Hello everyone , Long time Jaguar enthusiast - have had a 2011 XF , 2015 XJ and 2017 XE in the past , and still have my 2015 F-type. Used to be more active on this forum a few years ago , but I guess always good to be back.

I am having a peculiar electrical issue with my F-type. Whenever I try to roll-up / down the passenger side window , the roll-up is erratic , and it also triggers the wiper washers to start squirting washer liquid on the windshield. Sometimes if I am driving , I also lose power steering in addition to this erratic window / wiper washer situation. To fix it , I have to turn the motor off and on again and usually everything returns back to normal - but sometimes it occurs again and needs me to repeat the step again. It gets worse on a cold winter morning ( not sure that is relevant).

I have tried reseting the SAM ( disconnected the battery for a full day) , but that did not help. Any thoughts on other things I can try ?

Thank you very much in advance.

SK

 

Step 1 with electrical issues on an F-Type is ALWAYS making sure the battery is FULLY charged. Driving it isn't sufficient. Put the battery on a legit charger for 24 hours and then see if the problem goes away. These cars have all kinds of weird gremlins if the voltage is low (and more erratic behavior in the cold can be a sign of a battery issue).

 

Thank you , will put the battery on a charger tonight and check after 24 hours , will report back after that.

 

I would suspect water intrusion into the BCM for odd issues like that, there's no common point between the window systems and the washers except for the control module. Any fault codes set?

 

Have the battery checked with a better battery tester with an AGM program. New batteries are born with almost 1,000 CCA’s. Once they get down to 500 CCA’s the cars go a bit nuts. Also check all battery connections and body grounds for looseness or corrosion. Every connection needs to be wrench snug.

 

Thank you. If charging the battery fully today does not solve it , I will investigate the BCM. That was my assumption as well , given the random electric systems malfunctioning. The other thing I suspect is rodent damage to the BCM harness.

 

How old is the battery?

 

The power steering problem seems out of place. Didn't the 2015 have hydraulic P/S? I've got electric P/S so there may be an electric aspect to the hydraulic system of which I'm unaware.

 

Get the wiring diagram for your car and check the grounds for the passenger window, friend had an XK where the windows and windshield wipers would run wild and the ground was corroded.

 

I checked the ground connections, but they are not in common between any of the three.

I didn't dig out power connections but really don't expect anything other than the total power system to be in-common. Mainly because the PS is on an 80A fuse, so it's a heavy load.

It may be most productive to begin by checking the total electrical system performance.
I'd begin with battery voltage after an overnight engine off, no batt charge connected. Voltage should be >12.0V <12.8. If low, this indicates either the battery can no longer hold charge energy over time, or there is a parasitic power drain with insomnia. If this test is good, then proceed to the next.

You will need voltmeter which can capture minimum voltage. This is a feature on most modern meters, but not all. Voltmeters are very low cost; there is no price increase for those which have this very handy feature. You can see typically see a button labeled MIN/MAX which toggles between live, minimum capture, and maximum capture.

Securely connect your new voltmeter to the battery terminals at the battery, set it to capture minimum voltage, then start the engine. If <10.7 VDC minimum is measured, this indicates this battery is no longer able to supply enough current during engine starter operation. It will also fail to meet the current supply requirements while some combinations of heavy loads simultaneously require it.

If that passed, then observe the battery charge voltage as the engine is running. I think normal is 14.5 - 14.95 V, it moves around some. This may indicate the battery charge system is not working correctly.

If any of these test fail, I'd change focus to resolve these issues before even looking anywhere else.

Here's the schematic for the window


It's very quick to check a CAN bus wiring integrity. Here everything giving trouble is controlled by the BMS via the MS CAN. I use a very quick test just to see if I'm looking for wiring of connector problems. Just disconnect the batt then measure ohms between MS CAN H and MS CAN L, anywhere on the bus you can access will work the same. I'm too old to crawl down to the OBD port so I got an OBD breakout box from somewhere on-line. Nothing fancy needed, just a way to plug into the OBD port and connect ohm meter test leads. If you measure about 60-65 ohms, then you know all the bus wiring is connected and at least conducting, if 120 ohms, there is definitely an open circuit. If >70 ohms but <120, there is a poor connection somewhere along the main twisted pair. If you measure infinity, or <60 ohms, you're on the wrong pins.

