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My 2016 F-Type R has started doing something puzzling and annoying. When I lock the doors with either the remote or by nudging the door handle with the remote in my pocket, the doors will lock but the mirrors won't fold. In addition, after 2 seconds, the horn will emit a double beep to indicate an error of some kind like when you try to lock the car but the boot is open. I've tried all sorts of things to diagnose the problem but can't figure out why it does this. It's "okay" because the car does lock, but something is obviously wrong. There are no error messages on the dash, like "door ajar" (checked by locking the car with the remote while I'm still in the car). I've opened and closed the hood, doors, and trunk more than once each to no avail. The battery is fully charged and I've disconnected it for over 30 seconds to reset it with no change in behavior. Even weirder, in the two weeks since this behavior started, the mirrors folded successfully (with no beep beep) on two random occasions. Perhaps completely unrelated, but the behavior started after I washed the car but I wash it regularly and this is the first occurrence. I'm stumped. Besides a visit to my LR (no J anymore) dealer, any ideas?
The hundreds of electrical connectors on these cars aren't 100% reliable. Lot's of crazy behavior like this can be traced to intermittant connections (such as my limp mode issue documented elsewhere). I'd look at the wiring diagram and plug layouts, and unplug/replug anything associated with the mirrors. Just speculating, but it may be some water got into the connectors in the mirrors and are causing this issue. Good luck.
Last edited by diablo2112; Jan 5, 2025 at 12:02 PM.
How old is your battery? I know you wrote it's fully charged, but there are many threads/posts here recounting weird behavior from the car that a new battery cured.
Water in a connector: good idea, but not the answer. The car will allow you to fold both mirrors in by pushing both the left and right "mirror selector" buttons on the mirror adjustment panel at the same time. I tried that and it worked. Then I got out, locked the car, and the mirrors folded correctly. I thought maybe that had reset something and solved the issue. To verify, I unlocked and locked it again only to find the problem had returned. Aaargh.
The battery is from 2019. That could be it, I suppose, but I hate to throw a new battery at it as a diagnostic tool, at least not just yet. I don't have any other weird behavior. I'm hoping somebody here experienced something similar. If not, a battery is still cheaper than a shop visit.
It's your car and your decision. Most online searches indicate AGMs last from 3-7 years "depending". When I bought my 2017 (built late 2016) in Oct of 2020 and drove it home, I got "drive your car more' type messages. As it was still under warranty, he went in to the dealer who replaced the battery at no charge, citing 'battery seepage'. Well, not sure what THAT is with a supposedly 'sealed' battery, but I did get a new one. Also bought the CTek to make sure the battery stays healthy as long as possible. Other than the expense, there is no bad outcome from putting in a new battery. The level of electronics in these cars and the resultant draw is a consideration... just look at the wiring diagram again ....OMG!
Your problem might not be the battery, but it's easy, cheap, and overdue. If you figure that the amortized cost of keeping a good battery is about $3.50/month, how much aggravation is it worth to try and get another few month's extra life out of a wear item that's already past due? (At night, away from home, in the rain - with the car, trunk, and trunk all securely locked.)
Water in a connector: good idea, but not the answer. The car will allow you to fold both mirrors in by pushing both the left and right "mirror selector" buttons on the mirror adjustment panel at the same time.
It could still be connector issues. Crazy things happen when the connectors get intermittant. In this example, it could be the connector from the sensors in the door handles not properly triggering the mirror circuit. The wiring diagrams for this car (available at this site) are 400 pages of almost impenetrable spaghetti. It's stunning how many wires run around for various things. The fact your mirrors close with the button but not when the door lock is activated is even more suggestive of an electrical connectivity issue somewhere in the door lock/antenna/door sensor circuit. FYI.
Also, if you've not seen this thread, it has some relevant info:
The 2 Beeps are indicative that the door locks didn't completely close. In the thread above, the problem was traced to a failed mechanical rear door lock. Might be worth cleaning the locking latches, and possible spraying a bit of WD40 in to the lock mechs. Couldn't hurt.
Last edited by diablo2112; Jan 5, 2025 at 09:13 PM.
The 2 Beeps are indicative that the door locks didn't completely close.
The doors will not lock if the car thinks that the bonnet isn't latched, either. (First car show I attended, I couldn't lock the car with the hood opened)
Perhaps some lubrication will cure the intermittent! We lubricate our two hood latches yearly, as well as the manual driver's door lock cylinder.
