I just came back from a 5 day vacation (the Jag was in the garage all this time) and when I entered the garage I noticed the right rear side marker light was on! "Odd" I thought.

I immediately grabbed the keys and turned the car on - this is what I found out:
- Car cranked and started normally
- Park brake fault and amber light came on on the dash board. The EPB appears to be working correctly
- *ALL* the rear lights (including the license plate lights) do not come on when the should except the right rear marker light
- The trunk switch does not work.
- The fuel sender registers empty even though it is not.
- When I turn the car off and remove the key, the rear right marker light remains on.

Battery is 4 years old in October. Do not have any time to do any further troubleshooting tonight but I thought I would throw this out there to see if anyone else had similar problems. Tomorrow after work I shall test the battery first to determine the next steps.

 

Shoot, I had to test it *now* (!) since that would have prevented me from achieving a good night's sleep:

Disconnected the battery and used a digital battery analyzer:
- Battery is 100% charged for its 850 CCA capacity.
- Battery voltage is 12.56 volts
- Battery resistance is 3.1 mOhms

I shorted the ground and positive cables and reconnected the battery.

Problem disappeared - all the rear lights are back on (including *both* rear marker lamps), the fuel sender gauge is working, park brake fault disappeared.

If there's an explanation that makes sense, please share!

 

Sounds like your "exorcism" ritual worked !

 

That's the funniest "funny" I have heard of.

 

nope i am getting the same but pulled loads of codes, but the one very difficult to clear was 5300, but hunted and cannot find a reference to it so any help out there

 

Sounds like an earth point (ground point) problem somewhere in the rear of the car, maybe associated with the rear electronic module. X350s seem notorious for developing ground point problems.

 

Thanks Patrick, I will certainly look into this clue
lukie

 

When you say you "shorted" the ground and positive cables do you mean you touched them together? Sorry for the silly question but I had a very bad experience with batteries and cables when I was a kid. Still haunted by the experience .

 

I burned a watch on my wrist as an 18-old... it melted... smelled awful - that's my skin.

Always remove the ground from the battery first (and it's not always the - minus, in older vehicles there are also + positive grounded electric systems, mind you) if you are moving around with anything under the hood or near battery.

Yes, the well-tested full reset goes like this: remove the battery, then short circuit (touch together) the CAR-end battery cables in the trunk. Apparently this empties the capacitors (condensers) etc that hold voltage in the finer electronics.

 

Please check for any hard set codes. If any, let us know.

 

I've always felt that's a bit brutal and that it would be better to connect something with a bit of resistance across the leads, a low wattage bulb for instance, and leave it connected for a bit.