The BCM controls windows, wipers, and PS via the Medium speed CAN. I think this is the only thing in common with all three, except main power and the BCM. And of course, all NETs go through the Gateway.

 

Oops, the power steering is controlled by the BMS, but it is via the HS CAN, not the MS CAN. However, modules on the MS CAN do communicate with the PS controller via the Gateway. So, there are plenty of DTCs when there's trouble there.

The Manual does call for battery/charge system tests as common fault causes for PS DTCs, HS CAN DTCs on the PS Controller, and MS CAN errors, and Window Controllers.

The manual even suggested the operator may be able to avoid this by allowing some warm-up time for several electrical heaters to reach temp setpoint when power load will be reduced. Allow this time before adding the PS assist power to the system. There are very many electric heaters, especially during the cold seasons. This may allow us to operate an older battery through one winter or just encourage replacement before it gets too cold.

 

The power steering problem seems out of place. Didn't the 2015 have hydraulic P/S? I've got electric P/S so there may be an electric aspect to the hydraulic system of which I'm unaware.

You may be correct; I only have a manual for the 2017

 

Yeah, that's different.

 

I found a 2015 manual. It looks like both were available in 2015

 

The battery is around 3 years old. I fully charged it , and most of the quirkiness went away. Still having issues where the window roll-up is intermittent and now has the visor light flickering with it. The wiper washer squirting stopped.

We also got some snow yesterday so havent really been able to take the car out to test it out fully.

Thank you guys and a happy new year.

 

Thank you very much , I did check overnight charge ( no extra charging) - overnight charge was 12 volt. I'll work through the other steps and report back.

 

Happy New Year guys!

With the weather clearing up a little I was able to finally try an bunch of things , and rule out a few scenarios.

1. I tried the battery tests recommended. The battery was a few years old , and while the voltages were being maintained , the CCA showed at 60% , so I went ahead and replaced the battery with a new AGM H8/49. The passenger window rolls are much smoother ( but still erratic when its near the top). The wiper washer squirting has gone away. The issues encountered with cold start have gone away.
2. However some of the issues still remain. I tried multiple scenarios and here's what still happening :
   1. When in "Park" and car running - if I roll up passenger window ( from either of the door buttons). It is smooth till it reaches around 90%, and then becomes erratic. The center light in the car also comes on and flickers . After that point the window rolls up half an inch every time I pull the button, and finally closes after a few button pulls.
   2. When the car is in "Drive" things get more weird. If I roll up the window , same thing happens like in "Park" scenario , but additionally the "passenger car door open" warning also comes on.
   3. When the car is in "Drive" and I try to roll passenger window down , it throws - " Blind spot monitor error" , and the "special driving modes not available" error. At this point it does not allow me to use dynamic mode. The steering also feels heavy ( likely power steering loss). If I turn the car off, everything comes back to normal.
3. Finally , while changing the battery I also noticed the white wire clip "disconnected" . I am not sure if that is normal or not ( please see picture , wire clip is circled in green.

Thank you everyone for your help.

 

That looks like the oft-noted connector that is supposed to be connected to nothing. I can't remember details, but I think there's something connected while the car is in transit that gets removed when the dealer preps the car. I'm sure someone will add detail here.

 

@sk013

Did you fully charge your new battery before installation? I see the "11/25" sticker on it, which means that it could have been produced from 9/25 to 10/25.

Drive the car some more if you can (45 to 60 minutes continuous).
If you still have sporadic issues the BCM (Battery Control Module) might need to be reset for the new battery.

 

Charge the brand new battery in the car for 24 hours before trying any further troubleshooting. Most batteries on store shelves are not fully charged, especially if they have sat in the store for multiple months. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's charged properly.