Hello fellow Jag owners/fixers. I have owned a almost pristine condition 2003 2.5 X-Type for the past 15 years. It was bought new by a Ford mechanic, and he keep it in his garage until it had about 50K miles on it. That's when I bought it.
The car has 115K miles on it now, and I've done quite a lot of typical minor and major maintenance parts and repairs into the car. It's a beautifully built car, and I'm determined to keep it going as long as I reasonably can.

My current problem is: My alternator finally worn out because it failed on a good computer-controlled bench testing machine. I had a alternator OBD error code. Strangely, the entire instrument cluster started going "in and out" erratically and randomly. All cluster lights and gauges seem to lose power, then come back on again, even while the car engine is running fine. The radio and other devices never lose power. The cluster going out does not stall the engine. But, if I try to crank the engine and the cluster is in "off" mode, the starter motor will not engage.

I saw a post with the same symptoms that pointed to faulty aftermarket ignition coils. I did recently replace all six coils before my current problem. Can't recall the brand name of the coils, but they were not OEM. Still, the car starts and runs well and I don't have a coil error code, so I doubt I have a coil issue. I also saw where someone hired D&D Instrument Repair (MN) to fix his "flashing in and out" cluster, and they were able to repair it. However, I recently contacted D&D, and they have now decided not to perform any more work on foreign "exotic" car instrument clusters.

The fuses that control power to the cluster are PAX compartment fuse # F74 and F84. I will check those today.

Question: I bought a use instrument cluster for parts (or for re-programming and use) from an on-line salvage yard. 1) Does anyone know a good cluster electronic repair facility that will open up my factory cluster to see if it's got an internal semiconductor problem for possible repair? I contacted one in FL, but I did not get a good feeling after speaking to the owner, and reading the reviews. 2) I assume the factory key fob is electronically coded to work with the factory cluster. Does anyone know for sure? I really don't want to plug this used cluster to see what happens in unless it's a last resort. Has anyone tried a non-original cluster with a factory key, or has anyone had to go to the dealer (which I am determined not to do) to get a "new" cluster reprogrammed to work with the original factory key? If so, what was the cost? 3) Finally, does anybody know where the ground wire for cluster is?

Thanks. Have a great day.

 

Welcome to the forums Jay,

I've copied the question from your Intro to X-Type forum. Members here with the same model will be able to help.

Graham

 

Jay, to answer your questions. When you turn the key, the fob on the end of the key transmits a signal to a sensor that wraps around the ignition switch. This relays the signal up to the instrument cluster to perform part of a security check (verifies a number in the key). This number is then put on the CAN bus to be sent to the ECU. The ECU takes both the 12V signal from turning the key and once it sees a good key number, finally sends a signal on to the starter to start the car. So, knowing this tidbit of information, unless your instrument cluster has the correct numbers for it to verify, it will stop the car from starting. So, programming of an instrument cluster is needed. If the dealership is out of the question, then this really only leaves you 2 options. The first being a good local independent shop that has the necessary computers to connect to the car to do the needed programming. Option 2 is to buy yourself an SDD laptop with the Jaguar software. This will probably run you about $600 (can be more). But, this will give you the dealership level computer to program things yourself. The SDD laptop is a very useful computer, but it can also be something that can be dangerous in hands that like to tinker and change settings.

 

https://www.myairbags.com/product/ja...uster-rebuild/

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...repair-209750/