Need some help from the wise collective here.

Car – 2008 XK Coupe, 44,000 miles

Symptoms
Roughly once a month I will be driving the car around town for 10-15 minutes and then stop somewhere, today it was the grocery store. I was in the store for 10 minutes. When I came out, the car started normally but almost instantly started running rough and died within 3 seconds. It started right back up and I revved it to 2500 rpm, held it there for around 10 seconds and then it idled normally. Though it was idling fine the steering was VERY heavy. When this happens I have found that if I drive it for a short distance, 100-200 feet, shut it off, immediately restart, the idle AND steering are fine until the next time a month or so down the road.

It, rough idle and dying, never happens without involving the steering. The steering shows no issues outside of the above situation.

When it happens I get no warning lights on the dash. I have not checked for any stored codes yet.

Has anything similar happened to anyone else??

PS: this has been going on for about 5 months.

Paul

 

Pump or belt issue?

 

"Pump or belt issue?"

Your guess is probably better than mine. I can think of several things to explain the rough idle, I can think of several things to explain very heavy steering but I have been unable to link the two. One does not happen without the other.

 

Gads... My 07 has been doing the steering thing on and off as well....
Know what I suspect?
Yup that's right... Bet it's the Battery.............

 

My 07 did the same thing a couple times but I thought it might be one of the battery gremlins. Not suggesting that is the case here though.

My nephew purchased it from me but I've not heard any complaints like this.

Maybe a hard reset to clear drive parameters would solve it.

 

That sound like it would be worth a try. With a little luck I will give it a go tomorrow.

 

I just dug through both shop manual and electrical diagrams trying to find the correct wording. If my memory serves, our cars steering will go heavy at high speeds, and light at low. Anyone confirm this?

I only found 2 references 'Power steering solenoid' and 'Steering transducer' in the shop manual and electrical manual. The transducer is mentioned if steering is heavy.

I think part of the system is failing to completely 'boot' (so to speak) and the system assumes you are driving at speed. Power down, reboot, and the world is happy...

My battery is having fits right now, and convincing Sears that a 6 month old Diehard should NOT read 11.6vdc after being parked for 8 hours is proving to be a pain!

Vince

 

 

A run to 5k sounds like FUN, especially in 6th. However, there is the matter of the ticket, 64 in a 55 zone (kindly reduced down from 74mph), I got a couple of weeks ago to consider (G).

 

I sure wish it would act up more frequently (did I really just say that?) as it would likely make the diagnosis much easier.

 

That's why I have several traffic attorneys in my smart phone....
What speeding tickets?

 

Do you have it on a Ctek when car is garaged? If you only drive it 10-15 minutes a month the battery is probably the culprit.

 

The car is my daily driver so it is driven on a very regular basis. The 10-15 minutes I referred to was simply the chain of events leading up to the problem. I get in the car, drive for 10-15 minutes, stop for 10 minutes or so and then get back in the car and the problem is present. The problem only happens roughly once a month while the driving for 10-15 minutes and stopping for 10 minutes might happen every day.

I have had the XK for 2.5 years and have never needed a ctec, at least I never thought I did, due to the car being my daily driver. I do double lock it whenever I get out.

 

The easiest thing to do is check the battery voltage. As we all know anything lest then 12.6V +/- may contribute to problems. Also a 10-15 minute trip will not put in a sufficient charge to the battery. The alternators primary purpose is to keep the electronics of the car working at their required voltage levels and the secondary purpose is to supply charge to the battery.

 

It is the battery! Battery first, always, with these beautiful cars.

 

 

Paul,

I see you'd already tried to fix the thread title typo.



Took me two attempts to fix your "rought" idle.

Graham