2005 S-Type 3.0 with 88,400 miles....

I was driving along this morning and the dashboard suddenly read "Park Brake Fault" and "Cruise Not Available". No noises, no issues driving, nothing but these two descriptions on the dashboard message center along with the illuminated amber warning light....

On my wife's 2006 XK8, the messages "Check Rear Lights" and "Cruise Not Available" together typically indicate a faulty brake pedal switch....

While I peruse the S-Type forum looking for a solution, does anyone already know what the problem is?

Thanks for your input....

 

Jon,


It could also be an early warning that your battery is going south. The "Cruise Not Available" is usually triggered when starting up the first time due to a voltage drop. If it goes off after driving, then it's highly likely the battery isn't able to deliver a full charge. When I had my S-Type, the parking brake would periodically lock up. After the battery was replaced, it was no longer an issue. I had the "cruise not available" pop up on my XJ8L and it disappeared after I replaced the battery as well. Jags are notorious for displaying flaky messages when the battery is weak.

 

Thanks Mike. My battery is definitely on the watch list due to it being the original factory battery installed when the car was built in May 2005....

But I know other owners have had mechanical issues with their electronic park brake as well so I want to compile a full list of potential causes before I decide which direction I will head in an effort to fix it....

I appreciate your input. Keep enjoying your XJ8L....

 

Jon, I agree with Mike. I believe that your OEM has finally given up the ghost!


Remember way back when.......I believe that I was the first to record here what happens when our beloved S Type batteries finally fail:


https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...e-stuck-32699/

 

Hey Rick,

I knew you'd chime in momentarily if you happened to be home....

I suspected my battery before I posted but I just wanted to confirm it with the guys I trust. You and Mike are certainly in that club....

I had hoped that the factory battery would go a full ten years just to be able to say it was actually possible. Looks like the car will wind up falling a month short of that....

Thanks for your input. It is highly valued....

P.S. We replaced the rams and rear hoses in Wayne's 2000 XK8 not quite two weeks ago. His convertible top worked like a champ on just the third time Wayne pressed the switch. Ten total hours of work which we fully documented in a thread on the XK8 forum. We think we can do the next one to fail in six hours, so we're ready if Jan's XK8 top decides to splash her with a green shower....

 

Man, it's amazing how much battery prices have gone up since I put a Bosch 49-850B from Pep Boys in my wife's 2006 XK8 in late September 2012 for right at $96 after applying a $20 coupon....

Pep Boys now wants $167 for that same battery, and that's with a $10 discount they granted me over the phone....

Advance Auto Parts wants $159 for their comparable Autocraft Gold battery with no discount available....

Autozone wants $157 for their comparable Duralast Gold battery with no discount available....

I found the best deal at NAPA. $154 for their comparable battery and my AAA membership discount brings my price down to $139. They don't have one in stock today but they'll have one for me by 8:30 tomorrow morning....

Battery prices have really skyrocketed and the deals after discount are not even close to what they used to be....

 

Guys,

Just got back from NAPA with my new battery. Installed it, powered everything up, reset the clock and radio station pre-sets (my radio did indeed ask for its security code), then cranked up the engine and performed the park brake re-set (step on the brake pedal, pull up the park brake to set, push down the park brake to release). No change on my dashboard message center - it still reads "Park Brake Fault" and "Cruise Not Available" with the amber warning light illuminated. I don't believe I'm hearing the park brake motor when I press down or pull up the console switch....

Any ideas? These two messages together may indeed mean some sort of system fault. But what?

Thanks for your assistance....

 

After the change were you asked regarding the EPB? If not, it's maybe confused.

I know my alternator with a cold engine outputs rather more volts *as JTIS says) than the battery so would be tempted to see whether you can hear the EPB motor if you start the car when the engine's cold.

 

John,

After the battery swap and powering up the car, the system did NOT ask me to reset the EPB. I just did it because I knew it would be a requirement. I'll check the fuses next. Any other ideas, guys? I'm still wondering if "Park Brake Fault" and "Cruise Not Available" point to a specific failed component (as "Check Rear Lights" and "Cruise Not Available" pointed to a faulty brake pedal switch on my wife's 2006 XK8)....

Brutal, if you're out there please chime in. Your guidance would be much appreciated....

 

Jon, FYI on my battery swap last year (06 STR). I also had the same messages re-appear on the the dash. I also thought that there was still something wrong. Before I went any further I thought that I would throw my battery charger on the new battery for a couple of hours.

That did it. messages gone. I guess the battery was on the shelf for a couple months and had dropped down in voltage. once up, no messages.

BTW. On my 06 my car never asked for a reset on the parking brake or for any radio code. I guess things change from year to year. The 06 does not have a separate parking brake caliper...Thank God....

 

Man Jon, I hope that my black cat is correct above. Give it a shot and of course you will let us know.

