My brakes are feeling strange. The ABS light is not on unless I unplug a sensor. The peddle loses pressure and all of a sudden the brakes will work/catch creating a jerking feeling... I have bled them, and it didn't solve it. If I unplug the sensor the brakes feel normal, but obviously the ABS light is on.

Attached is a printout of a scan done at a shop that works on Jaguars. I was told that minimally the catalytic converters needed to be replaced, but the price they wanted was more than the car kelly blue books for in mint condition (found that to be odd, especially since a google search finds some brand new around the 100 range each...) They didn't mention what exactly was wrong with the brakes. They said it would take 10 hours just to find out...

Any ideas???

 

Before spending money on a catalytic converter, try replacing the O2 sensor.(The lower one against the firewall). Garages are so quick to tell people that their converters are bad. As far as your brakes, not sure. Could just be a vacuum leak by your booster. Seems like they break very easily.

 

I recently replaced the o2 sensors...

 

I had the same problem with P0420. Replaced the senor and still had the code. I then put a spacer on first. Code never came back. It's been over 2 years now.

 

Never thought of a spacer... I will look into that for the cats...

 

O2 Extender Oxygen Sensor Spacer HHO Test Pipe 1 Bung | eBay

 

unfortunately in my case the O2 sensor is S2 on the firewall side and I would swear it's almost welded on. I could not get it to budge and scared I would apply to much pressure on the wrench and snap something else on the exhaust system ! Barely any room to even slide to crow feet in and no leverage to turn... utterly horrible design !

 

Recently had P0430 show up on my scanner. Found a recommendation to run a bottle of Mr. Gasket Cataclean in the tank. They retail for about $20. Pepboys has em 2 for the price of 1! Just finishing my tank now, and I reset the CEL. Now we wait...

 

Pb blaster the sensor. I got the crow foot from autozone. with a breaker bar and she came off real nice. I also took off the upper intake to make a little more room.
Also used the 02 spacers and they worked like a charm.


Thanks for that idea. I bought 8 or them. put them on all 4 of the sensors on both kittys.


The Dr!

 

Thanks - I really would prefer not taking the upper off if I didn't have to. I'm also hesitant on how much PB I can spray down - Is that stuff flammable when the exhaust gets hot again ? It's a PIA just to get the stream to reach down that far with a little 4" hose

 

it will be fine. As long as you don't start the car as you are spraying.
Keep me posted,


The Dr!

 

Just to complete the recommendation of the Mr. Gasket Cataclean, Burned through the tank of gas with the additive. No Joy, I reset the the CEL, and it came back on the following day. Moving forward with a replacement o2 sensor with spacer...

Cheers!

 

O2 spacer definitely works - but be aware that the problem still exists - you just fooled the computer into thinking there is no problem - your emissions are still high and if there is any compromise such as blockage - you may damage other parts of the system - fix the problem asap.

So. I'm about to change my front cat - anyone have dimensions on flange bolt pattern? inlet/outlet size? overall length? going aftermarket universal - need info before taking things apart...

 

I gutted the cats and put a spacer on the two 02 sensors that are on each cat. CEL is still on. Will scan and report. Something else I noticed after doing that is every once in a while I get a yellow light and display says cruise not available or something like that..

 

How did you gut them ?? Did you remove all the piping , remove the Cats , gut and replace all back ?

 

Part of the cat is bolted, the other part was clamped. Pull them off and bust up and push out all the inside contents.

 

Too bad the Cats are so expensive that it's cost prohibitive for most of these X's. Between Cats and and Oil pan leak - you can pretty much blue book the car and have $ left over

 

The cats alone would total the car out to me. That's why I gutted them.

 

If you have the ability to remove the cats you can boil them in water and citric acid powder--I did both of mine two years ago still runs great and no codes--replaced all O2 sensors first, all o rings on manifold and new plugs and no help the codes always returned until I took off cats...total cost was $160 to do both cats : $40 for 5 LB citric acid powder, $20 for propane tank (did on outdoor grill) and $100 for a 60 qt pot (you need this size for rear cat) boil each cat separate for 8 hours with half the citric acid in each batch and that's it ..