OK, now I have my own strange story. Was driving my 2006 XK8 south on a trip to do my family duty taking care of my elderly mother post-surgery. Doing approximately 72 MPH on I-85, about 300 miles into the trip, and the car stalled. Dash lit up more than my daughter's christmas tree. Coasted to the shoulder and stopped the car. My UltraGauge was connected, had been reading 14.56 volts and between 185 and 195 degrees for the whole trip. After the problem I read a P1638 code. Car started right back up and just had the check engine light, which I cleared (took two tries). Drove the rest of the way, about 300 more miles, and no more problems. Luckily I had just had the emissions test done, since my readiness codes are now cleared too. When I parked at my parents' house, I noticed the driver's side headlight lens had shattered sometime on the trip. I never heard anything hit the car, and there isn't an obvious chip or impact point on the lens, which is still in place, but looks like my young daughter's iPhone screen after she has dropped it a few times.

I don't see any way the shattered lens can be related to the engine stall and P1638 code. Unless someone has a great suggestion I am going to wait and see if the code reappears (and hopefully after I get home, and the IDS I had already ordered off of ebay gets there) before doing too much diagnostic work. So the other problem...is there a replacement headlight lens that is less prone to shattering? Does anyone have any comments on the different headlight protection films or covers on the market?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

 

1638 I think is CAN bus error at the instrument cluster, which would explain why the stall. What caused it of course is the million dollar question. Could be a strange voltage spike or other electrical anomaly. I doubt it has anything to do with the headlight glass, particularly if the glass is still in-tact essentially, and presumably nothing (no water) got inside.

There have been rare reports of lose connections at the main 600 amp fuse block in the trunk behind the spare tire, and an occaisional re-crimp of the battery terminal ends, I think particulary the ground cable. I think the crimp issue was causing intermittent "dead" upon turning of the key to start, so that could be the same as your issue. The fuse block connection as I recall was seen as headlight brightness fluctuation, flicker.

 

Also, just to be safe, if you decide to check the fuse block connection, don't put a socket on the nuts until you pull the positive battery terminal first.