What have I bought?? New car is a nightmare, help please !!!
 

Hi folks, I would appreciate any help on the following issues.

On Saturday I bought a beautiful 2004 XJ6 with 41000miles with full service history, I bought it privately and as such have no waranty.

The test drive and the drive home were great like sitting in a magic carpet.

I found out in the evening when I popped to the local shops that the headlamps were not working on low beam.

Side and Main beam were working fine.

I checked the following
left and reight beam fuses
Swapped the high and low beam 40a relays and proved both were working.
Got a bulb and replaced the passenger side( the one with one earth point behind) and still no joy.

I was going to check the earth leads behind the light but as soon as I moved the wires by hand the earth bolt sheared off.

I left it as is until I get some nuts and bolts and drill new earth point and drove to work with the wires unearthed as I do not need lights in daylight.

Drove around 5 miles this morning and air compressor fault light came on, and when I slow down to a stop at junctions I get a continual buzzer sounding until I start moving again. Can the buzzer be silenced.

Anyone got any ideas what the faults are with the headlamps and also why the buzzer is sounding, the car is sitting high and I assume the compressor is working.

I will read the codes tonight with an OBD II reader.

I am gutted and wondering if I have bought a lemon, hopefully this is an easy fix.

Would the earth wires being off have anything to do with the air fault??

And can someone tell me what the 3 x earth points at the front are for , i.e what does each point have wired into it.

sorry for the longwinded post.

Welcome to the forum megliam,

I've seen posts from you in XK8/XKR, XK/XKR and now in X350 tech forums. It's not clear to me whether you have one or more Jaguars.

Please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST forum and post some info about yourself and your vehicle(s) for all members to see.

In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

Hi Megliam,
The electrical guild http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Elec...al%20Guide.pdf

Shows that both main and dipped lights are earthed through the front earth points, so if one of these works then it's not earth sadly :( my guess would be a faulty switch but page 89 of the PDF shows the circuit.

Buzzer could be the front parking sensors, can be turned of with the switch in the overhead console.

Good luck as it will be a great car once sorted!

Guys, thanks for your replies,

Graham, I have introduced myself in the new members area.

Peter, thanks for the info, sitting here in my office feeling rather silly as I did not even think about the xconstant warning alram being the parking sensors, I suppose at busy junctions there are people frontand back. Will switch off park sensors and get into the habit of switching on when parking in tight spaces (or at least hope I remember to swirch back on)

The Electrical PDF is amazing, thanks for supplying this, I had sort of figured it down to the switch, the front control module or a broke or damaged wire. It is clear now that it is not the earth points as you say the drawing clearly hows main and dip to be on the same earth point. Is it possible for there to be corrossion between the Main beam cable end and the low bbeam end, hence the high beam may well eath properly but the low does not earth??

There are only two moving parts between your finger and the headlamp bulb, (1) the switch on the steering binnacle, and (2) the relay. The FCM is normally a very reliable part and other things work off it, yet they are working, or at least you have not reported anything else, apart from the air compressor, a known Jaguar X350 issue. At your mileage, I would have thought the car would be on pump No 4 by now !!

I suspect the switch, but it can only be proved by swap-out with a known good switch. I had headlamp flickering and it was the switch. The switch takes in a reference voltage and passes back via several wires, a voltage to indicate action to the FCM. Its very neat in there, but can go wrong, and wires can break. New switchs are about £125 and take about 10 minutes to swap out. There are no diagnostics on this aspect of the electrical system.

I know these things are a nuisance, but surely way short of a nightmare, really !!

For the Air Compressor fault there is plenty of info on this forum, just search for "air compressor" or "air suspension".

Megliam - if you think what you have found so far is a nightmare wait until you get Restricted Performance up and eventually diagnose EGR valves need changing. These cars are a dream when running well and not so much fun when they are not. I hope the former outweighs the latter for you.

Hi Megliam,

Regarding the air suspension fault, as Fraser has implied the most common cause is a worn piston ring in the air compressor, preventing the compressor from being able to fully pressurize the system in the alloted time before the Air Suspension Control Module determines there is a fault and triggers the code.

The compressor can be easily rebuilt, probably by yourself, with an affordable replacement piston ring from Bagpipingandy, who is a member of this forum.

Below are links to photos showing how I recently rebuilt the compressor in our '04.

Cheers,

Don

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page

What an outstanding write-up Don B. Thank you, and I've bookmarked it in hopes I don't need it anytime soon.

:D

Regarding the low beams, did you check the fuses? The power supply to the low beams are fused AFTER the relays.The fuses are in the fuse box by the passengers legs. Fuse F9 for LH and F8 for the RH.

The pump is up front, under the bumper. If you broke a ground up there, there is a chance it grounded the air pump. So, don't worry too much until you have repaired the ground point.

Many thanks to everyone that has replied.

Don that is a brilliant how to guide and the compressor rebuild is well within my capabilities.

Six rotors, I have already checked the relays and fuses.

I think the problem may be related to the fact I have not got the earth point reinstated behind the headlamp as I have a few other strange electrical gremlins manifesting themselves including;

When pressing horn, there is no sound and the open bonnet warning message and red light comes on until I release the horn
also passenger window (same side as missing earth point) will only come down in stages and is a real pain to get back up with none of the 2 switches operating as one touch, took me 10 mins to get the window back up.

I am going to reinstate the earth point first which will hopefully eliminate all of the faults and then concentrate on the headlamps, which I have wittled down to either the indicator stalk or the FEM which I believe rarely goes faulty ? Thoughts please ????

Any comments or previous experience on the new gremlins or similar would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Update - I installed a new earth point and apart from the headlamp and electric window fault everything else has returned to normal, i.e. no more air suspension fault message, horn working again.

I am going to check the other two earth points at the weekend as this one fell away in my hand when I touched the wires I would imagine the other 2 may well be in a similar condition.

The passenger window will only come down in stages of a couple of inches at a time and goes back up the same way but with much more difficulty, it it the same using both the switch on the drivers door and the one in the passenger door so I assume it may be related to an earth fault oro wiring at the motor regulator ?
Anone seen this previously?

Is this file available for 2001 XJR .
would appreciate that info
Txs

I'm experiencing the exact same issue with the passenger window. Any information would be most helpful. Thanks

megliam,

Congrats on the successful installation of the new earth point and the positive result! The lower of the two earth points at the front right corner is a bit of a bear to get to due to the proximity of parts of the headlamp housing. I figured out a way of servicing that lower ground without removing the headlamp. I haven't had a chance to edit the photos and write captions, but if you'd like to know what worked for me, drop me a PM and I'll try to send you the most relevant photos.

Cheers,

Don

Welcome to the forum.
 

Welcome to the forum. You seem to know your way around much better than I do I love Jaguars. When you get yours at 100 per cent you will love the thing.


Best Wishes,


E T

Do you mean this one
http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Auto.../jagxj2001.pdf

Just go to jagrepair home page and you find all sorts of things!

Pete

I believe titanium is compatible with aluminium, (it's certainly a common aerospace metal), and there are titanium nuts and bolts available on the internet. From what I see they are used in lightweight bicycles. Maybe a good earth point replacement ? According to my technical notes, zinc-plated steel bolts are OK too.