Last week, I noticed a scraping sound coming from one of my wheels, increasing with speed and always upon braking or turning to the right but not to the left. The sound was very much like that of worn brakes (calipers) scraping rotors. The other interesting thing that happened was that my rear driver's side wheel turned brown! Not feeling that was a coincidence, I took the car over to my mechanic, pulled the wheel and found that the hub (which had been replaced a couple of months ago with a used one when the rear wheel bearing had been replaced) was damaged.

The hub was replaced again, but as soon as I picked up the car a whole Christmas tree's worth of warning lights came onto the dash. The obvious ones,
ABS/Traction Control, and the not so obvious ones, Transmission Fault, Check Engine light, Air Bag....I was not very happy. As I hadn't even left the lot, we reset everything, but upon starting the car all the warning lights returned. We figured the rear speed sensor was damaged and as the shop was closing for the evening, I decided I would bring the car back in the morning, we would scan the codes, and deal with the findings. Unfortunately, the next morning a very close family member passed away, and I couldn't get back. That was Saturday, the warning lights were still on through Sunday and Monday (as I couldn't get back), and yesterday, all warning lights magically disappeared, all of them including the check engine light. I drove the car during the day, started and stopped many times, absolutely no warnings again.

Does the computer have a learning feature related to warnings that takes a certain amount of miles to integrate? Or what explains this?

 

I had a similar thing happen with my daughters car when I replaced the rear hub. Not as many lights, but a few lingered then disappeared shortly after (I think ABS, XYZ)

Also, maybe your door or ignition were on for an extended period of time at the mechanic, leaving the battery flat until you drove it and charged? Those would be my initial thoughts.

 

Random unexpected/illogical error messages are very often the result of a partially discharged battery.

Graham

 

I had an odd collection of gremlins on and off, but getting worse over the months. Turns out that the mechanic had not tightened the battery lead and it was working loose. I don't know how it started so reliably every morning. So I think the comments about a slightly drained battery could be germane to your problem.

 

That would have been my thought (about the battery), but they never really even opened the car door. They had the car on a jack stand to pull the wheel. And it was only there for four or five hours of one day. And my mechanic said that when they finished, he did not see any warnings. I'm not complaining about not having any warning lights, but I'm just confused about how they disappear. I'm used to having ABS/Traction Control lights disappear on occasion, but a check engine light? I thought that once it's on, there is no way to go off without a reset.

I figured that since (as I previously said) my wheel turned almost completely brown (I would assume from heat), that maybe the sensor had also been coated or destroyed by the residue and that its condition was causing the faults. We actually went ahead and ordered a new sensor, I just didn't get a chance to get back to the shop because of the two funerals I had to arrange within 48 hours. And then, everything disappeared and was back to normal.

Ghost of Lucas Electronics Past?

 

Tberg I feel for ya man, you have had your share of problems, may the new year bring warm nights and topless drives.

 

Jandreu,
You know I've had every one of the well known XK/XKR issues in the 100,000 miles that I've driven the car (about 160,000 miles with the p.o.'s 60,000), and I would still say it's the most enjoyable automobile i've ever owned. In 5 years of ownership, I would guess that I've had the top down every day except for maybe three dozen days. I love what it looks like (more than my 2010XKR), I love what it represents in the Jaguar heritage, it's even a great cruiser for long distances (I drove it 700 miles in one day a couple of weeks ago). Is it flawless?
Are you kidding!! But, I just love it, nevertheless.