Hi,
I'm hoping someone can offer some insight; here's the context and issue:

1999 XK8 coupe, was in winter storage since late October (yes we have long #$%#@%@#$ing winters where I am) with a trickle charger on battery till ~end of April (I disconnected it once weather warmed up, then we got blasted with more snow and ended up delayed till now so trickle charger has been disconnected for ~6 weeks or so). I also ended up ordering a headliner which took two months to arrive from the UK. Anyways..

I finally got around to ending the hibernation this weekend. At one point I tripped the alarm system, hit the unlock button on the fob and it quit. In my excitement I forgot I had taken the trickle charger off it weeks ago, and everything worked fine as soon as i connected the battery (ie nothing unusual indicated low charge), including starting up right off the bat. I let it idle and warm up and then, finally, with snow-free, freshly cleaned streets beckoning me from just beyond my garage door......... the shifter would not move out of park.

Knowing how finicky they are about electrical, I threw the trickle charger (I don't have an actual charger) on overnight, till it showed full charge, then hooked it up the next day but still stuck in park.

Currently: It will start up fine. No error messages or codes. Fob locks/unlocks and opens trunk as usual. Brake lights come on when I touch the pedal. The oddities, however are: no chirping with the lock/unlock (although lights flash once or twice as they would in sync with the chirp). Windows lower when the doorhandles are pulled up, but don't raise up again upon closing the door. No interior or trunk lights come on when doors / trunk lid open (except the lower corner light on interior of doors do come on).

I've found several posts about the shifter solenoid needing replacement, and/or the cable coming detached, and/or the brake pedal switch being shot, as well as temporarily unlocking shifter underneath torx screw.

Wondering if this is related to either: the alarm system? Or, battery actually isn't fully charged in which case I'll try boosting it with my truck??

Also worried I may have jammed the fob buttons out of habit, as my daily driver is an older Ranger that requires a bit of abuse to operate properly lol.

Thanks in advance!! The year is half over, would really like to go for a spin!!

 

Don't worry. You should have some help coming soon. You have obviously done a little homework. Let me help where I can. The chirping has not worked on my car since I've owned it (2yrs 2002 XK8). It is a non issue for me but for others it may be a compulsive issue because it doesn't work. There is a control unit in the right wheel well that may be causing the alarm fault with the park solenoid locking and it also does the chirping when locking with the key fob.
Since the battery has been disconnected, you will have to re-teach the power windows. Simply push and hold the down button until you here a light "click" after the window hits bottom. About 1-2 seconds. Do the same thing when raising the window. This will teach the windows where the limits are.
Check out the Youtube videos from a channel called To the Garage. He is an X100 fanatic and posts regular videos about our series of Jags.

 

Greetings Emaychb3,

There are some basics here that all of us, at some time, have learned. Now, it's your turn to learn M. Murphy's First Three Maxims . . . because your car has suffered a sufficiently flat battery that it has become bewildered!

Rule #1 - never, but NEVER, trust either a new battery, or a battery charger / tender to correctly report "fully charged"
Fix - traditional tool is a multi-meter set to 20 Volts, measuring between battery terminals and various points around car. An even smarter fix is the new generation of cigar lighter USB adapter that incorporates a LED voltmeter between the USB ports. Advantage of latter is real time visual prior to start (at least 12.5V), with engine running (14 - 14.5V), then once alternator has fully charged battery (about 13V) Basic multimeter may cost a whopping ten bucks while, for fifteen bucks, I bought half a dozen of the USB voltmeters . . . posted free from China to my home in Australia.

Rule #2 - your windows are confirming loss of memory, and will continue to inch down, with each opening
Fix - sit in your car, with charger on battery. doors closed, drive window fully down (click) then fully up (click). This magic is one of many marvels explained in the Owners Manual (see Stickys)

Rule #3 - When faced with several weird 'faults' simultaneously (and especially after a dead flat battery), develop a plan and keep it simple!
Fix - only test, measure, remove, replace one thing at a time. It is simple logic that, with the exotic electronics in these cars, doing otherwise will quickly confuse you as well as your Jaguar.

So, to your "Stuck In Park" . . .

