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Had had a series of recurring on-dash warnings come and go for a few days - low coolant, restricted performance, check engine light. They would typically disappear shortly after coming on or on restarting until yesterday morning when the check engine light was on when started and stayed on. So it was off to my indie to see what's what as I'm still without a code reader and have a trip to Jasper scheduled for Sunday/Monday and didn't want to do that starting with something untoward.
Interestingly enough, his full size Autel scanner wouldn't read the XJR any better than the Innova readers I returned last month (see previous posts) so it was out with older slower JLR unit. It didn't identify anything on the first go-round but the check engine light that was cleared returned on restarting. A second go-round with the scanner identified the issue as running rich so the MAF I cleaned last month was replaced. So far, so good so hopefully the problem is solved!
For perspective, the bigger Cat was probably 150’ away.
This was at an out of town project meeting so approximately 80 km round trip. No check engine light, no dash board warnings and no hesitation or stumbling at idle or anywhere else up to 5,500 rpm.
Good to go for Sunday’s trek to Jasper and Monday’s trek home which will be about 800 km round trip.
A lovely drive up Sunday afternoon and a lovely drive back Monday afternoon except for 5 seconds of restricted performance and the return of the check engine light.
And the update is... the Innova scanner - see above - wouldn't clear the check engine light or stay connected but did diagnose a running lean error. The light cleared with three drove cycles after cleaning the MAF but it returned.
My indie's old scanner - see above - then diagnosed a running rich error so we swapped the old MAF for a not so old (hopefully) MAF and cleared the check engine light.
She ran fine (with a bit more off the line oomph if anything) until Sunday - see above - when the check engine light reappeared.
Dropped by my indie this afternoon who connected a newer Autel scanner that diagnosed a running lean error and then successfully cleared the check engine light which didn't return.
The plan now is to see if it does return and then book it in for a smoke test to see where what is likely an intermittent vacuum leak exists.
Is it possible to just change the glass or is a whole new unit required?
The glass was completely shattered by this pebble which was left lying at the bottom of the lamp in a small nest of those glass shards that aren’t lying on the street somewhere.
Is it possible to just change the glass or is a whole new unit required?
The glass was completely shattered by this pebble which was left lying at the bottom of the lamp in a small nest of those glass shards that aren’t lying on the street somewhere.
The bulb itself still works…
that is unfortunate
you will need another lamp unit…the glass is bonded to the plastic housing. Good news is that they are easily available online or at a wrecker
Ken: I just suffered through that and learned 1) it doesn't matter if the donor assembly is for the right or left as I am told the bulb holder/lens is identical side to side; and 2) if you are very careful you can extract just the old broken lens, gently, straight out the front and install a replacement in reverse order. I did a short post over on the "what did you do to your X308 today" about it. I now have an entire left hand assembly with a good low beam, and a broken high beam sitting in my trunk! Not that it would do you any good, but if you can find a lens and carefully glue it to the existing lens body you'd really be ahead of the game. I got my part from NOMA (a whole mounting with both lights) after a mixup at another yard.
as Elliot noted, Bob DIY has a video that shows you how to do it quickly. It will take some effort to find one on the web. Dave is out of them; try eBay. They are cheap; they’re off a junker; may take a couple tries. Took me 15 minutes to replace one; five the other (the power of the learning curve).
My indie has found the inner lamp he thought he had in his inventory. He says the glass is good but he might swap the chrome trim for mine assuming it's better (he's probably right as mine - like most of the car - is pretty good). It sounds like he's "done this before" as he says it's just a 10 minute job so we'll work out a time to drop my once the XJR is mobile again.
Mobile again you ask? After taking the above photo with the lights on, her idiot owner came in and turned off the garage lights but didn't turn off the headlights first (the garage light is inside, not in the garage). She stayed that way for almost two days so the battery is well and truly dead and won't take a trickle charge. AMA will deliver a new battery tomorrow so if this one won't boost - or if this one boosts but fails a battery test - they'll install the new one for me.
As with most things, there's always a silver lining. In this case it means that the '92 Series 3 VDP will get a few days of regular use. Regular readers will know I have "a thing" for parkade photos so this one is from yesterday. If I didn't take it myself, I'd think it might have been photoshopped:
Last edited by Ken Cantor; May 27, 2026 at 06:51 PM.
AMA was by late this afternoon to test the old battery and - as expected - it failed miserably so they swapped in a new one for me.
Premium Size 48/H8 with a 3 year full replacement warranty plus an additional 3 years prorated for C$468.00. While that’s actually a good price here, it is, interestingly enough, 4.68 times what I paid for my first car (a used ‘52 Pontiac Chieftain) albeit that was in 1967.
As an aside, idiot owner - see previous post - locked his only full key in the trunk of a car with a dead battery after taking off the trickle charger last night. You know, the only key I have that opens the trunk! At least the car itself was unlocked so I could open the hood and connect a 12V booster - after charging it this morning - to the positive post on the fuse box and ground it to the engine and use my spare fob to open the trunk.
Last edited by Ken Cantor; May 28, 2026 at 10:38 PM.
The price notwithstanding, that's quite a warranty. And who among us has not left things out of the freezer once digging through it to find something? Personally, I find the aging process quite annoying.
It may well get worse but I can live with that (no pun intended) as it still beats the hell out of the only alternative I'm aware of (no pun intended).
As an aside, idiot owner - see previous post - locked his only full key in the trunk of a car with a dead battery after taking off the trickle charger last night. You know, the only key I have that opens the trunk! At least the car itself was unlocked so I could open the hood and connect a 12V booster - after charging it this morning - to the positive post on the fuse box and ground it to the engine and use my spare fob to open the trunk.
Tip for the future, a charger connected there it's always gave my car enough power for the boot opening button on the dash to work. I did it several times before replacing the old battery when mine was parked up for a few months a couple of years ago. So no need to wait for the car battery to charge before you get your key back.
Tip for the future, a charger connected there it's always gave my car enough power for the boot opening button on the dash to work. I did it several times before replacing the old battery when mine was parked up for a few months a couple of years ago. So no need to wait for the car battery to charge before you get your key back.
The battery I charged in this case was the one in the booster pack (you know, the one we let go flat because we don't recharge it regularly because we don't need it at that moment ).
I also dropped by the local JLR dealership on the weekend and ordered another locking wheel nut key as i noticed when the boards were out of the trunk that the one I've been using isn't where it's supposed to be in the styrofoam block under the spare (you can usually see it between the Asteroid's spokes) and better to have one and not need it than need one and not have it. The original will probably show up somewhere the day after I pick up the new one.
In the same vein, I also ordered a new "full key" preprogrammed to the car by VIN that I'll get cut at a local locksmith that does Tibbe keys as after 4 years it's save to assume the XJR is a keeper.
Why not order it precut as well you ask? That's because the key was $168.62 programmed by uncut and $315.21 cut so I'm assuming I can get it cut locally for less that $146.59 as the dealer did give me the key code for it.
