Hello! First time posting but I've been referring to these forums for help on my car and you've all been incredibly helpful, thanks!

I'm having a lot of difficulty with my 2002 - 2.5l X-Type- which started as an acceleration issue

Initial Conditions:

• Problems started to get worse as winter approached, not sure if coincidence.
• Car is a bit rusty from the Montreal weather

Initial Problems:

• Bucking on Acceleration at speeds between 60-80 km/h
• Limiting RPM to 3000
• Low/Inconsistent Idle
• Cracked Brake Booster Hose (Discovered after checking J-F)
• Backwards Fuel Filter (Discovered later)

My attempts to address the issues

• Intake Valve O-Rings replaced
• Brake Booster Hose replace
• Valve Cover Gaskets replaced (And carbon cleaned away with Scotch Brite)
• Upper Intake Manifold Gaskets replaced
• Lower Intake Manifold Gaskets replaced
• Spark Plugs replaced
• 3/6 Ignition Coils replaced
  • Initially replaced all 6
  • I then got really chugging/unsteady idle. Checked error codes: Random cylinder misfire
  • I then replaced 2,4,6 with the older coils
  • That seemed to amend the random misfire
• Mass Airflow Sensor replaced
• Cleaned electrical connectors
• In the repairs, I naively disconnected one of the coolant hoses, spilling coolant all over the connectors between the throttle body and the intake. Did my best to soak it up, but did notice a small puddle around the knock sensor.

Today: after most of those repairs; I fired her up again.

• Engine was still limited to 3000 rpms
• I checked the fault codes: P0332 Knock Sensor 2 Circuit Low Input
• Cleared ECU and restarted but had the same code.

Figuring it might be a problem with the coolant and the knock sensor, a friend advised me that driving it might evaporate some of coolant lying around the knock sensor, so I did for 30 minutes. The car drove smoothly, way smoother than I can remember. It still maxed out at 3000rpm however. So I committed to replacing the knock sensor and drove it home. I did one errand and on my way home noticed the following

• many of my dashboard lights; battery, engine, ABS, were glowing
• Most of my instruments were set to zero (Speed, RPM) (If I remember correctly the Fuel Level was still good)
• The 3000rpm limit no longer was being applied.

I was able to drive home and park the car. I restarted it and it turned on with no Check engine light. No RPM restriction. So far from what I have read on Jaguar Forums I've picked up some useful advice:

• Replace Knock Sensor
• Replace Battery
• Check Ground Straps (Where to find these?)

It seems this is somewhat of a common problem for lots of folks, I would really appreciate any advice yall might have on how to continue on this: anything I should check first?

 

Also! Just wanted to add a couple details:

Before Replacing the Spark Plugs: I got a few cylinder misfire codes,
After Replacing the Spark Plugs, I was still getting a bunch of Fault Codes

• P0171: System Too Lean (Bank 1)
• P0174: System Too Lean (Bank 2)
• P0103: Mass Air Flow (MAF) Circuit High Input

 

Hi Johnathan, Welcome to the Forum and thanks for your first post. I look forward to hearing your solutions. As for your car, I know a bad battery and alternator can throw some pretty crazy codes. I would get those checked and replaced if necessary. Other than that I am amazed at what gets fixed when you replace a few gaskets and hoses. Kind of a small thing, but may have some effect, did you clear your codes in between all this? I did not want to take that for granted.

 

Jonathan1, if your gauges are reading zero, then this pretty much confirms a bad instrument cluster. If you look at the back of the instrument cluster, there is a plug that has been known to get bad solder joints and will cause funny indications. But ,that shouldn't be causing your limited RPM issue.

For the limited RPM issue, I would see what the car does over the next little bit and if the codes/problem do not return, then I would call it good. As a preventative measure, I would have a load test done on the battery and see what its capacity is. If it is under 75%, then I would suggest that you replace the battery.

As for the cables, the big one you need to worry about is the ones connected directly to the battery. What I would tell you to do is to start the car and turn on everything electrical that you can (lights, seat heaters, dash blower) and take the car for say a 20 minute drive. Before turning off the car, open the hood/bonnet and cup your hand over the battery posts (DO NOT!!!!! touch). Is the battery post at about the same temp as the other items in the engine bay or is it really hot (fry an egg hot). If it is hot, then there is your problem.

 

Thanks very much!
@ddsand; Much appreciated! Yes I was really impressed by the change in performance after changing all those gaskets. I cleared the ECU regularly while working on it. Before the last round of replacements, I was actually getting an issue where clearing the ECU would result in the whole engine shutting off, so I've been nervous to do it again. That said, after the last round of repairs I went for it and I no longer had the whole car shutting off issue.

@thermo: Thanks so much for your advice, I've been reading your posts all over JF and they have been super helpful!
I should mention that this issue with the instrument cluster is more infrequent at this time than it is frequent. That is to say it occurred suddenly and was "resolved" by restarting the car. Not sure if that changes anything but I will definitely be checking the plug you mentioned- and if I rule out the other things you mentioned I will see about getting it replaced. I'll keep an eye on what happens in the next couple days with the fault codes and I'll check the battery temperature today and report back. Thanks again!

 

Okay guys/gals! So here is an update!

The limited RPMs issue seem to clear after a day or two of driving. I believe this may be due to the fact that the spilled coolant around the knock sensor fully evaporated. To support this theory, I no longer get any fault codes reading a low voltage from the knock sensor.

As for the crazy instrument cluster issues; it started to get worse and worse each day. Eventually I started not being able to turn the car on. It would take many tries over and over to finally get it going. Some days it would take ten minutes, some days it started right away. This became extremely frustrating and nerve-wracking.

I followed your advice here and in another thread. Performing an engineering test (hold trip button at startup) and found that the gauges would not sweep the maximum range and would instead just freeze and vibrate at zero. I now am confidant that I have a bad instrument cluster so I have ordered a new one on Ebay and scheduled an appointment with the local dealership to have it replaced.

Today, I sat in the car trying for five minutes to start the car. I had been through this before but this time it was worse than ever. I tried again until it had been 15 minutes of continuous attempts and nothing would work. As I live in the city (and was parked on the street) I simply had to do something about it. I checked a youtube tutorial and learned how to remove the instrument cluster. I checked those plugs that @Thermo mentioned and sprayed them out with some electrical contact cleaner. I replaced the cluster and turned the key. Music to my ears was the sound of the car turning and the engine roaring away! It will still be about 15 days before my appointment at Jaguar to replace the cluster, but for now I will still be able to ride around in my X type/ Thanks so much for all your help! I will let you know how it goes!