Great! But that's only one of the prerequisites to the 'Park' solenoid releasing . . . the full sequence is ignition ON; foot-brake ON (check brake lights); listen for CLICK of solenoid at gear lever. Wiring diagram (Stickys again) will be more specific, but I am extrapolating back from my 2004 model and across from my XJ8 Sport of the same year as your XK8.


Let's look at scenarios that are more logical and likely . . .

You hear the Park solenoid click - (forget the brake switch) :
Perhaps the 22 year old lubrication has set like concrete and despite releasing the Park Inhibit lever, that attached to the base of the gear selector is effectively jammed. If so, this will entail you go down from the top, removing the upper illumination plate above the selector mechanism. Not sure if your has the star shaped emergency release plug above the 4,3,2 gate like the XJ8. If so, this will release the selector.

You DO NOT hear the Park solenoid click :
If so, as the brake lights are working, you are looking to trace all wiring connections (using wiring diagram for your MY99 model) that links solenoid to brake switch and ground. Access to the solenoid connector is buried up under the ICE, so let's keep this to last.

Best wishes; report back so we can progress from there.

Cheers

 

Emaychb3,

Thanks for the detailed info on the car. It helps diagnose what could be wrong. First you can drive the car, jamming a screw driver through the hole by the gear stick to release from Park. I did this for a while when I first got my car as I worked to get it “back on the road.”

With this car the first suspect is always the battery esp. considering what happened in your info. Pretty easy to check first at home with a Voltmeter (12.7V is good standing battery voltage) or take it to a garage and they can check both the car battery and the alternator.

I take it you reset the door windows? And then the car forgot the car forgot this setting. That’s always a sign of a weak battery. It could be the solenoid, as you identified, but unlikely to be the brake pedal as you said the brake lights come on.

In my experience of my XK8, all sorts of weird gremlins appear if the battery is low. Almost as if the car computer modules don’t get enough “juice.” The lack of interior lights when you open the car door is one of my symptoms too when my battery was low.

 

Emaychb3,

I'd have to agree that it's a battery / voltage issue. For what it's worth, I live in north central B.C, and store the car in an unheated garage for the 6 months of winter. I leave the battery connected with the trickle charger on it and she fires right up in May with no electrical issues. Even when it's -30 to -40 and I go shovel the snow off the garage roof and check on the car all the lights and door windows work as they should although I never fire her up.

 

Thanks everyone.

I discovered the To the Garage videos, and really is an awesome channel, makes me sad that I found it not long before I decided to sell :/ if only I knew about it 6 years ago. The quirks would've been fun then, rather than delay after delay trying to get to the spring buyer market that I've already missed! Had to wait two months for my headliner to arrive but that's another rant.

So, would the quality of a $20 multimeter from Canadian Tire be good enough? If I override the gearbox lock (via the button under the torx screw on j-gate) and go for a rip for a while, will that charge it up to where it needs to be? Yes I'm being cheap I don't want to buy a charger hahah. I just need to drive it once to take videos/photos Oh, with that override option, are there risks of damaging it when driving? What would speed/distance limitations be? Does putting it in park and shutting it off trigger it into locking again?

The other thing I'm reading up on is the 'intelligent sounder failing. Seems like a straightforward fix, but looks like everyone just disconnects it and leaves it, rather than replacing (why?) even on that To the Garage channel.

Whenever I finally get it out of park, I'll listen for that click sound. But first of all, is it simply a matter of getting the battery charged up, or is the intelligent sounder shot?

@ozbot, that's pretty much the same scenario for me here in the prairies, and never had any issues before. I'm a bit jealous though because you at least have curves/hills to make for a fun driving experience ha!

 

I forgot to ask - this is kind of a stupid question, but - the list of fuses in each fuse box doesn't seem to indicate which physical location in the car each one (in the list) is referring to... I thought that might be a starting point. Any other vehicle I've had simply has a diagram on the underside of the panel cover. Damn gremlins are such a headache!

