Well I finally replaced the steering rack and got to drive the car for the first time. I was very thankful the transmission shifted buttery smooth so I can't complain too much . I was going to drive it to get the wheels aligned as it was a bit difficult driving it. At the gas station it started to idle funny and misfire. I decided to drive it straight home as I didn't want to be stranded. I got the scanner on it and it read P0303 or something of the sort which meant misfire in cylinder number 3. It was not doing this before when I would start it and let it idle for a few minutes. My first guess is the spark plugs, so I will be replacing those tomorrow if they look like they need it. What kind should I use?

Now for the traction control lol. While driving, if I ran over a bump I could hear it engage. The banging noise, or however you describe it, was only coming from the left hand side under dash board, so I am ASSUMING its the traction control. Earlier it displayed a traction fail and abs light, but those haven't come back yet. I don't know where to start with the fault and would appreciate the help. On top of all that.... I locked the keys in the car . Any secrets to getting it open without calling a lock smith? lol

Thanks in advance!

 

Changing plugs is fine on general principles and might solve the problem. Champions are fine. I use NGK iridium but they are not required.

More common, though, is a coil failure. Sometimes you can actually see where a coil is cracked and burned....but lack of such visual clues doesn't mean the coil is good. Thay can be test with a multi-meter but you have to test 'em when the problem is occuring....which in your case doesn't sound like it will be difficult.

For the TC problem start by removing, cleaning, and firmly reseating the connector at the TC control unit. Often that does the trick.

Cheers
DD

 

For the TC mine lights comes on often when ive been driving through dirt and what a mechanic told me was theres a sensor above the rotors that gets dirt on it and it miss reads so try cleaning that.

 

Thanks for the replies. I got it unlocked and can start working on it again. Its funny how this misfire is. Its only present when the car has reached its operating temperature. I decided to unplug the MAF sensor and noticed the misfire stopped, but the engine ran terrible. After plugging it back in and restarting the car, the misfire was gone and then came back a couple minutes later. I am wondering if it just needs a good cleaning. They are very similar units to that of my Land Rover and cleaning the MAF on the rover did wonders for it. So I am hoping it will do the same for the Jag. I know some cars have very sensitive MAFs and cleaning them can ruin it. Is this the case with Jaguars, or would it be fine to give it a shot?

 

JagScott:
I know this may sound like I am busting your chops, but that is not my intent, only to understand. Why, when the ecu tells you that you have a specific cylinder misfiring, and someone as knwledgeable as Doug gives you the fix, would you begin pulling MAF and not addressing the most likely culprits? Seriously, could you help me understand? Thanks.
As to the traction control- hitting a good bump and hopping a tire will engage the traction control. And no, nothing is under the dash. That was probably something else that jarred loose.
Good luck.

 

Well, the same problem happened on my LR and cleaning the MAF solved it. I noticed the MAFs on both vehicles are virtually the same. Since a can of spray is $5, I figured I should try it out first instead of shelling out $80 for a new coil pack. I will use the voltmeter tomorrow to verify that it is the coil pack.

When I say "under the dash" I mean on the left hand side of the vehicle behind the dash and the steering wheel. The modulator is located there so I would assume the modulator is making the noise when the traction is kicking in. At least that is what happens in my Range Rover. The traction control is kicking in when I go over slight bumps. Similar to what you would hit entering a bridge where the road meets up with it.

 

OK- thanks for the info. As to the "same probelm", do you mean the check engine light, or do you mean the ecu telling you that a specific cylinder is misfiring.? My point is, if approximately 1000 different, unrelated things can turn on the engine light on a particular model car, why do we seem to think the engine light on a different car might be somehow related to our previous experience? I believe it is because we do not properly resolve the cause- effect relationship. The engine light is NOT the problem. It is the diagnostic indication of problem. So, if my brother in law was feeling bad and went to the doctor and was diagnosed with cancer, there is very little chance that me feeling bad means I have cancer.
I suggest you swap the #3 and number #4 ignition coils, and see if the problem remains in cylinder 3 or moves to 4.
As to the MAF, the X300 engine is known to respond well to MAF cleaning. Use MAF spray and be carefull to not touch the components down in the hole in thepiece that projects into the airflow channel.
As to the Anti - lock, I did not realize the X300 had stability control with traction control, but it sounds as if yours has an inertia sensor that has gone too sensitive. If it is too annoying, I am pretty sure the sensor is in the module if it has one.
Good luck.

 

There was no check engine light. Only the code. My Land Rover gave a similar misfire code not too long ago (no check engine light either). Cleaning the MAF fixed it. It took me all of 20 min to do on the Jaguar. The engine sounds better as a result but the misfire is still present. What kind of resistance should I expect to get from the coils? And where does the cylinder numbering start (I would assume at the front, but idk for sure). Some of the coils appear to have a small crack on the top. A total of 4 have them....

 

You are correct - they number from the front. The "normal" intermittent coil failure mode is high voltage leakage. So, you cannot measure that with a multimeter. Since the coils are a little pricey, the best way is to swap the suspect with another one and follow the codes.
I suspect your engine ran better after cleaning the MAF, but bad mixture (MAF dirty) does not normally cause a specific cylinder to misfire. If a misfire is detected, the error is logged. I am not sure how many run cycles it takes before (or even if) the code is cleared. BTW, the 95-96 X300 apparently had pretty poor misfire detection.

 

I found a supplier that is reasonable and can get 4 coils at a good price. I was unable to get the code to reappear, but the vehicle is obviously misfiring and it seems to be getting worse. If the top of the coils are cracked, is this a guarantee they are bad? The two outer coils look like they are new and had been replaced, the four inner ones look old and tired and are the ones with the crack. Is there anything else I can check/do to ensure it is the coils before I spend the money? Thanks again for all your help.

 

If your problem is occurring as the vehicle is heating up it is more than likely a coil. Heat is the biggest killer of electronic components, and it is very likely the coil malfunctions once it is brought up to engine temp. Clear the codes and swap the coil over to another cylinder. If your misfire occurs on a different cylinder then you know it's definitely the coil. If it remains on cylinder 3 then you know you have a plug or fuel injector problem on that cylinder. Easy as pie

 

I wasn't able to get it to throw another code, as sparkenzap said, they have bad misfire detection. Its interesting though, at 1k rpms or above, everything is smooth as glass. The moment you hit 900, the engine looks like its going to come out of the car and fly away. The end of the coil of number 3 looked very rough, so thats probably the culprit. A new update on the traction control problem.... Everything works fine with it, its the left hand forward strut. I noticed that something wasn't the same between the two struts when I lifted the vehicle on either side. I'll tighten it up tomorrow and hopefully that is the end of that . I noticed that the temp gauge on the car is a bit erratic though... any thoughts? The car runs between 199 and 204F at a stop with a high idle and the a/c on, according to an OBD scanner. So the car's running temps are fine.

 

The temp gauge normally stays rock steady to the extent that some wonder if it is a switch like the oil sender (it is not), so you might have a ground or supply lead loose going to the instrument panel- That's one I haven't seen on here before.
As to the strut (I assume you mean the shock since these aint McPherson struts), you will probablyfind that the bushing has crumbled like everyone else's.

 

Your are right, the bushings are gone. Would that cause clunking noises when you go over a bump?

 

Uh, YEAH!