this, but even deers jumping out from the right dont' really warrant this (we have our share of deer up in NJ) and I suppose steering / braking is always first choice.

Oh yeah - Kudos to RJ237 you had me LOL

 

The speed limiter thing is nothing new. I recall that I had this on my 1986 BMW 325. I think a bell or tone went off when you exceeded the speed that you would manually set but I don't recall that it had any influence on the gas pedal. In any case it was one of those slick whiz-bang things that I never used.

Doug

 

I rarely use the speed limiter switch. However, it is handy for learning the optimum speed for curves you may routinely encounter. Let's say the posted speed for a curve is 20 mph. So set the limiter for 25 and see how it feels. Next time raise the limit to about 30 and see how the car handles the curve. Keep raising the limit until you feel you reached the max speed for that curve. Seems whenever I'm on a curve the steering wheel airbag blocks the speedo. Using the limiter I don't have to worry about reading my speed or going too fast for the bend. I find the curves near me are very conservatively posted.

 

Hi there, did you ever resolve this issue? I have a similar problem now after swapping steering wheels. Again a mine's 2005/6 model XK8 and cruise not available.
Very tempted to just put the old wheel back on!! Best wishes. Mark

 

Check the wires to the buttons. On my 97 the ground wire for the cc buttons ran common to the sound system side and was broken where it made a tight turn.

 

I had this happen to me when I switched over a steering wheel, ended up putting the old switches onto the new steering wheel and it worked as normal after that.
The other thing to check is to reset the actuation point of a brake switch if it has been changed.

 

That is exactly what I ended up doing yesterday. Swapped the switches over from the original wheel and bingo the cruise not available warning has disappeared. There must be something subtly different in the cruise wiring/switches on the 2005/6 models with the ASL. Best wishes Mark