2006 XK8 with 123,456 miles....


The last couple of times I have taken the car out for its 20-mile exercise jaunts, the amber DSC fault message has randomly appeared on the dash. Pulling over, shutting the engine off for 20 seconds, restarting the engine, and driving away always cleared the message so I figured it was time to pull and clean all four wheel speed sensors (which I probably have not done in 2 to 3 years). Sure enough, both front sensors had tiny spider webs tightly spun into their crevices. Both rear sensors were slightly dirty but I do not believe they were compromised enough to cause any issues....

I scrubbed the exterior all four sensors with an old toothbrush and dish soap, disconnected them from their wiring harnesses and sprayed their connectors with electrical contact cleaner, sprayed all four reluctor rings with brake cleaner, and visually examined the condition of all four wiring harnesses (they all looked good with no visible breaks or cracks in their insulation). I then put everything back together and took the car for a typical 20-mile run. Voila - no more random DSC warning lights on the dash....

Kudos to Reverend Sam for posting his video showing how he cleaned his 2003 XK8 wheel speed sensors more than a decade ago. Looks like I need to do it more often (especially when the spiders are active in our neck of the woods)....