Hello, My wife and I are new to the Jag world. We have a 2004 XJ8, which we've had for almost a year. We have completely enjoyed it until recently, the parking brake is stuck on. It is currently at the dealership, and they want $1,100 to fix it, they say it's the parking brake motor, and the parking brake module. Does anyone have any DIY's or quick fixes. I've been able to do most repairs on our previous cars, but I'm kind of at a loss on this one. I did a search in the forum, and didn't come up with much. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry about the gloomy introduction.

 

Moved you over here AltsXJ8 for some more exposure.

If you get a chance, you can try a more 'upbeat' intro in the new member area...if you haven't done so yet.

 

I have no direct experience of problems with the parking brake but here goes:

The parking brake is an electric motor with a gear box and cables to each wheel (rear).
It is located above the rear axle and is a pig to get to.
If you can remove the motor etc you should be able to release the cables from the wheels.
You can then have the bits on the bench and can start to investigate it's operation.
You can drive around without a PB just use the gearbox in the park position?
This gives you time to investigate the problem

 

Quite why Jaguar saw fit to introduce this electric handbake idea I don't know ! It does not improve on anything at all as far as I can see, and just puts needless expense into the running of one of their cars when it goes wrong. And there is more - if you replace the rear brake pads at a jobbing garage, or brake specialist, or even yourself, you then have to trot off to a Jaguar dealer to get them to reset the handbrake mechanism. A nice little earner, I'll bet !

There are no maintenance routines linked to it, so when it goes wrong it is totally down to Jaguar engineering specifications for an item that should last a lot longer than it appears to be lasting so far. The other thing that gets me cross is the air suspension on the later cars - totally unnecessary and again puts a potential cost burden into the car for a poor owner down the ownership line somewhere.

 

Have a look on the uk site-jaguar forum.co. uk

might just be that the PB module needs reflashing.

Sorry can't do links!

Bob

 

Thank You for all the info guys, very helpful!

 

Hello - I own a 2004 XJR purchased new.
- My thoughts are go on-line and purchase a new parking brake caliber, (ebay/Parts Geek/ Rock Auto/FCP EURO).
- You will save ,,, and if you have any wrench confidence, with a buddy/Friend to assistance (keeping you sane in your thought processes) you can replace the caliber.
- The XJR has Brembo electronic parking brakes (EPB) on both rear wheels. I am not familiar with the XJ8 EPB set up.
- Bottom line, it's not rocket science to change out the EPB caliber,,, You tube is a good source to see how EPB operate,

Melvin
2004 XJR

 

Did you have "Cannot release parkbrake" on the dash? This can happen if the battery is low, even just a tenth or two of a volt. I had it quite frequently, it would go away when I did the reset by removing the battery cables and toughing them together momentarily. Also, I ws able to "pop" the brake loose when this happened, even if it didn't reset, by backing the car down the driveway and moving forward slowly, back and forth a few times.

I got into the habit of not allowing the brake to set, which you do by pushing the brake lever down as you remove the key, which tells the car to not set the brake.

I also occasionally got a dash message "Cruise not available" when starting the car. After replacing the battery, the problems both disappeared.

These cars are VERY sensitive to undervolt conditions.

I'm not saying you don't actually have a bad motor, which is far more likely than a bad module, but you can't tell for yourself without a scanner.

 

Hello Forum:
- I need some suggestions on how to obtain the 2004 XJR Brembo Parking Brake 50 mm Torque screw.
- Unfortunately, I scripted one trying to remove it wanting to get to the parking brake cylinder while changing out the parking brake pads.
- Any help or suggestions will be truly appreciated.

Melvin
2004 XJR 110K miles