Good Morning from Richmond Va,
I have a 2003 XKR that has been sitting in my garage the last 2 months. I decided to drive it to work today because the weather is nice in Richmond. The car started fine but when I went to put the car in reverse the shifter would not move. I then noticed that the driving lights were out, seat heater did not work, turn signals and wipers also did not work.I turned off the engine and removed the key from the ignition. I then re-inserted the key and the car started and everything worked fine. I drove the car to work (35 miles) I noticed about half way there that the turn signals weren't working. They were working for the first half of the drive. When I arrived to work I verified that the driving lights were out, seat heater did not work and wipers did not work. I believe this is a problem with the ignition switch, has anybody else had this problem before? Thanks, Kevin Wells

 

Hi Kevin-

Welcome to the forum.

These cars are prone to lots of strange unrelated problems if the battery is low on charge, which might be the case after sitting for two months.

Somewhat counter-intuitively, the car may still start without a problem.

You might get away with it self-recharging with a couple of additional 35 mile trips.

You also may need to disconnect the battery for a couple of minutes and then reconnect it to reset the internal computers which may be in a corrupted state from being exposed to the low voltage.

 

get the battery load tested at any local car parts place, many can do it with the battery still in the car. The car sitting that long in this cold winter if the batt is old it will make the various electric stuff act funny as hell. Your issues are all that and some specially if it was fine when you parked it. The car can start just fine with a weak battery but if the volts are not up to snuff you get the issues you have.
I would get the battery looked at. Prob time to replace.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I will disconnect the battery and connect a charger to it overnight to give it a full charge. Hopefully this solves the problem.

 

it prob will fix your issues but if it is weak still, you could see sporadic issues. Just had my batt checked after some odd ball stuff. It had a GOOD reading but was not fully charged (I have been driving my car) and the voltage and CCA was down. The batt was also 5 years old so that combo most likely is my issue.

 

Update. I replaced the battery and still have the problem. I did some more trouble shooting and have some more details of the problem. Noticed the headlights start blinking off and on and then just stay off (not a great feeling when driving at night). The turn signals stop working. Wipers don't work. Interior courtesy light don't work. The parking lights don't work. The heated seats don't work and the top won't go up or down. If I turn off the engine and remove the key and then insert the key and start the car everything works again. I saw one post the said the blinking lights and turn signal problem had something to do with bad soldier joints in the turn signal lever. Would that also cause all the other problems? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

There are are a few power connections in the car that have been known to cause issues. Since the problem effects so many different devices, I would lean toward this.

1. Remove each battery lug and squeeze each crimp on the cable with a small vise a large pair of vise grips. Esp. on 2003 and later models this crimp can become intermittent after several years.

2. With the battery disconnected check that the megafuses behind the spare tire are bolted in tightly,

3. At each fusebox there is a positive lead bolted to the fusebox. Make sure non of them have loosened, again with battery disconnected for safety.

 

Holy crap! I didn't know there were any other members here in virginia!

 

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Yep - Midlothian Virginia. My youngest son is graduating that weekend so I won't be able to make to get together (sounds like fun). Not sure the car would be ready for that road trip yet.

I have not have the time yet to tighten the power connections (been out of town and will be for another week). I did order some Di-Electric cleaner and grease to use when I check the connections. I also plan to removed fuse box behind the spare tire and check it for cracks. Hopefully get this fixed soon, the weather is too nice not have the XKR out with the top down.

 

Update: I disconnected and cleaned the 4 power connections to the 2 fuse boxes under the hood and the 2 in each side of the dashboard. I sprayed Di-Electric grease on each connection before righting them down. None of these connections were loose or corroded so I don't think these connection were the problem.

I disconnected all the cables from the fuse box in the trunk behind spare tire and removed it. I did not notice any corrosion but did notice that each of the 4 studs were loose. Each stud is a bolt with a nut holding it in place and this is what was loose. I cleaned everything and connected-tightened everything back together (used Di-Electric grease). I have put close to 100 miles on the car and have not had any problems (could not go 5 miles without a problem before ) yet!

 

congratulations on fixing your problem!!!

 

Congrats on getting this sorted.

 

Congrats to WhiteXKR for diagnosing the problem.

 

Good Work dawells1 - from a fellow Virginian

 

I figure I should post an update since the problem came back again. I finally took it to the dealer and they resolved the problem. Turns out the Security Locking Module was bad. They don't make new ones anymore so it had to be rebuilt ($635.00). The problem has finally been resolved.

 

Ouch!