I have a 1999 XK8 with 75,000 miles. I took it on a 50 miles round trip to the airport (mostly at 70-75 MPH), it ran fine but as I literally pulled into my driveway on my return, I got the stability control failure error and the engine went into fail-safe mode. I switched off and back on again and the error had cleared so I dismissed it as an electrical glitch. I did the same journey several days later and on making a left turn towards the parking lot on my outward journey, I got the error again and fail-safe mode, switched off and back on, cleared again. On my return trip I was 3 miles from home and had to stop at a traffic light, same error again, switch off and back on again, continued on for 2 miles, made a right turn into my street and it happened again. The car is now in my local JLR repair shop but no error code was stored. It's a 12 mile stop and go, multiple turn, trip from my home to the shop so felt sure it would act up again but it didn't. The car has now been in the shop for 10 days and they've been trying to get the error to re-occur with no success. They've said my wheel sensors are good and the battery is only a year old and the car is hooked up to a battery tender when it's not in use so that's not the issue. Knowing that this fault could happen anytime makes for zero confidence and it could be dangerous relative to when it happens. Has anyone else experienced the same symptoms and give me any hints as to where the problem may lie ?

 

Have the battery and charging system checked. When you have it checked first have the a/c off then turn it on and check it again. The battery could be good but the voltage regulator could be failing causing the battery to go low and setting off your abs faults. Any AutoZone, Sears can do this test for free..

Gus
www.jagrepair.com

 

Gus has a good point, that's exactly what happened to me when my volt regulator went.

John

 

If I make a very sharp left turn, often, my Traction control warning will come on as apparently the contacts on my right front wheel are lost. Restarting clears it. The fact that your car goes into "limp" mode would lead me to believe that there's something else going on as Gus has stated. Lack of stability/traction control shouldn't affect engine control.

 

Hi Gus, Thanks, but I'm no further forward, the charging system is OK, on Sept 13th I took the car on exactly the same journey again as I did on August 2nd and the car ran fine for 23/24 miles, then lo and behold I got the stability control fail/fail safe mode errors at exactly the same point in the journey as I did in August....this is weird, what are the chances that could happen ? I have the car booked in to a Jaguar dealership on the 29th to see if they can shed any further light on the issue although without any error codes, God alone knows what they'll come up with. Any further ideas ?

 

Since you have a 98 model, depending on the dealer, you may get a run around. They don't like working on older cars, so ask for an estimate prior to allowing them to do any work. You can expect anywhere from 90 to 125 an hour just for them to look, and an hour will be the least you will pay. They always take at least an hour to do anything...


Cheers

 

I agree with Gus and tberg but just for grins try cleaning all 4 wheel speed sensors and electrical plugs.

 

Just because the JRL said something doesn't make it so, sorry but that's a history we've seen on these boards. Do as stated above, if you're not mechanical ask a friend to help it's easy to do I don't believe you need even remove wheels, maybe jack each up and clean check connector.

Also, next time it occurs you don't need to shut off/on, brakes will work normally just not abs which only affect very hard stops. Even drive to a auto parts and leave the car running and ask them to read the codes for you if nothing else.