My search for a good '04 XK8 convertible continues...

Found what seems to be a good one, and I've got the complete service history. Generally it looks good - except that the drivers door latch has been replaced four times (approx once every 12 months) for the last four years!

Dealer records show various issues reported under warranty each time associated with the latch (most of which are described here - not closing, randomly locking/unlocking, window misbehaving - but not the same each time).

I'm wondering - given that the same dealer (highly rated online) has not managed to permanently fix this (though it's ok at the moment), do you think it's certain to come back? Can anyone suggest something else that's causing it? (though I'm guessing it was fixed each time they fitted a new latch).

It hardly makes the car a lemon, but I can see that this could get mighty annoying!!

-Steve

 

I'd call the dealer service dept. and ask them. Many times there is a particular customer issue... i.e. uh, let's just call it a 'peculiar' customer. Four handles on one car? They probably remember it well.

 

Mishandling by the current owner might be the reason as noted above.

But, it is also a convertible. Is body flex causing this?

 

Could be the old Ya yanked it too hard. However, if other door stuff acts up, I would recommend checking the ground connections. If the grounds aren't good then when you push one button, it gets its ground through another device and stuff goes nuts. Most door stuff is hot and connects to the ground to work. Other stuff like lights are grounded and then you hook up the hot for them to work. Look for your grounds on the driver's side "A" piller. Clean 'em up.

This is the way that those blinking marker lights on GM cars worked. The side marker lights don't have a ground. One wire goes to the marker light circuit and the other goes to the turn light circuit. The low wattage marker blub goes through the front and taillights for ground when they are off for turns and when they are on uses the turn light's ground to run as marker lights. When the turn light comes on at the same time as the marker lights, the side markers go off.

 

They were just great for turning out into traffic from driveways. Thanks for the reminder of the exact method they used. Now, as long as there is no bulb minder circuit to get in the way ...

 

Funny you should mention this now, just yesterday I just noticed something odd about my 1993 Silverado which has blinking side markers. They flash in an ALTERNATING SEQUENCE (blinking) to the front turn signals when the headlights or parking lights are off. But they flash in the SAME SEQUENCE as the front turn signals when you put on either the parking or headlights.

Now I know why.