So I took the car over to a Star Certified Smog Repair center this morning. They're highly recommended and have tons of 5 star ratings. The place looked immaculate. Anyway, they said they'd run diagnostics and get back to me with any questions. I left notes of the things I had done so far. I mentioned that I had read something about a Dept. of Automotive Repair Referee who had the authority to waive smog certifications on a case by case basis. The guy I dealt with said if they couldn't fix whatever was wrong they'd give me a multi page report and the phone number and website of the Referee and I could bring that info to him/her.

Then I get a call late in the morning. It was the guy I left the car with. They were out on a diagnostic drive and sitting at a stop light and got rear ended. Of course I'm thinking "please tell me the car is totaled" but that wasn't the case. He did say there was some damage to the rear bumper and that his boss, the owner, had already contacted his insurance company who was going to cover any costs, they already had the police out at the scene to make a report and had the other party's insurance information. The car was brought over to a body shop they deal exclusively with to check on the damage and make any necessary repairs. Once they get it back they'll continue diagnostics, probably Wednesday or Thursday.

And the hits keep right on coming.

 

Unbelievable! Glad the damage wasn't worse.

As Y2KJag noted, your LTFTs are somewhat high negative, which means the ECM is reducing fueling because it interprets a slightly rich condition. Off the top of my head, some of the common causes of rich running or the ECM interpreting rich running are an obstructed air filter or air intake, dirty or failing MAFS, dirty throttle body, leaking fuel injectors, excessively high fuel pressure (perhaps due to a stuck fuel pressure regulator), an out-of-range or slow-to-respond coolant temperature sensor, stuck-open coolant thermostat, etc., or some combination of the above.

Cheers,

Don

 

HI Don,

I see what you're saying. The LTFT numbers from the earlier test were much lower, right at -2.3. I'm not sure why the drive caused them to go up so high, or would that be down so low?

In any case I'll probably hear back later today or tomorrow from the shop it's at.

 

Sorry about your XK8 getting rear-ended. Maybe it shook up your readiness monitors and caused them to cooperate with you now.

I recently had to disconnect the negative battery cable in my 1999 Ram in order to install a new multifunction switch on the steering column. After installing the new switch and reconnecting the battery cable, it took me less than 20 miles of normal driving to properly reset all six readiness monitors. Now THAT is how ALL of these OBDII vehicles should behave....

 

Hey Jon,

I should be so lucky. We'll see. I got a text today from the shop telling me the car is still at the body shop. At this point all I can do is wait.

Makes you wonder why all OBD2 cars DO NOT behave like that.

 

It's not OBD2 that's your problem. It's the kitbashing of marginally compatible parts that is causing your issues. In old school terms, it's like putting a 2 barrel carb on an 8 cylinder 4 barrel intake on your straight 6 and wondering why it won't work.

 

They do if they're properly working.

Yours sounds to have been badly treated/repaired, unfortunately.

 

While I'm not familiar with the term "kitbashing" I'll assume it has something to do with using non compatible parts on a car. I'm not sure what "marginally compatible parts" you're referring to. While I'll agree that someone has been working on this car who was perhaps not an expert in the area of XK8, or perhaps Jaguars in general, the parts that appear to have been worked on or replaced look to be proper Jaguar parts. Could you please let me know which parts you believe are "marginally compatible"?

Your analogy doesn't make any sense to me. No one would attempt or be able to install a 2 barrel carburetor on a "8 cylinder 4 barrel intake" manifold. It clearly would not fit. The same goes for the v8 intake manifold onto a straight 6 engine, it obviously will not fit. I see no indication of someone putting a part that does not fit onto this car. If you're referring to what appears to be the Transmission Control Module and Engine Control Module they are both plugged into the original cables. If it turns out that these are "marginally compatible" or non compatible parts and the source of the problem of not being able to reset the CAT monitor why would a company build a module that is not compatible with one model yet give it the exact same plug as that model? Especially if this module is part of a highly complicated computer system. Also, if these parts are the source of the problem then it is exactly the Onboard Diagnostic system that is the problem. These 2 parts are central to the OBD system.

 

With any luck the folks at the smog shop will either figure it out or give me a report stating that it can not be repaired that I can take to the BAR Referee. But Mike thinks the OBD2 is not the problem.

 

Emissions and fuel economy regulations change from year to year, and software-related performance issues are sometimes identified, so automakers often update the firmware in modules to meet the new, stricter standards or to resolve performance issues. Also, vehicle optional components vary, and laws vary from country to country, so automakers program modules to work with installed options or to meet the standards in a specific country or region. These updated or other-market modules will connect to the harnesses in earlier or later or other-market cars, but may not be fully compatible with those models. If the TCM and/or ECM installed in your car is not programmed with fully-compatible firmware, this could be at least part of your problem.

Cheers,

Don

 

I'm guessing the only way to find out if they have the right firmware is to go to a Jaguar dealership.

 

Good luck with that. The dealerships couldn't give a flying s**t about these cars.

 

Yep. My local dealer told me that they do not service any cars over 10 years old.

 

VCATS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

OK, so I'm trying to find a .pdf file similar to the one you posted here, but for my car.

file:///C:/Users/Dell/Downloads/418-03AM%20VCATS%20Compatibility.pdf

I found this, https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/t...aguar/xk8/2001 But I can't find the actual bulletins. Again, my apologies for my lack of internet knowledge.

 

Gus has all these TSBs on his site.

Here is 418-03am

 

Would I be able to get Gus' ID or contact info?

 

jagrepair.com

 

So it looks like my "VCATS" info from the TCM and ECM that are in my car would be:
ECM - LNG141OBD or LNG1410BD
TCM - LJE2401AB

In looking at this thread, https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...s-codes-72283/ , there is a photo of the label in the trunk of member/ADMIN GGG's 2000 XK8 showing these same identifiers for the ECM and TCM in that car.

My car is still at the body shop being repaired from the accident after which it will go back to the smog shop for continued diagnosis. I'm going to ask one of them to send me a photo of the label from my car and see what the VCATS listed are supposed to be.

 

The SUFFIX for LJE2401AB/XXX and LNG1410BD/XXX is the software to be concerned with as well as the part number.