ABS warning light on 2002 xk8

londonxk8 · July 15, 2016

hello - i hope i am posting this query in the correct place, if not i will delete if told to!

so - i recently purchased a 2002 xk8 with 33k miles (black with ivory interior, detroit alloys). i love the car, and certainly the most fun i've ever had in a vehicle!! however, over the last week, the ABS light has come on (along with a light in the centre of the dashboard, and an error message on the screen). the error is now gone/cleared, and i cant remember what the digital screen said - but i think it said somethign about "traction"...

so - should i ignore this light/warning until/if it comes back? if it it does come back, any advice on how to potentially troubleshoot? any help much appreciated. i searched the forums for "abs light" but i could not find much info!

thank you.

Russ68 · July 15, 2016

Can't help with that specifically, but I'm guessing the X100 has an OBD socket, so worth getting an OBD reader to understand any fault codes thrown up...

londonxk8 · July 15, 2016

So - the light hasnt come on for the last few days, so will leave it for now. yes - perhaps i should get an OBD reader - is there a specific one that does the job thats a decent price? thanks Russ

Nige005 · July 16, 2016

If the ABS Warning Light comes on with the Info display also showing, alternately " Traction Control Fail " and " Stability Control Fail " it may indicate a failure of the ABS Control Module, this is a known and common fault. The cure is to have the Unit rebuilt at a specialist company, it costs about £150 for repair of this module.

This happened to mine, started off only happening occasionally but got worse over time, eventually I got sick of it and had it repaired at the local indy, the whole job was about £250.

Another possibility is a poor connection from one of the wheel sensors.

The best way to diagnose is to have the codes read with the proper Jag software, I've noted that the generic readers do not always give the codes and will come up with something like " Comms Error " rather than the fault code.

londonxk8 · July 19, 2016

Hello Nige, thank you for the detailed reply. The light hasnt come on again over the last week,thankfully. so will wait and see I suppose. If it happens again, i would be happy for a local indy to do the work for that price and save me the heartache. I hope it stays off time will tell!

jason

Nige005 · July 20, 2016

21 hours ago, londonxk8 said:

Hello Nige, thank you for the detailed reply. The light hasnt come on again over the last week,thankfully. so will wait and see I suppose. If it happens again, i would be happy for a local indy to do the work for that price and save me the heartache. I hope it stays off time will tell!

jason

Fingers crossed Jason ! Sadly on mine it just got more and more and more " mittent " rather than " inter " and as it was getting towards MoT time ( ABS light on = instant fail ) I went for the fix. TBH I'm pleased I did, the lights were driving me nuts when they were on.

londonxk8 · August 11, 2016

hello - so - have a new battery in the car, but still have the ABS warning light coming on regularly. luckily - my neighbor/ex bmw mechanic seems pretty handy - so i was thinking to buy a code reader to try and diagnose if its the abs sensors, or a fault with the module. any particular code reader anyone can recommend? thanks

jason

Russ68 · August 11, 2016

Sounds like a good plan Jason, I bought a reader but the app I bought on my iPhone won't talk to it, so I'm interested in any recommends, I think the issue if the app, not the reader. I / you can ask on the S-Type forum which is a lot more active if you don't get a reply here. I've seen it come up before so you may even be able to search the forum for advice

londonxk8 · August 16, 2016

hi Russ - another member recommended the icarsoft, but i have asked for other recommendations (not sure if that is hte best one or not)

StuartXKR · October 29, 2016

IF YOU BUY A BLUE TOOTH READER THEN YOU HAVE TO MATCH IT TO YOUR PHONE TYPE. OS OR ANDROID. OTHERWISE IT WILL NOT WORK.

Oldjagman · December 2, 2016

I bought the Icarsoft and the first time I used it was to diagnose a wheel speed sensor, renewal of which cured the fault and the ABS message hasn't come back. Touch wood.