Afternoon to you all.

Not been on here much but not really had the reason to apart from browsing. Well, that was until I took my car to total cowboy and have had problems ever since, which I am now lost to get to the bottom of.

Ive got a 1999 XJ8 3.2 sport. My problems started of that the car would start and was traced back to being the tank mounted fuel pump behind the rear seat. The cowboy who did the work (my regular mechanic was not available) had the car for about 6 weeks and during which time, the car was sat outside with I believe the bootlid left ajar. As upon investigation when I got the car back, I found the boot well where the spare wheel is kept full of water.

Problems I have had since getting the car (the reason for investigation) were central locking/alarm not functioning properly, rear cluster brake lights not working (both sides), reverse lights (both sides) not working, dashboard telling me on the display constantly telling me 'Boot Open' and 'Bulb Fail Rear'. Obviously the boot is not open, but the rear brake/reverse lights are not working in the clusters. The high level brake light in the rear window is working.

Also, not sure its associated, but the fuel lid or boot lid does not open with the central locking.

Anyway, onwards and upwards, I investigated using information supplied by a friend and subsequently found the water in the boot well. Upon further investigation and trying to dry the boot out, I undid the boot mounted fuse box and discovered the Security & Locking Module was soaked through also. I removed the unit and turned out it was beyond repair due to the state of the PCB inside.

I have subsequently purchased a 2nd hand from an identical car with the numbers all matching which I duly fitted this morning.

Prior reconnecting the battery, I did a 'hard reset' (I think) by doing the 'touching + & - battery cables together. I then reconnected all the battery, and crossed my fingers.

Visually checked everything and all looked ok. Then went to unlock the car, and the central locking (minus fuel flap & boot) worked ok using the key. Havent tried linking the fob yet as that is not my main concern.

Car started as per normal on the turn of the key as used too, however the light and boot problem still exist with no brake clusters and reversing lights, yet all other lights front, back & interior work fine. With the brake pedal pressed, the high level light works and the gear selector 'clicks', which tell me the brake pedal switch is fine.

Now I am just lost and where I would like anyones help and or advice if you would please.

Prior to all this problem starting and it going in to the garage , the car was an absolute dream with NO problems whatsoever. I really dont want to take it back to the garage as I just wanna.............(well wont say on here). I appreciate things do 'give up the ghost' but it just seems to much of a coincidence that this problem remains.

I am lead to think now it maybe a dislodged wire or connector somewhere, but am totally useless at fault diagnosis and tracing wires etc. My limits are more mechanically oriented within reason.

So there you go, I dont think Ive missed anything (if i have will add in due course), but any help or advice would be much appreciated.

 

You may just have a bad "new" SCLM. The backup lights do not come from it, but the brake lights certainly do. It is also possible the connector has gotten some corrosion. I suggest you have a good look at the SCLM connector.

 

Double post. sorry!

 

I would look at the lights cluster and connectors.

Put the car in reverse, locate the reverse bulb and see if you have juice there. I yes, its the bulb (i doubt) if not you have to go up the chain.
Same for brake lights

 

The reverse lights do come from the SLM as do the brake lights in the clusters. And the fault remains the same since having a new (non-water-logged) module swapped over, so dont see that it can be that.

 

Working on that now. Multi-meter doing some overtime today!

 

That is a sad story. Six weeks out in the rain. It still seems like the SCLM might be the problem. Do they need to be programmed to the car ? Or I believe I remember seeing something about the numbers having to match. Maybe sparkenzap or Sean B. can clarify ?

 

Hmmh, yep you are right- I forgot that the back-up lights were also run from the SCLM. There are at least two power feeds to the module and it looks like the lamps are on the feed from fuse #1 in the trunk. I would check that circuit for power. The other circuit is fuse #10.

As to the need to program the modules, I swapped my MY 98 XJR SCLM into my MY 02 XJ8 and it worked fine from the get go, except the fob was on the wrong frequency band- So I could not program the original fob for the car. And... none of the numbers were the same!

I was suggesting having a look at the connection block on the car side of the connector to see if there is signs of water damage there! The SCP network connections would be the most likely to be affected by water, pins 8 & 16 of BT1.