Hi guys, Can anyone help me end this nightmare? Okay here it is in a nutshell. First of all, my vehicle is a Jaguar xj8L, 1999. I parked on a bright sunny day. I left the suntop in tilt position and the driver's window slightly cracked no more than 2 inches. Naturally while I was gone there came a thunder storm, but when I returned to the car it didn't appear to be much moisture had gotten in. When I put the key in the ignition the nightmare began. The seat and the steering wheel went into a memory set by someone much smaller than myself and I thought the car was trying to kill me. The steering wheel adjustment would not allow me to adjust the setting nor the seat, neither worked. Luckily when I first got the car a few years back and loved playing with all it's gadgets I had set a memory for myself, even though now I left it in manual. Anyway I pushed the memory button I programmed and the seat and steering wheel went in position, but it wouldn't let me adjust manually. Okay I thought I'll deal with this tomorrow, drove home and parked the car. The next morning I decided to do a reset I had used when the driver's window wouldn't roll down and the sunroof wouldn't stay open. It comprises of disconnecting the negative post of the battery and touching the cable lead to the positive post. I had already rolled down the driver's window before starting the procedure. I did the reset, now the steering wheel and seat wouldn't operate in auto nor manual. I drove to take care of some business and when I parked I found that I now had another problem, my driver's window wouldn't go up. But now the steering wheel and seat again went to the set memory points but wouldn't operate in manual. I'm at my wit's end, does anyone have any idea what's going on? Thanks guys in advance.

 

Have you checked your voltage on your battery? Be sure the + terminal is free of any corrosion and that your ground is secure. I've read a lot of recommendations of resetting the controls as you have stated. I'm not keen on that personally for this scenario, albeit it is the easier method. Since the controls run through the armrest, I believe you have moisture on your relay controls inside the drivers door or a short.
So, you'll need to remove the panel and disconnect it there (my preferred method). Take a blow dryer and see about dissipating any moisture and check for any scarring or loose/bad connections By the time you do that you can then reinstall the connectors and it should work, unless the controls or relay has sustained damage.

 

Highhorse, thanks for your help. Here is an update. I took off the door panel as you suggested and located the door module just like in your diagram. When I disconnected it there was no apparent moisture but I put dryer on all the connections anyway and put it back together. Unforturnately there was no change. What is my move get another door module? I just think it is odd if the door module is bad that only the controls for the driver's side have been affected. After all it controls for all the other windows are in that door as well. Is there another relay or module that I should be looking at? Also you mentioned the battery voltage, I've never had problems starting the car so I never assumed the battery could be a problem. Are you suggesting that a weak battery could cause my electrical system to go wacko? Thanks for your help.

 

Yes, a weak battery and/or ground is a cause of a lot of issues with Jags (or other higher end car). Premium voltage is important for all the electrical components involved with its operation. That's why I put a Battery Tender (keeps battery at max efficiency) on mine if I'm going to be out of town for more than a couple weeks. I have eliminated all sorts of little quirky issues and chasing ghosts by doing this alone.
When you said your seat went into a memory setting for someone else, it sounded like moisture may have jumped the activation terminal or voltage dropped to a level and it lost memory. Did you check your armrest controls also? I really think your issue is the rain getting down into your door panel and on the circuits somewhere.
Check this out....http://www.jagrepair.com/S-TypeTSB.htm...its somewhat of a bible here. Do a site search for your vehicle, download the pdf for the electrical system to be able to trace circuits. It will say 1998 when you open it, but its good to '03.

 

Thanks Highhorse, I'm going to check out the battery, in the meanwhile here's my latest update. First of all, my remote doesn't work but I have from time to time put my car in something called universal opening I believe by accident with my key in the door. I'm sure you are familiar with it, all the windows go down a distant. To send the windows back up I simply turn the key in the opposite direction and they all close. So I started turning my key in the door in both directions several times and with in thirty seconds or so, would you believe it the window just shot up. So I'm going to have the battery checked out especially since I did have an alternator bite the dust a few months back.

 

Yep, quite familiar with it....I severely damaged the ego of my neighbor when he pulled up with his new 2010 VW (back in 2010) and was boasting about his "airing out" feature. I went over to mine, activated it, and said "...glad you finally caught up with the rest of us". He didn't talk to me for awhile...

 

lol.. My 2000 Audi A6 had that too

 

Here's my latest update. I checked the battery post, both are free of corrosion and the battery is at full charge. Although I was able to raise the window with the global closing function, if I lower it, it won't go back up unless I use the global closing again. I'm going track a reasonably priced door module and see what that does. Thanks again for help and I will let you know the results.

 

I feel you may be on the right track that the mod may have failed.