Well, wouldn't it just figure. I finally found the car I've been searching for - a 2011 Jaguar XKR with 20K miles . . . and it's a convertible. Where I live, we have a 15-day/500 mile "implied warranty" on used cars purchased from a dealer, and although I haven't hit the 500 mile mark yet, I did just float past the 15-day point.

By two days . . . .

So I went out to the garage to fire her up and go for an evening ride and the Check Engine light came on immediately, followed by the red "Restricted Performance" warning on the display. Car gagged and wheezed for a few seconds, then died. The smell of the exhaust was horrific, like too much unburned fuel pouring through the engine (and yes, the garage door was open, so I didn't asphyxiate myself.)

Here's my question - I don't think the battery has ever been changed in this car, and the car was sitting quietly in my garage for about 48 hours or so. Is it possible that this whole situation could be the result of a low battery, or are the ODB II codes an indicator of a bigger problem.

P2105 OBD-II Trouble Code: Throttle Actuator Control System - Forced Engine Shutdown

P2119 OBD-II Trouble Code: Throttle Actuator Control Throttle Body Range/Performance

 

May be a battery, but I've never heard of what you have going on. My guess, as what the codes say, you have a problem with either the throttle position sensor or ??possibly?? the accelerator position sensor??
Someone out there probably knows a quick and easy bench test for the TPS, but I don't.

 

Definitely suspect the battery (or there may be a drain). You can get pretty random codes even when it starts the car but is low.

 

Battery, Battery, Battery. Don't do anything until you replace it. Then read up on how these/our cars DEMAND a battery have 100% charge at all times.

Double lock your doors every time you get out of the car.
If issues persist after new battery installation and locking your doors religiously install a smart charger, many use C-Tek, I use Battery Tender. Then and only then if problems persist do you start looking for the non-existent "Electrical Gremlins".

Do not worry, most likely your car is fine!!!! Put in a new battery and drive the crap out of it.

 

New battery and a CTEK before you start looking for more obscure possible causes.

A new Jaguar with a 15-day warranty. I'm amazed you had it standing for 48 hours!

Graham

 

Just check the voltage at the battery terminals and see if it is 12.6 V. Then based on your findings make your next move.

 

Add to what's been said a Foxwell NT510 scan tool. It will allow you to clear codes, set the parking brake for maintenance, and a third point in support of the statement.

 

What does Double locking the doors do?

 

Tells the car to take a nap and shut down quicker versus just walking away where it'll stay active for 15 minutes or so.

 

Does that work with the button on the door or just the fob?

 

Button on the door will work the same. I rarely use the FOB, just push the door button twice, on the second push, the alarm sounder will beep.

 

Unless the car is locked (can be single or double lock), it stays in 'convenience' mode, meaning stuff stays powered up for a while on the assumption that you may want to jump back in and drive off. It them progressively powers down all the modules over a 30-minute period. When you first stop the engine, convenience mode is drawing over 10 Amps. If you then lock the car, drain will quickly drop to hundreds & then tens of milliAmps.

The only difference between single or double locking is that double locking engages the door deadlocks and the volumetric sensors.

 

I had the car taken back to the dealer. They agreed to replace the battery with a new one if the one that came with the car was dead. It did read something over 11 volts, but they considered that sufficient to call for a replacement.

. . . it didn't solve the problem. Upon firing up the car with the new battery, at least one error code returned, indicating a problem with the throttle body sensor. They are going to have that looked at by a competent fix agent and have promised to return me a perfectly running car.

The picture shows the guts behind the rear panel in the trunk, where the battery, navigation disc player, and a bunch of other goodies are stored. Suprisingly, the battery that was there was not the original that came with the car.

 

Mandrake ... you recommended a Foxwell NT510 scan tool ... but when I looked up that exact item on Amazon, there were several different versions that seemed to be 'brand specific' ... and ... none said they were for Jaguar! Is yours specific for Jaguar or are the ads just blowing smoke? Thanks.

 

I believe they're somewhat brand specific. I got mine on ebay and it was JLR specific. When I go in with it, it has a JLR option I have to select. I haven't tried it on my Land Cruiser to see if it'll work with other marques, but I can check when I get home if you're curious.

 

It shouldn't be surprising; in any car, anything beyond six or seven years on the same battery is both a gift and borrowed time. Considering that our cars chew through batteries like they do tires, it wouldn't be a surprise if you're putting in the 3rd or 4th battery that car has had.

Food for thought: these cars are very, very particular electrically, and there's a good chance that your fault code may have been caused by the low battery and simply needs to be cleared with a scan tool. In the future, try clearing the codes or simply disconnecting the battery for a few seconds to reboot the computers to see if the problem goes away before you pay someone $100/hr to do that.

 

Here you go

 

This was a common problem with the previous generation 4.2L throttle bodies, the Denso TPS would go bad requiring a replacement of the entire throttle body.

 

The dealer replaced the battery at no charge to me, cleared the codes, etc.. After replacing the throttle body, they found that the ECU was still throwing codes. So now the car is at the Jaguar dealer in Scottsdale for further investigation and repair. It would be nice if it was just a matter of reprogramming the ECU and not having to replace it entirely, but either way, I was thinking ahead and purchased a full service warranty for the car. At worst, I will be out the deductible, and I think the original dealer will be picking that up since the problems began so soon after I bought the car.

As for being surprised about the battery having been changed? I guess it would be no surprise if a previous owner paid to have it done. When I saw what was required just to remove the battery, I was quite pleased that I didn't try to do it myself. Not quite like the old days when changing a battery in a US-made car was barely a 1/2 beer job.

 

Edd China had to replace the entire TB on the 4.0 XK8 that Wheeler Dealers fixed for their giveaway car.