hey y'all!
So, I've had my '03 STR for about 4 days now. I'm getting to know it abit, and I've got a couple questions.
The car has 120k miles on it, but seems to have been very well maintained. Looks like shocks (& springs?) were recently replaced. Motor oil is clean and smells right. Tires, Brakes, etc etc are all new-ish. Trans shifts well. Basically, no surprises.

couple of headscratchers:
-When in PARK, the "P" indicator blinks at me. Is that normal? Wassup with that?

-How do I know if the possibly-replaced springs are OEM or something with different spring rates or height?

-what sort of mileage should I expect, once I get tired of getting my foot into it everywhere I go? :-)

-and last, perhaps most concerning: I've got a not-quite-noise, not-quite-anything-else-either sort of ... um...er... noise. I'm going to have a hard time here: let's describe it as a noise I feel through my right foot. :-) If this were one of my N/A motors, I'd call it an imbalance. maybe even a miss on one cylinder. maybe a gentle rocking, or mild vibration. Seems most prevalent at around 1000-2000 RPM. NOT what I'd expect in a Jag, but not unwelcome or bothersome, if it's normal. But if it's NOT normal, I'd like to address it NOW.

Any ideas? Is this something y'all experience as well? No codes flashing, no knocks or rattles. no smoke. no smells. it honestly made me think of another thread where I read that some of the aftermarket supercharger pulleys bolt to both parts of the damper and render it solid / ineffective. But (as far as I know) this is the stock pulley setup.

help?

 

Welcome and congrats!

-Not sure why it flashes but mine does the same thing (I think it might be related to the parking brake being on)

-Post a pic, just by looking I can tell you if you have factory or aftermarket. Either that or look up at them. I think the factory was green, if they are silver they are H&R, blue is Mina gallery. Not sure of Arden

-Lol, mileage. Around town I get 13-15 depending, on the hwy I can get 25-27

-I've never noticed anything like that, but my first thoughts would be engine mounts at the car's age.

 

Congrats!

Mine doesn't flash.

Doesn't have that noise/whatever thing. May be the TC clutch not locking up or the like?

 

Blinking P is just an indicator for safety interlock. You'll notice the P goes solid when you push the brake pedal down, and subsequently unlocks shifter and allows you to shift out of park.

 

OP just says "when in park". Mine does not blink just because the car is in Park.

 

OP, go back and check when she's blinking. Mike, take a look at OP's earlier post a few weeks ago, prior to purchase. To me, his STR looks lowered.

 

Gah all that work!

I dunno, I might have to disagree with you on the lowering. His looks stock height.

His


Mine
Before spings

After Springs



One lowered on Mina springs

 

Yep Mike. Agree, not lowered. I really like the Jaguar racing green.

 

Greetings, hope you are enjoying your STR. I'll take a stab:

Blinking P: My 03 STR does the same thing, always has. I have not had any difficulties related to this, so I have not paid it any mind and assumed it is normal.

Springs: the other guys covered that bag well

Mileage: You won't ever know, you'll never stop putting your foot into it wherever you go. I know this, I've seen me do it!

Not quite noise thing: Mine does not do that, although I only have 41k miles on it. Blind guess would also be perhaps motor mounts since everything else seems normal and you have no codes. Worth a look. Perhaps an iffy coil could be another culprit.

Hope you get it sorted, keep posting your results and the guys on the board will surely offer more suggestions!

 

My 03 STR blinks in P a well, just like many others have said about theirs so I wouldn't worry about that. The mileage depends on driving style, heavy foot = low mpg (but you already know that!). However, on long drives mine will crack 30mpg. As to the not quite noise thing, like some have said, hard to say. Now ours has 125K miles on it, and I have to say that sometimes when cold it does make a noise/shake or something, but once it warms up it is fine. But the cold I'm talking about it like well below 0 so I chalk it up to the cold as I have yet to meet a car that doesn't complain when started at those temps! I would think it is just wear and tear, possibly motor mounts as Chris X mentioned. I don't expect ours to be as tight as a new one after all this time and miles, but no codes, runs as good as ever so I don't worry about it!

 

I have felt a small bit of vibration in the brake pedal but I think I have traced it to the A/C. When it's hot (100F and above) I feel it at idle. I think when the compressor is working very hard it puts a small amount of vibration into the car.

Was it warm or hot out when you noticed it?
.
.
.

 

hey y'all: thanks for the replies. Sorry it has taken a second to get back to you. But I appreciate all the input.

The motor does it when cold, and seems to do it less when warm. 36d F here lately.
I'll look into the motormounts. My usual gauge for motormounts is putting the car in drive, stepping on the brake, revving the motor and watching for movement. I haven't seen excessive movement yet. But it does make sense that this could be the culprit.

Looking at the photos of the "Im-in-love-with-your-car-Green-STR", I'd say mine is NOT lowered.

I'll keep y'all posted on what I find as I get into it. I have a belt squeak I need to tear into this weekend, and I think I smell antifreeze when the motor is warm, so I may need to be looking at the cooling system. (I've read about some pipes running under the S/C? any other likely failures?)

 

Does the noise/vibration occur when in P? When in N? When driving?

When warmed up or when cold or both?

 

Park and drive. Mainly when cold.

 

Since it does it in P it can't be the TC lock-up clutch as it would not be trying to apply it.

A misfire, maybe. If so, failing coil or smallish air leak - including such as a purge/evap/EGR valve/gasket/etc. Maybe even an unhappy O2 sensor. I;m sure there are other possibilities. Overall, may be challenging to find it.

 

That's what I'VE BEEN THINKING! :-(

So, if it were a misfire, or an airl leak, or the like; I would think I'd be popping-codes? No?

 

If it's marginal or from the PCM's viewpoint a bit unreproducible/inconsistent, no. Also, in case the OBD monitors aren't complete it often cannot then flag codes (basically, it would be really unsure which ones to flag).

If you want to play with OBD, get a tool with live data (see Gen. Tech forum) and then check:
1. OBD monitors
2. codes, including pending ones
3. LTFTs
4. sensors for plausibility (O2s, temp sensors etc)

start at idle warmed up to get a feel for trims then rev to 2500-ish and look again. Next try under the conditions you feel the problem. Cross fingers...

Post both sets of LTFTs / any weird values by all means.

 

With this car recently being transplanted from near-sea-level to 4000', how long do those LTFT's take to really mean anything to me here? I mean, how long 'til they've "normalized"?

 

Very quickly. A few drives.

 

I didn't see what I was expecting to see when I plugged-in my UltraGauge and went for a cruise.
I've only used this Gauge before in a landrover. But with that car, the LTFT (I assume that's the Long Term Fuel Trim?) would only change minimally, and that over an extended period. But this car, just now, the LTFT's were changing nearly as rapidly as the Short Terms.
Is this normal? Or do I have a compatibility issue going-on here?

the ST's showed similar response on both banks. But the LT's showed differently. Bank 1 was consistently higher than Bank 2, by about 4. (4 what? I dunno. What's the unit of measure? Voltage?)

What SHOULD I be seeing on this, if the UltraGauge is compatible?