Let me preface this post by stating that I alsolutely love my S-Type and would not trade it for anything. (well maybe a new XJ...) After my first winter with the car I noted a variety of minor electronic issues that appeared and then just as quickly disappeared. I wonder if anyone else has experienced any of these:

1. DSC not working. Cold morning start got the amber light and message DSC not working. Stopped for coffee and when I started the car all was normal. This has happened two or three times total.

2. Passenger mirror looking down. For several days during a recent cold snap, every time I inserted the key, the passenger mirror would move to a downward facing position. I tried reprogramming the memory to no avail. Then several days later, it stopped doing it.

3. Steering wheel not getting out of the way. For several days, if I shut the car off with the key still in the ignition, the steering wheel would not move up when I opened the door. After it got tired of this game, it began working normally.

4. Inside trunk release not working. Don't know when this started as I don't open the trunk that often, but the inside button quit working. It would still open via the remote but that was it. Then a few weeks later I pushed the button (forgetting that it didn't work) and voila! it was working.

5. Heated Seats. I tried these during a cold spell and there was no difference in the temperature of the seat (by my rear estimation..) A few weeks later I tried again and they warmed up nicely.

All of these are minor inconveniences and at the moment everything is working perfectly, but I just wondered if I am alone in this experience.

Thanks,

Mike

 

Sounds like another dying battery!

 

My thoughts exactly!!!
BTW our autozone had 1 in stock, $134.00 installed and core plus tax.

 

Rick, Is it a maintenance free battery or just like the one that comes with the car, where you can check and add water?

 

Check and add if necessary. Check my thread Parking Brake stuck on.

 

Thanks for the advice. How much time do you think I have? I only ask because I can get a great price from my battery supplier at work but it would take a week or two.

Mike

 

Carry a set of jumper cables and cross your fingers.

 

Thanks Rick, will do!

 

And be sure to read your owners manual for the proper way to jump these S-Types. Given all the complex electronic modules, you can do some serious damage if you jump these cars incorrectly....

 

Living in Chicago, the STR is going through a winter like it's never seen in its life (having spent it first 5 years in Florida).

Even by our standards, December/January was unusual in terms of low temps (in single digits for extended periods of time) and precipitation (several major snowstorms).

While I wouldn't say this car was "made" for winter, it's handled it surprisingly well so far. I've had it parked overnight outside a couple times when we've had 8+ inches fall. The lot was slightly sloped downward (front of car lower than rear), and it was extremely difficult backing out in the morning. The rear tires just would not grab...although that could have more to do with the tires I chose (2 month old Nitto Invos). One time I actually had to go and shovel the section behind the rear tires so it could get enough momentum to back out. That was kind of ridiculous...

The only real winter "problem" I've noticed is with my display screen. I picked up the car in July, and never once had an issue with the screen "scrolling" or "flickering" when first starting the car. As soon as the temps got around freezing, I noticed it would start "scrolling" for about a minute until it warmed up a bit. The colder it gets overnight, the more pronounced and longer this lasts. When we had 6 degree weather, the screen was completely garbled and scrolling for about 5 minutes, then improved to just "scrolling" as it warmed up, then eventually went away as it warmed up even more. This has been consistent and predictable behavior with my screen. When we had a couple warm days (in the 40's), it was perfect. Is anyone else seeing this in cold temps? I have just dealt with it since the problem goes away after 5 minutes, but it is a little annoying when people are in the car with you..."is it supposed to do that?"

The heated seats work great but I think they could be a little quicker at getting there. Seems to take mine a good 3 minutes before they are noticeably warm. Call me finicky, but in order for this to be a true "feature", it ought to get warm within 30 seconds.

 

Check for water/ice in the spare tire area. Many S types have a water ingress problem that can cause the computers to do strange things.

 

I just got my S-Type two weeks ago before the biggest blizzard hit PA since 1963... Not the best time to sell an All Wheel Drive Ford Edge I;m guessing. But the S has been great so far. I have a 2007 with 22,000 miles. 3.0. I put about 150lbs weight in the back and it has done pretty good with just all season tires. Before the weight I could barely pull out on the flat driveway in 1 inch of snow. Mine sits out every night and seeing it buried under the snow makes me want to cry, but my wife's VW CC gets the garage. So far no electrical issues, lets hope it stays that way. Let's just sit an pray for warm weather...

 

I live in the burbs of the city, and daily Drive my STR.....I have some cheap all season tires on the rear and they get through the snow quite well, usually faster than most SUV's at lights My seats take a few mins to warm up as well, I posted asking before if there is replacement heats that can be bought and see if that is the issue or get some aftermarket ones and install them.....Other than that no real issues other that I HATE THE COLD AND SNOW!

 

I looked in the trunk and found no water/ice. Thanks for the idea though. The battery from my supplier is around $85.00 delivered to my door. He keeps them on his truck, I will probably get one next week.

Thanks,

Mike

 

Go with a Optima battery!