I have a 2004 Jaguar XJR. I am in sunny and warm California and garage it in a non humid garage. The "Parkbrake Fault" message and amber light just appeared with the vehicle having 63,700 miles.

When in park, it seems to be reset every time I pull up on the parking brake lever but quickly reappears within a second. When the car is actually driven, an irritating warning alarm starts to ding at six dings per second.

I don't think it's a battery problem. A new battery was replaced nine months ago. Furthermore, my OBD 2 scan tool says there are no error codes when plugged into the diagnostic port.

Even though the "Parkbrake Fault" message is present, the car seems to have the same feel as usual and has not lost any power or become sluggish as it might feel if the parking brake was actually engaged.

1. Is it safe to drive the car and ignore the message and alarm? At worst, the dealer is within 10 miles.

2. I have seen a recall for this in the S Type. Does the X JR have a recall on this or could it be a related problem?

3. From reading this and other forums, I know that sometimes an old battery may be the problem. I will test the battery. How many amperes should it have to be considered normal working status?

4. If the battery is at all low, will constantly charging on a trickle charger be adequate to prevent this kind of malfunction?

Thanks in advance!

 

Hi cowyang,

The Electronic Park Brake (EPB) is an overly-complex system and I'm currently suffering a PARK BRAKE FAULT warning on our '04, which I believe I triggered when I disconnected the ECM to clean its connector.

Your problem could be related to low battery voltage, so it would be worth having the voltage checked while cranking the engine. Your battery isn't old, but your charging system may not be doing its job as well as it should, and looseness or corrosion on battery power connections and grounds throughout the car can cause these sorts of electrical gremlins.


A standard OBD2 scanner can read many of the "P" or Powertrain codes associated with Emissions, but it can't read the proprietary Jaguar "C" or Chassis codes which EPB faults trigger (nor will it read the "B" Body codes or "U" Undefined codes). You will need to either have a dealer or properly-equipped independent mechanic scan the codes, or acquire a Mongoose cable and JLR SDD software and set up a Windows XP laptop to scan the codes yourself.

On our '04 XJR, the codes that were tripped were:

C1802 EPB Motor engage current not reached or travelled too far upon apply (100% probability)

C1094 Parking brake apply switch - circuit failure (6% probability)


I am attaching two EPB Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) for your reference.

In your case, it might be worth disconnecting both battery cables and touching their terminals together for a minute or two. Then reconnect the battery and follow the instructions in TSB JTB00084 (attached) to recalibrate the EPB.

If that doesn't do the trick, it might be worth rebooting the EPB module in the trunk/boot. There is a procedure for disconnecting the two electrical connectors in a specific order - if you get it wrong you can mess things up, so check the Chassis section of the X350 Workshop Manual which is available for download from this forum in six sections at these links:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/md...f+contents.pdf
http://www.mediafire.com/download/aa...nformation.pdf
http://www.mediafire.com/download/n3...2.+Chassis.pdf
http://www.mediafire.com/download/9b...Powertrain.pdf
http://www.mediafire.com/download/0i...Electrical.pdf
http://www.mediafire.com/download/4j...+and+Paint.pdf


Please keep us informed.

Cheers,

Don