hello, I was hoping for some advice from you knowledgeable people on here, I have a 1999 xkr. yesterday the gearbox fault message appeared and the car stays in one gear. Im not sure if it is related but shortly before i noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the side of the bonnet (hood) and when investigating found a wiring loom in a kind of silver metallic sheath on the rear of the engine resting on the exhaust, does anyone know what this goes to. probably not related but I also think i may have a small oil leak somewhere at the front of the engine, any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

 

1.Check ATF level.
2.Repair wires. Cut insulation and check.
I bought S-type very cheap with "bad transmission", it turned out to be a broken wire!

 

You are limited to 1 gear in LIMP mode, allowing you to limp to a safe point off the road. I would first unwrap that sheaf of wires and check for burnt and damaged insulation. Most likely that set of wires runs from the TCM (transmission control module) to the ECM (engine control module and since they are not communicating the transmission is in limp mode.

 

Thanks for the advice guys, just to update I measured the battery voltage after a week of the car standing, before start it was 11.5V and after running the car for 15mins it was reading 12.5V but dropped to about 12.2 within a few minutes, also I still have the Trac and stability messages but not the gearbox fault. It now shows restricted performance instead, do you think this could be the battery? also what i thought was a loom against the exhaust shield turned out to be the vacuum pipe from the servo, this seems to be ok. Do you think that if the battery is faulty it could affect the performance of the car?

 

11.5 is essentially dead.
12.2 is dire.

It MIGHT recover but don't expect it to.

Can you not fit a ctek-type device?

A low battery tends to cause many faults.

 

Thank you, I thought as much, just wanted confirmation from someone knowledgeable! Im looking at batteries now, the one fitted has a Jaguar sticker on it so its probably a genuine one, Its a 90AH 800AMP spec, it also has RC150 mins on it but im not sure what this means. I am looking at an Exide Excell battery which is 95AH and 800AMP do you think this would be a suitable replacement?

 

Sounds OK.

The old one may have a date code - often on one of the terminals.

The new one may well need a long charge - despite what they often say they're commonly not fully charged.

 

 

just an update, fitted a 900A 100AH Exide battery and all faults have now gone, thank you for your advice.

 

New batteries often resolve a number of pesky issues with these cars. Not at all surprising since they are essentially rolling computers....

 

Allan, A new Exide sometimes solves all problems! Sometimes...……..

Billy Clyde