Hey guys,

2003 Jaguar XKR, got the infamous cruise not available and check rear lights warnings. Did some research on the forums and came up with it must be the brake light switch. ...

I replaced the brake light switch, check rear lights is gone but cruise not available is still there. Any ideas?


Thanks for any help
--Ryan

 

Does FWD alert work ? Is the red LED on ? My switch was faulty & caused the cruise not to work.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

It looks like the problem was the FWD alert switch, I think it was just stuck half way in. I'm not 100% sure it's fixed, I've only driven it twice for 15 minutes each time since I've messed with the switch (but it was coming on in 5 mins or less and I haven't seen it). If it comes back on I will post back.

Cheers
--Ryan

 

No probs......Mine was the same symptoms...i removed the switch from the kick panel and got her in doors to take it apart and clean it, has been fine ever since.
Amazing how much paience women have......personally i would have trod on it 60secs in to the taking it apart bit !! TS

 

Remarkable.

My wife has previously lent a hand with removing engines and cylinder heads and is pedal pusher for brake bleeding but I hadn't thought of delegating small component cleaning to her ....... yet!

Graham

 

When we had to change out the faulty brake pedal switch in my wife's XK8 in October 2012, I took the drivers seat out and had her upside-down in the floorboard, feeding the new switch into place up and against the firewall while I stood over the engine bay and grabbed the two bolt posts on the switch assembly as she finally worked it into proper position and pushed the posts through their holes. Without her help, it would have taken me hours to do this repair. Of course, it was her car so she was more than willing to help. Had it been my Ram or S-Type, she would have been protesting throughout the entire ordeal....

The best part was as we did this repair outside on the driveway to take advantage of better sunlight, a neighbor walked by getting his afternoon exercise, saw my wife's bare legs (she was wearing shorts) sticking up in the air out of the cabin (I had the top down to give us more working room) with me bending over the engine bay next to her, and excitedly yelled out "Wow! I need to try that with Sherry!"....

Ever since that day, whenever he walks by and I'm outside working on the XK8, he always smiles and gives me a thumbs up....

 

Okay I give up--what is FWD?

By the way, for several days I had the check rear lights and cruise not available message pop up. As an experiment I kept trying to engage the cruise control and sometimes it worked, sometimes it worked for a brief while, and sometimes not at all.

I was planning to bring the car in to check out the brake pedal switch but then just as suddenly as the problem showed up it completely went away. It has been a month or so now and there has been NO problem using cruise control nor any warning messages--weird.

Doug

 

Hey Doug, FWD=Forward, so forward alert system. It's engaged via a small button located to the lower left of the steering column, next to the valet button. Basically alerts you if it thinks you're getting too close to the car in front of you.. I personally find it annoying.. But I digress. Check and see if this is maybe partially engaged.

 

I do not have such a button nor have I ever heard of a forward alert system on these cars. The closest thing I have heard of is the adaptive cruise control which has buttons on the steering wheel in the same area as the cruise control buttons.

Doug

 

Oh yes it does !!!!! Has a red LED on it aswell.... and it sticks when it gets old.....and it messes up your cruise control when it sticks. Personally i think it's annoying but have to admit it's saved me a couple of times.

 

Could you take a photo to show what I should be looking for? I have the valet button but have never found any other buttons near this and I don't believe I have seen a reference to anything like this in my Driver's Manual. Could it have been some Europe-only feature?

MYSTERY SOLVED--this was apparently an add-on feature for vehicles that had the optional Adaptive Cruise Control fitted.


Doug

 

Ahhh....I have the red LED. always thought some previous owner had added an aftermarket alarm at some point. So what part is it, that is located in the kick panel? ALSO....how do you activate or de-activate it ?


This is all very interesting to me because I haven't addressed my "cruise not available/check rear lights" message yet. I ordered a brake light switch, but the car has been being stored for the winter and haven't installed it yet.

 

The attached picture is the best I could find online. Note the red arrow. This is obviously a RHD car, so look to the left of your steering wheel if your car is LHD. It will be right next to the valet button. If you don't have the option fitted, you will see a blank filler there with little vents in it.

It is activated/deactivated by simply pushing the button; the red LED indicator on the button itself will tell you if it's engaged or not, and you'll also see a message indicating that it's been activated or not. If this switch sticks, as others have mentioned, it can mess with your cruise control.

The purpose of the Forward Collision Warning system is to alert you when the gap between your car and the car in front of you is narrowing too quickly, either due to their braking or your acceleration. If it senses this gap is closing too quickly, a red light will flash on the instrument panel and an audible warning will sound. The audible warning is sounded at varying degrees of loudness depending upon the sensed severity of the situation. The brakes are also pre-charged to allow for maximum stopping power when they are applied.

Pretty sophisticated technology if you ask me, considering when our cars were developed (I think Delphi pioneered the system in 1999 with Jaguar). Especially considering its only now beginning to trickle down to "regular" cars in 2013/2014.

 

Hmmm...weird! I have a LHD '01 XK8. I DO have the vent (and not the dark switch). HOWEVER my LED is mounted in the square vent !!!


So...back to my original speculation that it was an aftermarket add-on....


I'll get a pic posted in 24 hours or so...for help with further deduction


PS, my LED is of an aftermarket appearance, in that it protrudes from the small square vent insert panel a fraction of an inch and is NOT integral (flush-or- recessed) to the panel (or would be switch), like all the other LED's on the other controls.

 

Chapter 4 - 36, 37 covers this subject...
Jaguar XK owners handbook.zip
TS

 

See my post today on this issue and the fix

 

So what do you guys deduce from this pic (in regards to my LED)?

 

I would pull the lower balustrade and see where the wires go, this is obviously something someone installed, maybe tied to valet to remind them it was on, though I believe the Dash will indicate this.