I've had so much problems with my 2009 XF 4.2S/C the last year and a half.

First I got a check engine light the night before it went to service. Good timing. Unfortunately it took 8 months and about 10 visits to the Jag dealer before they figured out it was the catalyst converter. 8 months with a yellow check engine warning. Fun.

And, possibly because of their attempts to fix it, I've had more problems. I've had an extremely annoying ticking sound from the engine, not audible from the inside of the car, but very audible on the outside. Noticed it first in a parking garage with the windows open, and it got worse and worse. Like driving a tractor. Or a diesel. Again, the dealership where I bought it have looked at it several times, the salesperson can hear it when I drag him outside, but the technicians claim to not hear it, or when they hear something they say it's normal. Handed it in to a different garage, and they did an "engine flush", and it improved dramatically, but now 4-5 months later it's bad again. Anyone experienced similar?

And even worse is the full stops I've had. Three times this year I've had "engine system error" along with a lot of other error messages, even the handbrake had a failure warning. I stop and turn the car completely off and it starts again after a few minutes. If I try right away, it's still bad.

Last time it happened was in June, and I drove it to the dealership the next day, and peeked over their shoulders as they read out the error codes. Saw something about air leak and engine control unit. Or something simliar. They said they'd send it to Jaguar for analysis and get back to me. And that was two months ago...

I've also had an oil leak that ended in new differential, which apparently is a pretty normal thing to happen. Don't think that's a problem any more (at least the burnt oil smell is gone), but just to add all the pieces to the puzzle, relevant or not.

It's driven about 70000 km now, last engine fail was at about 67000.

Any input on what to do would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Hodepine

 

Is the engine bad or just making a ticking noise?

How old is your battery?
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Well, on a daily basis the engine is good, only ticking noise and (now that I think of it) a somewhat uneven RPM. With cruise control doing 100 km/h on a straight, the RPM-needle "wobbles" up and down, maybe 100-150 +/-. Say if I'm doing 3000 RPM, the needle goes from 2900ish and up to 3100. Looks kind of nervous, and the higher stable rpm I drive, the more noticeable it is. Can't say I notice it anyway else, though, just the nervous needle.

The engine is only really bad when it fails and I have to stop on the side of the road, like it has done 3 times in about 6 months. And I think that makes it bad all the time, even if it is working most of the time, cause I can never know when it decides to fail next time.

The battery is as old as the car.

 

Hodepine (got from dealing with the dealer?), this sounds a bit like an intermittent air leak in the induction system between the s/c and the head. The air leak error code is consistent with that. I seem to recall the ferry services between Bergen and UK have started again this summer. I would seriously consider that trip.

EDIT: Does it have an electronically controlled bypass or dump valve? A control module failing is also a candidate.

 

A bad catalytic converter can cause an engine to fail. It's fairly common on a few cars that I work on. Usually that bank runs hot, it creates a lean condition, and the engine eventually fails. I'm a little confused what you mean by "engine is bad". Usually that means the engine failed and had to be replaced. Based on your other comments I don't think that is the case.

As noted above by Per there is a common vacuum leak on the 09 that is a pain to find/fix.

 

"Engine is bad" is a bit unprecise, yes. To clarify, it's experienced as bad by me because it's unreliable. It stopped without warning three times in six months. So I'm basically due for another random stop any day now.

Actual, continous symptoms that are present every day are those I listed: ticking sound and uneven RPM indication (which I guess could be the instruments as much as the engine). In themselves they're not critical, just annoying. But still, not knowing when you'll lose all power and have the instrument panel lit up like a christmas-tree with error messages is no good.

Would a leak like that cause "random" engine failures, with these error messages (translated from norwegian)?

"Engine system error" (Red) (Original: Feil ved motorsystemer)
"DSC unavailable" (Yellow) (Original: DSC ikke tilgjengelig)
"Handbrake error" (Yellow) (Original: Feil ved håndbrems)
"Adaptive Dynamic error" (Yellow) (Original: Feil i adaptiv dynamikk)

Resolved problems are the catalyst converter and the oil leak that ended in new differential.

 

I have no idea what it has. But as mentioned when I peaked over the technician's shoulder I saw error messages mentioning leak and engine control unit failure.

I wish I took a picture of it...

 

The first one would be the root cause error message, the other three follow on errors. In particular two of them are iirc limp home mode errors. And a leak in the early stages can be temperature dependent among other things. Really booting it in mid range rpm should normally provoke it though. Can you say anything more about the conditions just before and at the time of each of the incidents?

 

Sounds like a less than competant technician.

 

It's been at slow speeds and low RPM all three times. Twice have been in my neighborhood, so I've "limped" to my garage with out too much embarassement. Third time was in a roundabout in city centre, 40 km/h speed limit, came at low speed into the roundabout, and lost power on the way out.

So, 100% certain, it was at low speeds, 66% certain it was while turning and slight downhill. Can't remember exactly at which spot 2nd time happened.

Twice was in winter with lots of snow, last time was in June on a relatively nice day. Both winter incidients were on my way home after short trips (20 - 40 km), summer incident was about 5 minutes after I started.

 

I think they can be competent enough, although the 4.2 S/C is a relatively rare engine in these parts, they've told me they've only sold 3 XFs with that eninge in Norway (taxes makes them stupidly expensive). Taking it to the UK could be an option.

I'm very disappointed with the follow up I get from them. I've got tendencies of rust on the boot lid, complained about that in early May, they took pictures and said they'd get back to me. No response so far. And same with the engine problems, they read all the logs the day after the last failure in early june, and still nothing.

I had some very good experiences with service just after I got it, but it's been downhill from there. I've had lots of different brands, and these guys are scraping rock bottom here...

 

Hope you can get the problems resolved.

 

The rust is a known issue, try customer support in UK but browse the forum to catch the cases mentioned here first.

Considering the conditions and the error messages I am leaning toward an intermittent electrical fault, unless the known issue of throttle body applies to your car.

 

The error code you state, I had similar on my jag and it was due the a bad battery