 

I don't have a battery charger. Maybe I can find one in the neighborhood somewhere. But my new battery has a build date of April 2015 so it can't be more than three weeks old....

 

Update:

My neighbor has a battery charger and was kind enough to let me use it. My new battery is charging right now. I'll give it a few hours and see what happens. Stay tuned....

 

Or drive a fair distance in daylight so the alternator isn't doing much except charge the new battery. A charger is easier and cheaper

If it still doesn't seem right after that, pull the EPB fuse and it really should ask to be reset (it doesn't call it that LOL).

Final idea is to activate the EPB motor using fused power direct - basically remove lead that goes from EPB module to motor and then apply (fused) power to the hefty wires. One direction is motor to slacken and the other to tighten the brake cables. I'd leave it fully brake on before reconnecting to the module. (Elec. Guide has wire colours but they're the thick ones.)

 

According to my owners manual, there are actually 5 fuses that affect the EPB, not just one. 3 fuses in the passenger floor side panel fuse box and 2 fuses in the trunk fuse box....

If my new battery recharge doesn't fix the issue I'll pull, check, and reset all 5 of these fuses as a next step....

Stay tuned. Additional information / suggestions are certainly welcome from anyone who may have an idea that has not been offered yet....

 

Update:

According to the battery charger, my new battery is now fully charged. I removed it, then cranked the engine. The same messages appeared on the dashboard. I manually reset the EPB. No change. I shut the engine off then pulled, checked, and reseated all five fuses that my owners manual says have some degree of control over the EPB. I cranked the engine again. The same messages appeared on the dashboard. I manually reset the EPB again. No change....

I'm going to take a look at JTIS now to look for any troubleshooting tips on the EPB. I still do not believe I have heard the EPB motor engage when I have performed the manual EPB reset using the console switch....

I still wonder if "Park Brake Fault" and "Cruise Not Available" point directly to some obscure component that has failed....

I also wonder if one or more drive cycles may be required to make the dashboard messages disappear if in fact the new battery was the necessary fix....

I'm still looking for answers, guys. Brutal, where are you?

 

Jon,


I would try some drive cycles of about 10 miles or so. That's how my "cruise not available" message got cleared before I changed out the battery. You may also want to try a hard reset. The hard reset basically sets everything back to factory settings. You pull both battery cables off the battery and hold them together for about a minute to get the memory discharged. Then hook up the battery cables again.


Hope this helps,


Mike

 

I believe that the difference in my particular case is that along with "Park Brake Fault" and "Cruise Not Available" messages on the display, my amber warning light is also illuminated. I did some digging around in JTIS last night and here's a quick synopsis of what it says for the 2004 S-Type (mine is a 2005 model but I'm assuming the involved components are exactly the same):

When the amber warning light is on and "Park Brake Fault" is displayed, there are 8 different failure possibilities involving the park brake switch, motor, wiring harness, or cable. There are 13 different DTCs associated with these possibilities, one of which begins with B and the other 12 all begin with C. If I remember correctly, typical code readers can read P codes but not B codes or C codes. Can someone please confirm or correct this statement?

When the amber warning light is on and "Cruise Not Available" is displayed, there are 8 different failure possibilities involving the brake on/off switch, speed control switch, or a CAN ECM malfunction. There are 8 different DTCs associated with these possibilities, all of which begin with P.

I think my next step will be to go get the codes read and see what shows up. That will also give me a couple of drive cycles....

The good news is that the EPB appears to have failed in the OFF mode meaning I won't do any further damage when driving the car. I've said for years that this entire EPB concept is an expensive failure just waiting to bite us. What would be wrong with a good ol' manual handbrake like my wife's XK8 has?

 

No kidding Jon. The manual handbrake solution works like a champ. I've been in situations when I actually had to use it while driving. I could modulate the pressure OK and keep the car under control. I don't see how I could do it with the EPB since it's basically an on-off switch.


The car in question was a Mitsubishi s**tbox that I re-possessed from my step-son.

 

Update:

I drove to Autozone this afternoon to get the codes read. Their code reader was fairly vanilla. You don't tell it your year, make, and model. It supposedly deduces that information itself. So we hooked it up, it scanned for maybe ten seconds, then it came back with nothing but a P1111 (scan complete)....

I decided to drive to Advance Auto Parts for a second opinion. Their code reader was more sophisticated. It deduces your year, make, and model. Then it asks you if it is correct. It indeed was ("2005 Jaguar S-Type 3.0" displayed on its screen and we had to press "yes" to confirm it). It then performed a slightly more thorough scan (maybe 30 seconds), but it also came back with nothing but a P1111....

I'm stumped at this point. Maybe a more Jaguar-specific code reader would provide more information, but I would think that the fact that the amber warning light on the dash is illuminated would cause at least some P codes to be picked up on even the most basic unit....

Any other ideas, guys?