Picked up my new XF Friday and am in love (next to wife). I have noticed that as soon as I touch the door handle (cold or hot start), there is a low-level, but high pitched mechanical noise in the engine compartment that immediately starts up. The noise seems to come from the front of the compartment but is hard to isolate. It may be around both headlight areas The noise happens regardless if I start the car or not. The noise is also there after driving and shutting off the engine. The noise lasts about 15 minutes.

Jag (Tampa) service says they have never heard of the problem from anyone else and there is no such thing as LED fans (see below post). It is a long drive for me to bring back the car. Their recommendation is to wait for first service and deal with it then.

Anyone else experience this interesting issue?

 

Do you have a friend who could lend you some ears or fingers? Why not have him stand in front and listen while you touch the handle, or vice versa?
Also try doing it with the hood open and leaning over the fender. You need to localize where the sound is originating.
================================================== =
You dreamed of a big star -
He played a mean guitar -
He loved to drive his Jaguar...

So welcome to the machine

 

So, put a stethoscope (well kind of one) on it and isolated the sounds (plural) to both headlight areas under the hood/bonnet. Again, low volume, medium high pitch whine. Electro-mechanical in nature. Last for about 15 mins (and assume while driving). Taking driving lights off Auto has no effect. Anyone else had this symptom?

 

Perhaps coming from the headlamp leveling system .....?

Graham

 

Time to start pulling fuses to isolate it or spend a day in the lovely city of Tampa. When I picked up the car last week, they said they have a concierge service that will come to me with another Jag, take mine back and return it when fix/maintained. When I mentioned it to the Service guy this am, he implied I had two heads....or...don't worry about it.

 

I have the same sound on a 2016 XF S, I suspect a fan of some sort maybe even a cabin air circulation far but it seems to be normal (well at least a standard feature).

 

Well, the issue became bizarre. Talked to service again and now they say others have reported the same issue. It does involve the LED's as some type of pre-ignition process run off of the alternative battery (the one used to restart the car from a stop). He said he's been told this is normal for manufacturers such as Porsche, MB, and Audi that have LED running lights. Not US or other manufacturers. He said, no worries. When I asked why this was obviously a electrical/mechanical sound, perhaps a fan, that seems to constantly run, even in the garage for 15 mins after stopping, he said he didn't know exactly what is running. Oh well, someday they will figure out what this is all about because this is not a LED pre-ignition issue. It is something else.

 

Luckily you do not have a BMW and noticed a clicking sound under the hood. It took BMW 3 months to find and fix the problem and they had to replace the turbocharger. So feel fortunate.

I wonder if the Jag has an electric water pump and it continues cooling when the engine is shut off if it is hot? The BMW's had that feature I believe so.....

I do not hear that on my new XF-S so wonder if it is an isolated issue. Mine is brand new so perhaps I have something to listen for in the future.

 

Thanks for the laugh. Unintended for sure, but the "standard feature" reminds me of a car that I bought in the 70's where the drivers bucket seat leaned to the left. The seat mounting bracket was not correctly forged and was about 1/8" shorter than the one on the right. GM engineer looked at it and showed me that all were the same so he said they would not fix it as it was "a standard engineering feature". A buddy built up a spot on the bracket with weld and it was great.

 

I don't know why I didn't notice this thread before as I had the same questions (see my thread below -- Sound from car when shuts off).

Apparently it is "normal" function of the car.

 

YES! The mechanical noise starts up when I simply "touch" one of the four door handles. The humming noise is on the passenger side (under hood). I can feel the vibration on the hood and close to the headlight. Dear Husband took XF 2016 to dealership today and they are going to run tests on it on Oct 6th. They said they never heard of this problem before?! Hard to explain how a New Jaguar that is just sitting still with engine off can start "humming" with just the touch of a door knob. (I can put my ear to the hood and hear the noise). Makes no difference if the car is "locked" or "unlocked". Happens every single time. It's under the hood..definitely. I hope others can understand what I just said. It does shut off after about 15 minutes.

 

I believe it emanates from the headlamp cooling system. I hear the same thing depending on the ambient temperature, and from both the left and right of the front. It is interesting that the newest LED lamps use fans and not just heat sinks to dissipate heat. Even CREE, a major LED manufacturer is starting to place miniature fans in light bulbs as it keeps them cooler and extends life. Just read that this week.

Plus, the ventilating system may start as soon as the car unlocks. I was sitting in the car tonight and heard the noise, but as most say, it shuts off in a short while.

There is much going on as you touch the door to open it. All the support systems begin to function as it recognizes the key fob and prepares the car for your entry. The electronics are already functioning in preparation for start.

Dealers know so little about this vehicle so I do not expect the, to have all the answers.

 

Just found this in another forum: LED headlights get scortchingly hot, so first generation LEDs have a fan mounted on the rear of the bulb to cool them.

 

I have the same thing, also for 15 minutes. I was told its the LED fans and its normal.

 

Thanks for the replies. It's hard to contemplate that merely touching any door knob when the Key Fobs are far away from the car and deeply hidden would cause the cooling fan behind the head light to engage? We are making progress tho. I'm going to show this thread to the mechanics on Oct 6th. I hope it isn't something serious and they diagnose it as "normal". If it was "normal" then all the other 2016 XF's should be displaying the same symptoms JMHO

 

I think most of the cars do the same thing, but in some the fan noise may be more obvious. Honestly I did not notice it until someone asked about it and then I listened closely and sure enough, there it is.

Note that the LED DRL's are on all the time when the vehicle is running and the amber LED's flash on and off when you enter the car so perhaps the cooling cycle starts as soon as the door is opened. I would presume the DRL LED's get hot too so it would not surprise me to see cooling for them as well.

As I noted, dealers are still pretty much in the dark on the new XF. Heck, my service advisor (same one for the Jag and the LR) didn't know that they suck out the oil for my Land Rover from the top and do not drain it through the pan. Hmmm

 

Took our xf to dealership today and tested new xf to see if the same weird sound was going on. Sure enough, the humming was there. Obviously the mechanics had done their homework and told us the following. "When you "touch the door handle, you are "waking" car up. So no problem. Ok. 🙄

 

And what does "waking the car up" entail? Cooling headlamps that haven't been used recently? How can that be OK? I can see it in shut off but not wake up. Bad answer by your mechanics. I think it's the head lamp cooling fans but think the algorithm to turn that on is either wrong and a low priority to change.

 

Thanks. I am going to show this to the mechanics next week. Jaguar should about this so called no problem wake up humming, or at the least they should be informed about the issue. I'm still not comfortable with their diagnosis.....stay tuned.

 

According to Jaguar my 2016 XF AWD Prestige with LED lights does not/not have little fans to keep them cool because they have them engineered to stay cool now. So far no noise but I have only had it one week. Great lighting.
AL