just took my xj8 2000 out of winter storage......had it serviced prior to winterizing....it started up fine....added a bit more air to tires and let it idle for about 5 minutes. idling right on the money and i took her for a short spin.

no check engine light but i do get a yellow light ...read out says....asc not available....trac not available.....when i hit the trac off light it does not light up ...and i have an abs lite up on the display.....so whats going on and do i need to worry?....help suggestions welcomed...

 

Was your battery fully charged? Those faults are often the sign of a weak battery. If the battery reads 12.5V or higher, try doing a hard reset by disconnecting the neg. cable and touching it to the pos. for about 30 sec.

 

yes that could be it.....had to charge battery......i have 2 jags and this one laid up all winter ...the car needs a new battery......but i will do the re-set....everything else , electric wise ok......but what is it about the trac not available anyway...and what does the asc...actually do?

 

Corrosion (from sitting unused for a while?) on the secondary brake switch contacts can cause an asc/trac fail.

 

asc = Automatic Stability Control, It stops the car from spinning/loosing control in emergency lane changes and such. But be warned it WONT DEFY THE LAWS OF PHYSICS ! If you swerve or such at stupid speeds in wet or dry for that matter conditions no clever program will help you. It works by increasing /decreasing braking force to individual calipers and controlling engine power to help keep car on intended course. trac = Traction Control, it stops the rear wheels from spinning by applying rear brakes and reducing power output. But again is not a cure for stupid. Hope this helps.

 

As has been pointed out....after lengthy storage you will quite often get spurious read outs....which in most cases is caused by a low battery.
BUT....you will need to clean your 4 wheel sensors of any built up crud.
These govern the actions of the ASC and ABS.
While you have the sensor out you should check and clean the cogged reluctor wheel on each hub.
Also check all your earthing points.
One thing these cars and any moden car for that matter will not tollerate
is poor batteries and bad grounding.

 

To echo the others, the ASC/ABS NOT AVAILABLE warning was the first sign when my battery was failing. Being a canbus system, everything gets goofy when the voltage gets low. Getting you battery tested and replaced if bad is definitely step one. I'm 99% certain that this is your problem seeing as the car is waking up from a long winters nap.

 

While you are cleaning those sensors, tug on the wires, and OBSERVE! Cracked wire on one of them, produced the same symptoms you have, on my wife's 03. IF the message appears with ANY change in direction (turning), you most certainly have a break in the wire. If not,......what others said (battery).

 

danielsand brings up a very good point. I had a similar issue with my 06 mustang GT a few years ago. Started getting no ABS and no TC error messages, turned out to be a cracked wire to one of the wheel sensors. Look for any green spots on the wires. Mine was very apparent, as there was a big blotch of copper corrosion green powder on one of the wires.

 

to all responding to this thread...thanks.....went back to my owners manual for clarification. i am more inclined to think its battery/voltage level related. the reason i say this is that when the car was put in the garage in late dec. there was no trac not available message....perhaps because the battery was up from use. on the last day of march i charged the battery and the car started right up with no issues except for the amber light and message. i pulled it out of the driveway and took it for a 5-10 spin.

so the car wasn't moved/started for 3 months..i would think the sensor /even wire if frayed....would come about from use/moving-driving the car. so the car was not moved or driven in snow/bad weather...or salted roads....i will do a re-set to see what happens.....if light stays on my next step is a new battery.

 

Before you buy a battery take the car to a local auto parts store and have them do a load test. It's possible that it could pass the test and still be bad, but not likely.
If the fault persists after a hard reset and there is a independent repair service nearby that is able to read Jag codes, they can tell you what is wrong and save a lot of time.

 

follow-up and closure....i took my toyota tacoma for inspection this am...but before i left i decided to disconnect the battery in the jag...(in effect a re-set) and charge it again free standing. came back from inspection about 2 hrs. or so later and re-connected the battery.

put key in ignition and started the car up....trac message gone as well as asc message......abs icon also gone. so as many of you suspected it was battery related....i than took the car up the hill to my friendly auto zone....they tested the battery and told me marginal-good.of course i just charged the battery....he told me if it were he he would get a new battery.

i am thinking the car was really not driven in last three months....so very little charging of battery going on.glad its not a sensor/frayed wire......thanks to everyone for helping me to sort this out.

 

Glad to hear it was that easy. Thanks for letting us know.