Hello,

It's been awhile since I posted. I'm the guy who started the thread on adding an Aux In for audio--and I'm still enjoying my iPod output to my audio system. I hope some of the people who participated in that thread are still around and enjoying their Jaguars. If I can find the time, I will try to make another posting to detail a problem that took me over a year to get solved or at least post my feelings about how bad the Jaguar dealerships are, in general, in being able to repair these fine vehicles...

I am clearly having an issue with the multifunction "stalk" in my beloved Jaguar XJR 2000 vehicle. I have seen references to this part on this forum. Some writers call it just "stalk"--others call it something else. It would be helpful to know what the official name for this part is--it's the one on the left of the steering wheel that controls the left and right turn signals as well as the brights.

Symptoms: When I indicate left and sometimes right, my headlights go off sometimes until I jiggle the stalk and sometimes just for a moment as I lock the stalk into its up or down position before turning. I think the problem is in the part of the stalk that twists counterclockwise to turn on the headlights because if I twist that ever-so-slightly in either direction while the headlights are on, they will go off.

I've never seen one of these stalks out of the vehicle but I imagine there is a way to take one apart and clean the contacts inside with contact cleaner. Otherwise, I will bite the bullet and order a new stalk (even though I prefer to fix the one I have).

But I have another symptom that seems related but I'm not sure: My left lower front orange blinker light/indicator does not work. Of course, I checked the bulb and it's okay. I used an ohm meter and the socket isn't getting power while the turn-signal is on. In fact, the signal clicks at twice the normal rate.

Another posting on this board suggested that the turn signal logic/fuse/circuitry is all inside the stalk. If that's true then perhaps the stalk is causing multiple problems for me. If the root cause could be elsewhere, I can't figure out where because none of the fuses seem to control that specific lamp. (By the way, the wires leading to the turn-signal socket seem to be fine--no damage visible and jiggling the exposed socket and wires didn't momentarily illuminate the lamp).

If the stalk is the root cause to all of these issues, I'd like to at least remove it and try repairing it. I saw some documents showing how to remove it but my worry is the air bag. I'm wildly uncomfortable with the thought that the air bag might decide to deploy while I gleefully remove the stalk... That would be a bummer, to say the least.

Any ideas for me?

Regards,
Jon
Jaguar XJR 2000 115,000 miles

 

Jon Good to see you back, although with a simple issue to fix.

I'll bet it's the solder contact points that join the stalk to the dash harness. They'll need soldering instead of costly part swaps. The aux work makes this one simple.

You'll need to remove the wheel, upper and lower cowls to expose the solder points. I'll try and take some pictures, I've a spare column somewhere.

Disconnecting the battery before working and storing the airbag safely and you'll be fine.

Hope this helps

 

Thank you for your welcome and message, Sean B. I look forward to any additional information you can provide.

I want to be sure my description properly conveyed that twisting the headlamp on/off portion of the stalk while the headlights are in the fully on (fully counterclockwise) position results in the headlights flickering. It seems that I might have an electrical-contact issue in that portion of the stalk as well as further down (an area affected by shifting the stalk up or down to activate a turn signal). Also, do you think the front left lower orange blinker is not working because of connection issues in the stalk?

I definitely want to be sure I understand what is meant by "storing the airbag safely"!

 

The stalk functions mostly as a signalling device with the signals being processed by the BCM behind the glovebox.

For example, both the headlight relay input and the turn signal power are driven by BCM outputs and not directly from the switch.

The double rate flash tick-tock is a part of the BCM logic for bulb out detection.

You can trace the signals by examining the wiring diagrams available as linked downloads in the stickies.

Don't get the wrong idea ... your BCM is probably just fine. This answer only addresses the suggestion that the logic is completely in the switch. It is not. However, it does use some simple encoding techniques to minimise the number of wires going to the BCM.

Final answer? Your switch is likely worn out.

 

I had the same problem. I did not need to remove the wheel. Two wires in the turn indicator were broken loose from the solder connection. I resoldered and all is working good now. You will have to turn the steering wheel a few times to get to all of the screws.

 

I have two symptoms--a front lower left signal lamp that isn't getting power when a turn-signal is activated to the left; and a stalk that causes my headlights to go off while activated a turn signal or when "jiggling" just the tip of the turn-signal multifunction stalk. So perhaps a wire is loose or broken that controls the front lower left turn signal illumination but that wouldn't likely be true of the headlights, because they stay on all the time unless I use the turn signals (I suppose a wire could be loose but certainly not broken completely or the headlamps would never illuminate).

Can you be more specific when you say you had the "same problem"? Are you saying that one can get to all the wires involved in the multifunction control stalk without removing the wheel cover?