Bought a used XF 2009 in 2014. Have taken it to the dealer for various electrical issues at least 6 times and still having various problems. Low coolant light, vents wont open, radio speakers crackling, AM radio not working, map light, and now the truck will not open and the car does not lock with the FOB. How do I get the service dept to find the real problem and stop making supposed quick fixes for each issue as it arises?

 

Have you expressed your frustration to the service advisor? If so, next step could be to contact Jag USA, if the issue is customer service.

If you're looking for an answer to what the issue may be, there's a few I've seen on the forums:

1. It seems some of these have had issues with the modules under the seats getting wet, which obviously doesn't work out well for the electrics. Could have that checked out.

2. Could need a reflash on the ECU, although I would expect the dealer would have done this at some point.

3. These issues could actually be unrelated, or perhaps only some of them are. Low coolant level seems to come up often (I had to replace my sensor once). I haven't run into the vents not opening before, but I know the units themselves have a tendency to wear out. Not sure on cracking speakers or AM radio. Map light could be a number of things from bulbs to a short. Trunk not opening and car not locking could be something to do with the key's battery or the locking module (which I think is under the seat, but could be wrong).

 

Have you checked the age and condition of the battery?
The XF is notorious for all sorts of electrical gremlins once the battery is less than perfectly healthy, and as a rule of thumb you should renew the battery every four years.
If your car is still on it's original factory battery then it's well overdue for replacement and that may fix most if not all of the problems.

 

Another vote for the battery. Let us know how old it is.
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Replace the battery and keep a battery tender on it when you don't drive the car for over 24 hours. Turn off the automatic headlights, automatic windshield wipers and lock the car even in your garage. That may fix everything. I've found these cars need a battery that is OVER 12 volts or these gremlins appear.

Keep us posted.

 

+1 on XJL's advice, it's the best you will get in keeping the gremlins at bay.

 

I am sure this will be a less than popular answer, but when a Jaguar is six years old you are getting to the point that it will be relatively expensive to keep it in good condition when you yourself are not actively engaged in the troubleshooting and repair. You may not need to do the work yourself, but you better understand what is happening.

For instance, your described problems can be very difficult for a tech to diagnose if they are intermittent. If you understand what systems are interrelated and can make valid observations about coincidence and relationship between the faults and help diagnose them diagnosis yourself, the faults can be sorted more efficiently.

Just my $.02 Other opinions will vary.

 

I think this procedure is complete overkill. I often don't move my car for up to two weeks and sometimes it's only for a 2 mile each way errand that does more to deplete the battery than charge it since I play my car stereo with a 900 watt non-digital amp the whole way (pulling somewhere between 60-100 amps). And I have an OBD-II reader that's constantly plugged, I never lock my car when it's in the garage, and I've mistakenly left my key in the car multiple days with no issues.

If your car can't make it at least a week sitting in the garage and still start, something is wrong with it. Battery may be old or there is some sort of parasitic draw that is not normal. But you shouldn't have to keep the car "plugged in" all the time for it to work.

 

You're not wrong, though it's easier to leave plugged in if you can and will extend the battery life (they don't like getting more and more discharged and sitting like that). Also, finding a small drain can be a PITA (good idea, though).

 

I have been very fortunate as to not have any Battery issues or phantom parasitic drain...Coming up on 4 years with same original battery..I do however take the time once a year to inspect it and top off the electrolyte with distilled water..Maybe that has given me the good luck, I donno....But mine sits for days if not a couple of weeks in the garage without starting and has some short trips between times....My Jag tech buddy says he's sees maybe a year of life out of most XF batteries....Which BTW, the dealer here is replacing them with Interstate brand as they come in for one.

 

Ouch! Contrast with reports in the S-Type forums of batteries 11+ years old.

 

You can read most anything on an internet forum!

 

Most are your issues are fairly common:

-Coolant tank leaking due to broken tank nipple. Check for coolant in the engine bay near the tank. The nipple cracks and it seeps out slowly around it. Typically this is only on the 09 Supercharged version which has a different thank than the other models.

-Vents issues have a new fix listed in another thread here: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...tating-155524/

-Map light (over head lights) turning on or off on their own is fairly common. The dealer replaced an overhead module for mine under warranty and it never happened again. There were quite a few posts with others having this issue. Run a search on the forums if you can't get the dealer to fix it.

-Trunk opening issues is typically a break in the wiring where the cable bends due to the trunk opening and closing. Have the harness replaced get a DMM out and find the bad wire and solder it back together. Here is one random post on it: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...cement-138488/

Another post on the trunk issue: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...nk-fix-137000/

-As far as radio issues, I have seen posts on them so run some searches to see what people did to fix them.

Good luck! Most are fairly easy fixes so don't worry too much about them. Get them taken care of and enjoy the car.