The doors will not lock if the car thinks that the bonnet isn't latched, either. (First car show I attended, I couldn't lock the car with the hood opened)
Perhaps some lubrication will cure the intermittent! We lubricate our two hood latches yearly, as well as the manual driver's door lock cylinder.
KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid
This is definitely something to look at. An intermittent latch sensor on either the trunk/boot or hood/bonnet could cause the behavior but still allow the doors to lock.
But an intermittent latch sensor would kick off the alarm and be listed in “last alarm”. Had a hood latch replaced under warranty because it kept going off at 3am.
A potentially useful data point might be to see if the mirrors actually can fold. Try manually folding them and see what happens? I think that's holding down both buttons but it's been years since I've done it.
A potentially useful data point might be to see if the mirrors actually can fold. Try manually folding them and see what happens? I think that's holding down both buttons but it's been years since I've done it.
The OP reported trying that successfully. Do pay attention.
The OP reported trying that successfully. Do pay attention.
Oh, snap! I didn't hear a bell ring, but I think I've been schooled.
I'll rephrase. The OP noted that they did so on locking intermittently (twice, actually). Does manually folding the mirrors also work intermittently or is it reliable? I don't know if there is some feedback from the mirror folding on locking, but if there is, a problem in the mirrors might account for the system complaining on locking.
But to answer your question, I can manually fold the mirrors (using the method we both noted) and they will stay folded. The two random times they recently folded upon locking the doors as per "normal" operations, they stayed folded as well. It has been too cold to drive the car on its summer tires so I haven't investigated further. I will do so when the temperatures rise a bit. I plan to lubricate the door locks, the hood lock, and the boot lock and open/close each several times to try to eliminate a sticky or marginal mechanism as a cause. (I don't expect that to be a solution since there are no "ajar" alerts.) If that fails, I'll replace the battery with a new one. If that fails, I'll report back here for more ideas. If that fails, I'll resort to the dealer.
Last edited by cwisenheimer; Jan 9, 2025 at 08:24 AM.
But to answer your question, I can manually fold the mirrors (using the method we both noted) and they will stay folded. The two random times they recently folded upon locking the doors as per "normal" operations, they stayed folded as well. It has been too cold to drive the car on its summer tires so I haven't investigated further. I will do so when the temperatures rise a bit. I plan to lubricate the door locks, the hood lock, and the boot lock and open/close each several times to try to eliminate a sticky or marginal mechanism as a cause. (I don't expect that to be a solution since there are no "ajar" alerts.) If that fails, I'll replace the battery with a new one. If that fails, I'll report back here for more ideas. If that fails, I'll resort to the dealer.
I asked because your first post didn't mention trying them manually and I, in my duncehood (duncedom?) only scanned subsequent messages, where you gave the answer before I asked.
Time travel?
Anyway, good luck. Intermittent issues are always an extra treat.
Update: I installed a new battery (less than $200 from Costco) and the issue remained.
On a side note, the auto start/stop function hadn't worked for a couple of years and I didn't miss it. With the new battery, it has returned.
I took the car to the dealer and they diagnosed it as a faulty passenger door lock actuator. They were kind enough to diagnose the issue for free but offered to replace the actuator for about $1000. Firstly, the car is fully usable with the anomaly since the door still lock just fine. Secondly, the part itself is less than $200 and I'm fully capable of removing the door card and swapping parts inside the door so I'll save myself $800 and DIY it. I'll report back again after I've done the job.
Update: I installed a new battery (less than $200 from Costco) and the issue remained.
On a side note, the auto start/stop function hadn't worked for a couple of years and I didn't miss it. With the new battery, it has returned.
I took the car to the dealer and they diagnosed it as a faulty passenger door lock actuator. They were kind enough to diagnose the issue for free but offered to replace the actuator for about $1000. Firstly, the car is fully usable with the anomaly since the door still lock just fine. Secondly, the part itself is less than $200 and I'm fully capable of removing the door card and swapping parts inside the door so I'll save myself $800 and DIY it. I'll report back again after I've done the job.
When I bought my car from a private party, the auto start/stop wasn't active either but then I fixed the dead battery issue and wouldn't you know it... it started working again! It looks like I fixed more than I wanted to. LOL!
Double beep and mirrors won't fold