 

I disconnected the intelligent sounder, started it up and let it idle for 10-15 mins:

-The shifter is still stuck in Park. But, there's ~1/4" play and when I move it slightly back towards R that small amount, the doors auto-lock as normal.
-still, the only interior lights that work are the bottom corner lights on the doors, as well as dash lights. Map lights, under dash lights, mirror lights behind visor, none of those ones work (manual or upon opening door)
-the steering wheel auto setting works for about the first 25% range of movement that it normally does; manually trying to adjust it will sometimes cause a 1/4" jittery motion. Shutting her down, the steering wheel then returns all the way up and back.
-the garage door opener button does work properly.
-inside trunk lights don't work.
-seat adjustments still work as normal.

I re-set the windows, and it does remember it now. Even after I shut it off, the windows raise back up when closing the door.

One last thing I forgot to mention before, the first time I fired it up after winter storage, the steering wheel did auto-adjust to my pre-set position; I think that was before I accidentally tripped the alarm. Is there some sort of 'hard reset' for the memory/electrical system? If so, should I do it before or after re-connecting the intelligent sounder?

These #$%&Q#%ing gremlins...!!

 

There's a list of fuses here https://www.tothegarage.co.uk/services-1 for a 2002, but the same issue as with the manual - what is the relationship between the "fuse number" in the printed list, and where they are located physically?? The fuse locations in the car are not numbered, so when looking at "fascia fuse box - driver's side" (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rIK...DeJ_BGH_1/view), fuse #7 (looks like a good place to start), I still don't know which fuse it is inside the car under that panel. I guess first I need to determine if they're referring to UK or US driver's side o_O

 

So, they tease me by suggesting there is a map on the lid of the trunk's fuse box, but alas...

my car's manual

my car

 

Check F7 (15A) in the driver side fascia fusebox.

Check F3 (5A) in the engine compartment fusebox if your front fogs also don't work/cabin heat is poor. The 'intelligent' sounder has a set of NiCad batteries inside that corrode and the module decomposes & pops the fuse. The 'fix' is to just disconnect as they're not available new and a S/H part is just as likely to fail (NiCads don't normally last anywhere near 20 years, although mine almost did).

edit: Jaguar used to print that on the lid - honest, guv - at least as far as 1998.
The fuses are numbered but you need 20yr-old eyes or a magnifying glass to read. Top to bottom, but if two rows then read top right for #1, continues to top left for the rest.

edit2: Just re-read and I see you've replaced the headlining. Not seen this reported on a coupe, but on the convertible, there have been cases where the sun visor screws have caused a short to the vanity lights on refitting. F7 is supposed to protect the BPM against this, but there have been occasions where it's killed the module. Be careful here. You can disconnect the lights at the connectors under the centre roof console to check for a short circuit.

 

@michaelh WOW I completely missed those numbers in the plastic... and... it was fuse 7! Thank you so much!!!

Interior lights are all on, steering adjust works, and...no stuck shifter!!!

Thanks to everyone else too, wow you guys know your XK8s.

So, finally, do I just leave the intelligent sounder disconnected indefinitely? Or do you think the headliner work caused it to short and I should try to reconnect the sounder?

 

Hi - glad you're back in action.
You could try reconnecting the sounder. It can pop fuse #3 when it fails, or it can just die in its sleep as mine did. It won't take out fuse #7.

F7 would be my concern, as the sun visor wiring short - if, indeed there is one - could be intermittent. If it blows again, then do check out the wiring to the visors.
I replaced my headlining (again, sigh) recently, but I couldn't see any sign of wires behind, so it may be that the wiring routes slightly differently on our coupes, therefore not at risk, and the fuse just decided to let go. It's scary that a simple short of this nature can kill a fuse-protected module, though.

You will miss her when she's sold...

 

wow I don't envy doing that job twice. I think it was one of the most anxiety-inducing events of my life.

Yes, I will for sure. But, I've had a good 6 years, there are others who live in places that will give her the road time she needs..

 

Undoing the Torx Screw and inserting screwdriver, you can usually get the shifter out of park... keep your foot on the brake when you do it..... worked for me!

 

Undoing the Torx Screw and inserting screwdriver, you can usually get the shifter out of park... keep your foot on the brake when you do it..... worked for me!