Hi I drive a 2000 XJR and I have a msg showing up ("Tract control error") when I start the car. It disappears within seconds and does not return while driving. OBD shows nothing, and I have the impression it does not show up when I start with a warmed up the engine -but have not tested this consistently. It showed up for the first time after I replaced a speaker in the left front door panel. Not sure whether this is related. I have disconnected the battery twice, did not solve the issue.
Thanks in advance!

 

First sign of a failing battery.

 

+1 on bad battery.

 

Tnx. Will check with a new one

 

My 03 has done that for 6 years and 2 batteries and will do it while still on a tender so I wouldn't hold your breath for the battery being the cause but am intrigued for what you find.

 

Get the same thing when it's frigid out here in SE Pennsy (Lower Bucks Cnty). I ascribe it to the motor in the traction control/ABS (It uses the same device) taking a bit longer to spool up (age? battery condition? temp?) when you start the car and build the pressure up/close the solenoids/?

It only flashes for a second for me...mentioned it to my wrench...who has a 2000 XJ8, also...said "they all seem to do that..." and "if the message goes away...the system is working".

Normal part of the aging of these rides? I mean, 16 years is a long time for a car to be on the road, especially one as complex as the 308.

(I had a 1970 Citroen DS21 Break in 1980...6 years newer at that time than my XJ is now...and it was a basket case between the disolving sheet metal, hydraulic horrorshow, and crumbling seat foam...my XJ, 6 years older, by comparison, is a showpiece (albeit with some niggles that need addressing still...)).

FWIW, the first time the message flashed on the screen was startling...now, as it warms up (well, relatively...), it's showing up less and less.

FWIW, HTH

 

Thank you all for your replies. Checked the battery -it s more than ok. I did a 'hard reset', used contact spray for electronic connections behind door panel. To no avail.
My mechanic said the same by the way. If the msg just flashes and does not reappear, system is working. They do that. Still, having it not appear in the first place would be even better

 

To add, this is one of those weird things on these, if the trac and asc start to come on a lot, it usually is the battery, but as long as the system works (easy to test :P ), and the battery is good, it's fine. My mechanic also mentions that customer cars do this - it still rarely happens on mine if it sits for a week, but goes off when using it more.

 

How did you check the battery?

I just replaced the battery in our Land Rover, it was dying and I was also getting spurious error messages at startup.

The clue is to measure the voltage drop during cranking.

A good battery is around 12.6V when standing, but the voltage during cranking is a real indication of the battery condition.

You need a multimeter that can record the minimum and maximum voltage.

For example, my bad battery was 12.4V standing, falling to 9.2V during cranking.

Brand new battery was 12.5V standing, 11.2V during cranking.

The voltage falling to a low level during cranking is what causes the error messages, the various modules can't "boot up" properly on this low voltage. Then once the engine is running and the alternator is putting out a higher voltage, the faults disappear without a trace.

This can also happen with a good battery that's undersized.