Over the last two or three weeks I've experienced some unexpected glitches including all four TPMS sensors going off (disappeared and corrected itself on its own after about 5 days), front driver's side parking aid sensor ringing a constant beep as if I'd hit something, every time I put car into reverse (still happening and very annoying), but this afternoon's glitch really has me scratching my head. I was leaving a jobsite about 2:30pm, and when I started the car I noticed that my screen looked different than usual. There were white blank spots on the menu (left side where audio, climate, phone, navigation etc. tabs are located) and in the center of the screen as well. It took me a minute to realize that the climate tab and the temperature columns were missing from the screen and were simply white rectangles. First I tried restarting the car, same result. Secondly, I went to vehicle settings, preferences....seeing if maybe I had inadvertently pressed something, and finally I thought maybe I had pressed the valet setting and that maybe it locked the temperature controls. There were also some white rectangles (mssing tabs on the preference setting page as well). I started and restarted the car at least a dozen times with no effect. Oh well, called my mechanic and told him I'd be bringing in the XKR in the morning. And by the way, even though there was no climate page or display, my a/c was running and blowing cold air throughout the time. I drove back toward home, stopped at our offices for about 15 minutes, and when I came out and started the car, everything was back to normal, blank spots now filled in and functional on both the menu and display preferences pages.

Fascinating!

 

Your car is no longer any good, you need to sell it quickly. Luckily, I will take it off your hands, but since it is problem plagued, I am only able to offer $10,000.

For some reason, I don't think you will accept my 'generous' offer.

 

Cee Jay,
I'll take it, you can pick it up on Christmas Day, 2025. It's funny, on my 2002 XKR (as you know since I see you had a first generation XK) I got used to the ASC/Traction control warnings going off on a regular basis, and that was the majority of the electronic glitches. On my 2010, at least over the past couple of weeks, you just never know what to expect each time you turn it on.

Next mod is new pulley and then tune. Next time I go out on a run with the F-type R guys, I've got to out horsepower them.

 

Symptoms you describe sounds like a battery issue.

 

I would tend to agree on the battery. I would be inclined to give it a full overnight charge first and also check the ground points and main positive terminals.

 

Just curious. When you were starting and stopping the car did you ever get out and lock the car to actually shut down the electronics? When my screen "acts up" that is more of a reboot than just restarting the car.

 

old_dawg,
The first few times I restarted the car I just turned it off and then started it again. Then I reasoned, like you, that maybe I should lock and then unlock from the key fob, which I did several times with no effect.

Obviously, I own three Jaguars, the battery is always the first suspect, and I haven't had a chance to check it yet since this all happened late yesterday afternoon, and I was just too busy. However, the battery is less than 6months old and I drive at least 60 miles a day, so it has plenty of time to recharge. I will check it today just to make sure.

 

Your symptoms are one of the many that the touch screen can exhibit. Exactly the same thing has happened to my '07 a few times. I presume a module doesn't get the required power or signals so hangs.

It stays that way until the car comes out of convenience mode. Locking the car for 5 mins or so is the fastest way to achieve that otherwise it can take around 30 mins if left unlocked.

 

"battery is always the first suspect," "I drive at least 60 miles a day, so it has plenty of time to recharge."


Jaguars and batteries drive me NUTS. Is it possible that our alternators while working properly, are not able to top off our battery like a trickle charger does. High end trickle chargers step down in stages to finish off the charge. Does our alternators do this? I think not. Has this been Jags problem all these years. We all know our Jag batteries need to be at 101% at all times for everything to work properly. Now that my Jags live on trickle chargers and I have few issue's. I cannot tell you how many posts I have read over the years where the car is driven plenty each day to recharge and yet there are battery sounding issue's being experienced.

 

The S-Type alternator does that so I expect your cars do too - see workshop manual as it's detailed there.

 

With much help from my trusted mechanic we surmised that much that was blamed to batteries was in fact an issue in grounding. We discovered 3 grounding points in the car with a loose nut.... leading to erratic and sporadic 'gremlins'. The interesting bit was that afaik those grounding points were not never touched since assembly.
Of course the fix was remove all oxidation, add a lock washer and tighten it up.
My kittycat and i now have rekindled our tight loving bond.
fwiw.

 

Glad to hear you have it sorted and thanks for the update.

Jim.

 

The grounding deficiencies make the most sense to me. Yesterday morning I went out to start my car for the first time in the day, and it was dead, not even the telltale clicking. I went to look for my charger/instant starter, cursing all the way because my trunk was completely full, and of course, I was in a hurry. After looking for a few minutes, I realized I had put it in my daughter's car, and walked back to my XKR in disgust and decided to try it again, hoping Divine intervention would come into play, and what do you know, it started right up as if nothing had happened. Obviously, the battery didn't recharge itself in ten minutes, but me throwing my big body into the front seat may have jiggled a loose ground enough to make a better connection. Just another addition to my "to do" list.

 

Bad grounds seem to be a continuing problems not only with British autos (including Rolls and Bentley), but also many older cars.
Electrical systems used to be quite simple - ignition, lights, generation and AM radio. Ground wires were quite simple also - battery ground, chassis ground and motor ground. Any connection exposed to elements will degrade in time. It makes good sense to clean/sand/etc the connection points from time to time.
Also, consider adding additional ground wires. High end aftermarket audio systems usually require additional grounds; and one can buy just the ground wire quite reasonable. I attached a simple extra ground wire for motor to chassis.

 

Guy:

Can you provide information where the 3 grounding points are located?

Diagrams or images.

 

Of course Richzak,
1. Passenger footwell, against outer body, slightly below dash and close to door.
2. Same in driver's footwell.
3. Underneath rear passenger centre arm rest.

On vacation currently, on my return I'll take pictures.