Jaguar X350 - strange electrical problems

[Ian350]

I'm just looking for a pointer to guide me here if anyone can help please?

On my 2003 X350 XJR sometimes all of the dash warning lights come on and they flicker. This usually happens once in every 4 or so journeys, either at the start or after 15 miles or so, then the car is fine for the rest of the trip.

I can see the main red and yellow warning lights coming on and the message DSC not available flashes up. However what's really unusual is that when this happens the windscreen wipers start to crawl up the screen (they are switched fully off). Also the power steering goes really heavy.

I have had a code reader on it but there are no fault codes. Any ideas please?

Thanks very much.

[jas xjr]

Try charging up the battery.maybe give it a long run

[t400ble]

Bad earth in loom

[Ian350]

jas xjr said:

Try charging up the battery.maybe give it a long run

Thanks, but the battery is fairly new and the car never does less than a 20 mile commute.

[fatboy b]

Ian350 said:

jas xjr said:

Try charging up the battery.maybe give it a long run

Thanks, but the battery is fairly new and the car never does less than a 20 mile commute.

If it’s fairly new, then check all the connections. I had a ‘battery not charging’ random warning on my last XF a few months after a new battery. It was a loose terminal connector.

[Stedman]

Have you checked the earth connections around the car? There are two or three behind the headlights

[johnxjsc1985]

Stedman said:

Have you checked the earth connections around the car? There are two or three behind the headlights

major problem on these cars source of many an electrical problem

[Ian350]

Earthing problems confirmed - two earthing points virtually non-existent. Now repaired and no recurrence so far although its still early days. Thanks for the replies!

[Stedman]

Woop!

[TokyoRich]

Out of interest, which ones? Similar problems here!

[Ian350]

TokyoRich said:

Out of interest, which ones? Similar problems here!

I had the three at the front done. The two at the top attaching to the panel behind the headlights were the ones that were failing and the one approached from the underside seemed OK but was uprated all the same.

[anonymous-user]

I'm very reassured that only three things every seem to break on these, having just bought one!