The Joys of XKR Ownership
Discussion
Well after owning my 98 XKR for 9 months and 15K miles (43K total) I should have guessed that trouble free motoring couldn't last.
Driving along a local A road when suddenly the engine completely died on me - rolled off the road and shifted into park and the engine is just idling at about 200 revs but nothing happened when I pressed the throtle. Turned ignition off and back on, engine starts immediately and everything back to normal.
No problems for about a week when it does it again in the middle lane of the M40 at 8 am - not funny!! Contact dealer "Drop the car in and let me check for error codes on the ECU - if no error then almost certainly it's the old oil on the electronics in the throtle body problem". Drop car into dealer - no error codes so dealer orders a new throtle body (really lucky I've got a Jaguar extended warranty cos this part is a bit expensive). Part should arrive after five days - that was five weeks ago and I'm still waiting.
After four weeks and two or three more engine cut-outs (been using the train a lot to avoid frightening the living daylights out of myself) I contact dealer who suggests I contact Jaguar parts. I contact Jaguar parts who investigate and call me back to assure me that the part will arrive at the dealers last week. Part doesn't arrive (not really surprised - Unipart are the supplier!!)so back on to Jaguar Parts this morning who investigate. Jaguar Parts call me back to advise that a number of this part arrived and accidently they forgot to send my dealer one and now they've none left!! "But we are really sorry sir and we are expecting some more by the end of this week and we will get one sent to your dealer either on Friday or Saturday - well probably we'll be getting some more by the end of this week - anyway we'll call you to let you know at the end of the week".
That will be six weeks I've been waiting whilst I assume the factory have been fitting bloody hundreds of the things into new XKRs. Am I being unreasonable or is this prity crap customer service from Jaguar??
>>> Edited by ford prefect on Tuesday 25th November 02:27
Driving along a local A road when suddenly the engine completely died on me - rolled off the road and shifted into park and the engine is just idling at about 200 revs but nothing happened when I pressed the throtle. Turned ignition off and back on, engine starts immediately and everything back to normal.
No problems for about a week when it does it again in the middle lane of the M40 at 8 am - not funny!! Contact dealer "Drop the car in and let me check for error codes on the ECU - if no error then almost certainly it's the old oil on the electronics in the throtle body problem". Drop car into dealer - no error codes so dealer orders a new throtle body (really lucky I've got a Jaguar extended warranty cos this part is a bit expensive). Part should arrive after five days - that was five weeks ago and I'm still waiting.
After four weeks and two or three more engine cut-outs (been using the train a lot to avoid frightening the living daylights out of myself) I contact dealer who suggests I contact Jaguar parts. I contact Jaguar parts who investigate and call me back to assure me that the part will arrive at the dealers last week. Part doesn't arrive (not really surprised - Unipart are the supplier!!)so back on to Jaguar Parts this morning who investigate. Jaguar Parts call me back to advise that a number of this part arrived and accidently they forgot to send my dealer one and now they've none left!! "But we are really sorry sir and we are expecting some more by the end of this week and we will get one sent to your dealer either on Friday or Saturday - well probably we'll be getting some more by the end of this week - anyway we'll call you to let you know at the end of the week".
That will be six weeks I've been waiting whilst I assume the factory have been fitting bloody hundreds of the things into new XKRs. Am I being unreasonable or is this prity crap customer service from Jaguar??
>>> Edited by ford prefect on Tuesday 25th November 02:27
Dealer tells me that my problem is the oil breather pipe from the top of the engine back into the inlet via the throtle. The pipe brings oil vapour into the throtle body and this is deposited on the electronics (of the stepper motor I assume). The net effect is that it causes the ECU to go into some "abnormal state" which is resloved by turning the ignition off and on causing a reset of the ECU - sounds convincing anyway.
However, I have two issues with this diagnosis, firstly replacing the throtle body is not going to resolve the oil vapour being deposited on the new set of electronics (when I finally get it that is).
Secondly, if this is oil depositing on the elctronics then this must be causing some sort of shorting in the circuitry. If this is the case then why does turning the ignition off and on resolve the problem as the oil is still siting on the "electronics".
As a temporary fix is it possible to get at these "electronics" and clean them up and if so how easy a job is it?
However, I have two issues with this diagnosis, firstly replacing the throtle body is not going to resolve the oil vapour being deposited on the new set of electronics (when I finally get it that is).
Secondly, if this is oil depositing on the elctronics then this must be causing some sort of shorting in the circuitry. If this is the case then why does turning the ignition off and on resolve the problem as the oil is still siting on the "electronics".
As a temporary fix is it possible to get at these "electronics" and clean them up and if so how easy a job is it?
Pete, your answer sounds a lot more convincing than the dealers and would explain the approach they are proposing. I suspect it is the sensor you mention particularly as the problem always occurs after I have been accelerating and then taken my foot off the throttle. When I re-apply the throttle the engine is dead (or at least idling at about 200 revs and won't react to the throttle) and I just coast to a halt.
All I have to do now is wait for Jaguar Parts/Unipart to come up with a replacement part - maybe they're hanging on so that they can send it to me as an Xmas present!
All I have to do now is wait for Jaguar Parts/Unipart to come up with a replacement part - maybe they're hanging on so that they can send it to me as an Xmas present!
Pete, Do you think there would be any advantage once the sensor/throttle body is replaced in using a "better" quality fuel like Optimax to reduce the fouling of the sensor in future?
Many thanks for your input, you obviously know a lot more about this than I do. I will talk to the dealer about cleaning the existing body if the part doesn't turn up at the end of this week....John.
Many thanks for your input, you obviously know a lot more about this than I do. I will talk to the dealer about cleaning the existing body if the part doesn't turn up at the end of this week....John.
Pete, Hadn't noticed slight resistance at start of throttle movement but your comment about cruise control is very interesting. The previous owner of the car apparently owned several cars (hence only 27K miles at 3 years old)and used the XKR to drive back and forth to the south of France - nice work if you can get it! But my point is that driving back and forth to the south of France probably involved using the cruise control a lot.......
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