Hello:

About 3 months ago the ABS light would come on when I was driving at highway speed. I checked the braking and the ABS still worked when the light was on. When I turned the car off and restarted the light would go out but the check engine light would replace it. After a day or so the engine would cycle and the check engine light goes out. The car would be fine and then a week later the same thing would happen.

This started to get more frequent until yesterday when both lights are on all the time. The ABS still works as I did some high speed breaking tests and they are working fine.

Now today the speedometer sometimes doesn't work. It just stays at zero. I restart the car and now it's fine?? The next start and once again it doesn't work. It seems to me that this is all related. An electrical issue or something.

Any help would be great.
Thank you

 

Welcome to the forum zalisander,

I had similar weird behaviour with the ABS/CEL on my 2005 XK8. If you've eliminated module, sensor or link harness faults, this can be the early signs of a failing battery.

When you get a minute, please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST forum and post some info about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

 

zalisander, Welcome to the Forums. Lots of good information here.

As for your problem, I recommend getting the codes read. I am placing money (keep in mind that I am not a betting man) that you will find that your car is going to have 2 of the following codes: C1145, C1155, C1165, and/or C1175. Odds are, you have a pair of wheel speed sensors that are not working which is leading to the ABS light and now the Check Engine light to come on. When you get the codes read, make sure that the reader you have will also read "C" codes (aka, ABS codes). Not all readers will read these codes (a lot only read the P codes). From there, post the codes here and we will get you taken care of.

 

Thank you for the help. I'm lucky to have a Jaguar dealership very close by so I'll be going there today to get the code read.

Thank you

 

Okay, went to the dealership and the car pulled 2 codes. 1165 and 1175. These are the codes for the L and R read speed sensors. I went home and pulled the rear tires off and looked around.

The 2 sensors look fairly new but the outer CV joint looks pretty rusted. I've keep reading that the issue is usually the sensor rings failing and not the sensors.

I went online to find some replacement sensor rings to try first but they only seem to be available on Ebay UK. I'm in the USA. I prices new outer CV joint assemblies and they are about $180 each.

I was hoping that somebody on this forum knows of a US vendor for the replacement sensor rings. They are really cheap and would be worth getting while I replace the sensors. Or maybe somebody has seen a lower price for the outer CV's from and online vendor.

Thanks for the help so far.

 

zalisander, check out: 2X Jaguar x Type 2 1 2 5 3 0 2001 ABS Reluctor Ring AR12X2 | eBay. That was about as cheap as I could find them. Granted, before you start buying them, I would be pulling the sensor out and looking down the hole to see if you can see the ring in the hole. If you can see the ring, then you may not need to order them. Granted, from past experience, odds are, they are damaged. It is sounding like someone tried to fix this issue and gave up trying to fix it. So, odds are, you won't need new sensors either.

 

New Update:

I took out the speed sensors to look at the rings. The sensors look fairly new and were not very dirty. I cleaned them up and also sprayed the rings with a De-Oxit (an electronic cleaner/ de-oxidizer usually used in vintage audio). I reassembled and went down to the local AutoZone and had the codes cleared. The ABS light came back on instantly. So either the De-Oxit is causing an issue or the problem persists. I will dive it around for a while to see if it improves when the De-oxit dries up. Note: The sensors are aftermarket. Would they fail on both wheels being so new. The fact that I'm getting the code for both wheels seems to say that the issue is not the sensors??

Thanks.

 

zalisander, you were living with the problem for some time on just a single wheel and finally a second one failed on you forcing the issue. It is very possible that you have 2 rings that are toast or you have a ring and a sensor. Hard to say. If it is a wiring issue, I would be looking at the harnesses that run along the floor near the door sill. That would be the most likely spot.

You didn't mention if you looked down the hole and saw the speed ring in there. The speed rings are known for rusting into pieces and causing what you are seeing.

 

Thank you for the help.

I looked at the speed rings and they are intact and look in pretty good shape. I cleaned with the De-Oxit (see above). The sensors are aftermarket and look really new BUT I did notice something odd today. The speed rings have scratches on them and the sensors do also. Maybe the aftermarket (knock-off) sensors were a little too long and were hitting the speed ring? Causing premature failure? Another tidbit I didn't mention before is the speedometer has been working fine since the cleaning 2 days ago? It was intermittently failing during driving.

So these are my 3 guesses as to the cause.
#1 The AutoZone code reader didn't erase the codes and my cleaning from 2 days ago solved the issue (speedo now works). Wouldn't that be nice...
#2 The aftermarket sensors were too long and were hitting the speed rings which prematurely killed them. Not too bad ($50 each in the states).
#3 It's a wiring/control module issue which would be over my head to diagnose. The car is high mileage and I would probably retire it as opposed to sinking $1000-$1500+ into it (Seems like a lot but Jag dealers seem to get expensive fast).

I'm going to go to a local import garage and have pay to have the code erased today and see if this is the cure. Wouldn't that be just like heaven.... If the light stays on again I will order the new sensors and see if that solves the issue.

Thank you again for all your help. You have all been great.

 

Final Update:

I ended up changing out both speed sensors. The light turned off the next drive I took. BUT. The light came on again on the highway. I took the car back home and looked at the sensors and found that they were getting scratched from the speed rings just like the original set. I decided to reinstall them but I chose to put washers behind the sensors to back them away from the rings. I went out driving again the light turned off. I went on the highway and the light stayed off and has remained off for 3 days now!!!!.

My guess to what the issue was is the previous set of sensors looked new but were damaged by the speed rings. The new set started down the same path but the washers seemed to fix the issue. My guess is that the sensors are no longer touching the speed rings but they are still close enough to get a reading.

Why have the speed rings changed shape? Not sure, maybe this is the beginning of the end for the speed rings.... Either way I'm smiling for now.

Thank you for all your help.
Justin

 

zalisander, how new are the speed rings? If they are reaching up and touching the speed sensors and they are still the original ones, what you may have experiencing is the speed rings starting to fail and coming apart on you. That is a common problem with the X-Types.

 

I'm guessing that you might be correct. The speed rings have obviously changed shape which tells me my next post is going to be "replacing speed rings". As for right now, everything is working fine and maybe by "washer fix" will gain me another year out of the speed rings.