Dear Jaguar Enthusiasts,
I am diagnosing an ABS, Trac, ASC intermittent on my 2002 XKR. Driving into a left turn will trigger the fault. Stopping and restarting the engine will clear the fault until the next left turn. The wiring harnesses to the front wheel speed sensors have been repaired years ago. The ABS pump control module was repaired years ago.
My Jag Dealership diagnosed a faulty left front wheel speed sensor. Does this make sense?
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Stefan

 

How is the play? IOW are the wheel bearings solid? I ask because i dealt with this on a rear wheel.

 

What is the OBDII code?

I have never had an intermittently-failing wheel speed sensor. It either works or it doesn't (and throws the associated code). Have you tried scrubbing it with dish soap and a toothbrush?

More likely that your wiring harness has developed another split or crack somewhere....

 

Thanks much for your replies. My Jag Dealer assured me that they checked the wheel bearings and the wiring. They described the issue as no signal from the left front ABS sensor, which I presume is C1155 or C1233. Regretfully, my Jag Dealership did not give me the error code. The symptoms I described (i.e. a left turn causing the fault) are very consistent. Do I need to drive a long straight line (> 2 min) to confirm?

I found a wide range of suppliers for the sensor with prices ranging from $20 to $240 for the OEM Jag part. Does it make sense to consider the lower priced offerings?

Thanks
Stefan

 

I have always purchased aftermarket wheel speed sensors at a significant savings and have had no issues with them....

 

Stephan, the wheel sensor reads 100% of the time. The fact that left turns cause the issue begs for further focus.

S. Could the wire just be restricted? Left turn stretches / opens the connection? Nothing changes between parts of the sensor on the hub.

John

 

+1. A wheel speed sensor will only fail in a turn when the wheel bearing is failing. I don't think this has ever been reported for a front wheel. Despite what your dealer is telling you it's probably a connection or wire problem

 

Thanks all for your excellent suggestions. I'll let you know what I find.

 

If you can get the wire sensor plug off at the carrier (you may not even need to jack the car up), release the wire harness from the zips that hold it to the control arm for added wire length... With a small pick, try and prize back the lil rubber insert boots that seal the wire inside of the plug. Don't poke holes in it please...

I did this and inside it looked like the train station locker from the movie Men in Black inside, lol... All kinds of crusty critters in there. All it takes is a little bit of water to settle in there and it will corrode the contacts and change the resistance values of the connection. Reinstalling the lil rubber bit can be fun, lol. Use a little bit of liquid oil, just a drop, and use some kind of a poker to jib jab the little rubber boots back in place. You can also take some kind of a split tubular thing to go around the wire allowing you to push on all sides of the little rubber boot as you push it back into the top of the plug. This might be the issue, might not be.

 

LOL, I did.

 

All,
Here are my findings: The wheel sensor checked out ok, as expected: 1 kOhms resistance and it generates ~0.5V AC when rotating the wheel by hand. The problem was at the wiring as you suspected. The white wire was broken off inside the connector and still provided some contact depending on the strain on the cable. When contact was made, the resistance across the brown and white wires was ~8.5MOhms. It does not seem that the connector can be repaired, since it cannot be opened.
Thanks,
Stefan

 

I'll replace the connector following the suggestions in: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...re-fix-114732/

 

Yup. I was a mix of angry happy when I finally did the right thing and dug a bit into the connector itself. I've been free of abs issues since EXCEPT, lol, and it's always been this way,,, when I hit my Trac Control button on the dash the car goes bizerk. Car stays running but rpms (gauge) drops to ZERO,,, low brake fluid light comes on red light and the message on the instrument cluster,,, gear box fault,,,, engine failsafe message and rough running... This is on the 2002 xk8. I have NO idea why. I turn off the car, restart, and it's like nothing ever happened - happy motoring. No idea. These cars! Anyone have any ideas I'm allllllllllll ears. I have been tempted to put a "DO NOT PUSH THIS BUTTON" sign on the Trac button just for fun

Thanks for that link! It's a good one!

 

Hi All,
Problem solved. The PT187 connector works great. I soldered the wires and put shrink wrap and silicon tape around.
Thanks,
Stefan

PS: No idea what causes the Trac Control issues. A current leak?

 

Stephan, its been my experience that the error shows when the car can't read or reconcile a wheel's speed sensor value. Intermittent signal (really bad bearing), no signal (open wire, dirty sensor), wheel reads to be spinning at a rate that can't be reconciled with vehicle speed + the other 3 wheels readings.

I'm sure there's other reasons I don't know, but I hope that helps with your question.
John

 

I am getting the ABS/traction light on my 2003 XKR but only under hard acceleration, it goes away when the ignition is switched off and on, no codes showing, I have had all the sensors off and cleaned them, wheel bearings are all fine, any thoughts on this one guys?

 

Probably deteriorating wiring harnesses on the two front wheel speed sensors. Inspect them for cracks and splits. Neutral-based RTV can be used to seal up those cracks in many cases and get them working properly again. I did this fix years ago and it has held up quite well. My harnesses were cracking in the area where the harness enters the wheel speed sensor. I cleaned the area, built up a marble-sized glob of RTV around that wheel speed sensor boot, and let everything cure for at least 24 hours before driving the car....

 

Awesome! Glad you figured it out. I think many of the times problem may be with/in the connector, right at the sensor.

And Yeah, I have no idea what it is either. Beyond my 'skill' set,,,which is a smallllll set, lol.