I've been visited by gremlins, perhaps by Lucas himself, the Prince of Darkness.

I've had a few glitches lately, but today a more persistent problem arose. The satellite radio would cut out, and say "acquiring signal." It would then come back, but after a few repetitions of this the touchscreen went dark, the display between speedo and tach flickered, told me to drive safely because stability control was not available, and there was a little jiggle in the windshield wipers.

After that, the infotainment screen stayed dark but the radio came back. I can still switch stations by the steering wheel control, and the screen returns only for backup camera and sometimes front parking sensors.

I got an appointment for Monday morning, so we'll see what they find. I see no codes using my bluetooth OBD reader.

 

Would be interesting to measure your battery voltage. I'm going to guess a bad ground stud, which a few people have reported. Something like that.

 

+1. That wide-ranging series of symptoms is indicating a lack of electrons. Invariably results from the ground stud, as Dave has mentioned, or corrosion at the battery clamps.

 

I too thought of a "dodgy ground" but the most recent episode doesn't quite fit that, at least in my mind. It's still on my list but I'm suspecting failure of one of the electronic components at this point.

Lucas Electrics jokes were coming to mind.

 

I just love the thread title, brings back memories of owning and working on 1960s British motorcycles, and uttering all manner of curses in the name of Joseph Lucas !

Fortunately a thing of the distant past, even my 93 XJS had Marelli igniton ecu, Denso alternator, Carello lights.
The Lucas injection ecu was reliable during my ownership.

Don't belive there's any Lucas stuff around these days but without having personal experience of these problems on my F Type, based on all I have read from this forum I would agree that multiple unrelated faults like infotainment and stability control faults are most likely to be electrical fault, I remember fuse box faults caused thus kind of issue

 

Of course, since I connected an OBD reader yesterday the battery was low this morning.

Nevertheless, while doing a battery module reset I found the negative battery terminal was not as tight as it should be. The clamp was fully closed, so the nut was tight, but on a tapered post that wasn't good enough.

I've got it on a slow charge now and will see how it goes.

 

After the charger indicates a full charge, disconnect the charger and wait for ten minutes then read the voltage across the battery terminals with a voltmeter. If the voltage is less than 12.5 volts, the battery is suspect and should be replaced so the vehicle and all systems function properly.

After hearing all the infamous Joseph Lucas jokes over the years, my experience with the systems when the acted up was usually a corroded or loose earth point, which most people never took time to locate. Corroded or loose connections cause problems no matter the system, even on the German and Japanese vehicles.

 

My old battery test was to charge it then turn on the headlights for ten minutes and see how much the voltage drops. It was 11.8 this morning, which is probably decent considering the circumstances. After connecting an OBD reader the system goes into a state where the electronics never go to sleep. I'll check later though, after a bit more time on slow charge, and decide whether to keep my Monday appointment with the dealer. I'll talk to my advisor Monday morning regardless. The battery is only 4 months old.

 

Age of the battery is meaningless.

Have the dealership perform a battery test and provide you with the results. If there is only 11.8 volts after ten minutes, the battery should most likely be replaced.

 

12.8 last night and 12.16 this morning, with no low battery warning. The battery was reading low before because of the known OBD issue. I'm still going to talk to my service adviser tomorrow but considering I found a loose battery terminal I doubt that there's anything more to find.

 

I suspect there's nothing further to worry about. A loose battery terminal on my MINI was causing the infotainment system to go squirrely and the door locks to randomly dance up and down.

 

Everything was normal when I drove it today, although I need to fiddle with the window one-touch reset more than seems necessary. Got it, but it took half a dozen tries before I got the proper incantation. The instruction in the manual don't work for me.

 

I've never had a battery problem but I have needed to reset the one-touch windows a few times, and try as I might the reset procedure only works for me if the car is moving/driving, and then it works first time. Maybe the same will work first time for you.

 

There may be something to what you say:

I tried it a number of times with the ignition on but engine off. The last time (the time it worked) I had the engine running. Yay?

 

Yeah...the one-touch has to be reprogrammed after every battery reset...and yes, with engine running.

 

I was aware of the first part, but I don't believe the manual mentions the second. This information would have saved me time and frustration.

 

Thing is, I tried it a few times with engine running but still no go, it only ever works for me with engine running and car moving.

 

Strange. Engine off I failed time and again, for all variants of reset procedure I'd run across. I came back later and tried with the engine running but sitting in the driveway: success.