ABS Failure, and others

[David Taylor]

This afternoon, after a short drive and a restart, my XF displayed a series of warning lights; ABS fail, Traction Control fail, Automatic Emergency Brake fail, to name a few. Everything seemed to drive OK. 

When I plugged in my Carly OBD reader, when home, the car would actually switch off after a while and display and Engine Management light. 

I rant the engine for 45 minutes and restarted. Lights went out. 

Is this likely to just be a low-ish battery? I've only done a few short runs in it recently. 

[Big John]

Hi David

First question would be does the stop / start work? If it does battery should be OK, If not then low battery, particulalry as you have not been doing decent journeys may well be the issue.

Next on my list would be an ABS wheel sensor as if there is a problem in that systems lots of other things will not be able to work as they use the input from the wheel sensors.

Good luck

John

[Bill C]

My rather older XF has been doing the same thing. I have replaced my battery and that hasn’t cured it. Hope you have better luck.

[Jimbov8]

Perfect example of a low battery. Give the battery a overnight charge and try again, if everything is ok then drive it more often.

[David Taylor]

Thanks for the advice. I drove it for a good 30 minutes and they didn't go off. However I'll grab a charger and see what it can do. 

[Tomato]

If not, you may need to get it to a garage to plug it in the read any error codes, hopefully something simple.

[Mark Hez]

Any advice more than welcome 🙏 I to have the amber engine warning light on followed by just about every warning message cycling thro on my dash, I’ve heard the XF is very susceptible to battery issues, I took it for a diagnostic check at halford and ended up with 3 pages of intermittent faults, also when these warning messages come on my jag wants to shut down and sticks in drive mode and won’t let me set to park until I switch it off for a while (5 mins) also have an audible warning. Checked the battery and I notice it isn’t a factory fitted battery, it’s a Halfords AGM 019 battery so I’m think my car is 5 1/2 years old and has already had a replacement battery, any idea where I go from here pls? Do I get another battery 🤷🏻‍♂️, if so what is best money can buy for my XF? Help 

[PaulT]

Check with Halfords what the warranty period is on the battery. A replacement battery in a 5.5 year old car would seem to indicate that there is more wrong than the battery. My car was 12 years old when I replaced the original batteries and only because stop start was not working that normally indicated that they are on their way out.

[Tomato]

The XF is very heavy on battery use, you do need to use them regularly. Battery warranties normally valid if you do more than 5k mileage a year, would check the small print if your doing low mileage.

Should say I think in the owners handbook what battery sizes should be use, there are two in these cars need to check both.

[Mark Hez]

Thanks for your comments guys, just to update, I put my meter back on the battery cold (both batteries) and they both show 12.3-12.4 v present, I then idled the car for 10 mins, checked again and got readings of 14.8v on both, I then pulled off the battery by way of lights wipers and heater, checked again and got 14.8v again, do I conclude my battery and alternator are healthy? My diagnostic print out shows ABS fault “ permanent “ among the many other historic and intermittent codes so as per big John’s comment above I’m going to focus there, should have my OBD2 reader tomorrow so I’ll check, record error codes reset and check again, and report back, thanks again guys 

[David Taylor]

On 8/17/2021 at 9:40 PM, Tomato said:

If not, you may need to get it to a garage to plug it in the read any error codes, hopefully something simple.

I tried reading codes using my Carly OBD. It seemed to cut the engine off!

[Jimbov8]

May be time to get yourself a better code reader. Icarsoft will definitely tell you what’s wrong with your car.

[David Taylor]

I don't have means to test the voltage, I'll see if Halford's will do it for me. 

Has anyone tried one of the solar (overnight) trickle chargers?

 

[David Taylor]

On 8/16/2021 at 11:24 AM, Big John said:

Hi David

First question would be does the stop / start work? If it does battery should be OK, If not then low battery, particulalry as you have not been doing decent journeys may well be the issue.

Next on my list would be an ABS wheel sensor as if there is a problem in that systems lots of other things will not be able to work as they use the input from the wheel sensors.

Good luck

John

Good question, that I missed. I have almost never managed to get the stop/start to actually work. So that could indicate a battery issue. 

[Coolcity]

I bought one of these:

Dual USB In-Car Charger with LED Display, voltage test, 2 YEAR warranty | eBay

They're brilliant especially if you have an older XF with no USBs because they have 2 USB slots built in, and a digital readout that doubles as a battery monitor. It tells you what your battery voltage is before and after starting. Just plugs into the cig lighter power socket. These guys do have a slimmer version too, and other ones that double as an FM transmitter so you can play tunes from your phone over your car stereo. I got one of those too, works really well.

I know it doesn't solve the problem but it's a cheap and easy way to get a battery check on your car every time you get in. 

[David Taylor]

On 8/19/2021 at 11:37 PM, Coolcity said:

I bought one of these:

Dual USB In-Car Charger with LED Display, voltage test, 2 YEAR warranty | eBay

They're brilliant especially if you have an older XF with no USBs because they have 2 USB slots built in, and a digital readout that doubles as a battery monitor. It tells you what your battery voltage is before and after starting. Just plugs into the cig lighter power socket. These guys do have a slimmer version too, and other ones that double as an FM transmitter so you can play tunes from your phone over your car stereo. I got one of those too, works really well.

I know it doesn't solve the problem but it's a cheap and easy way to get a battery check on your car every time you get in. 

Thanks. I borrowed a similar one from my brother, over the weekend. I got a reading of 12.4v, with the car on but not running. Currently have a solar charger on the jump points, so let's see. 

I drove a good 200+ miles yesterday, to British Motor Show and back. Unfortunately that didn't turn the lights off. So I'm worried it's a little more serious. If that doesn't charge the batter then what will!?

[Jimbov8]

If, after a 200 mile drive, you still have the warning then it may well be a sensor that has gone. A decent code reader will confirm one way or the other.

[David Taylor]

27 minutes ago, Jimbov8 said:

If, after a 200 mile drive, you still have the warning then it may well be a sensor that has gone. A decent code reader will confirm one way or the other.

I'm worrying so. Would the sensor cause the other lights to flash too? For example, I've also got the 'tyre pressure not available' warning along with no traction control etc

[Jimbov8]

The traction control could be linked to the ABS,  though the tyre pressure warning will be separate.

[Bigvic]

Duff battery…

[David Taylor]

2 minutes ago, Bigvic said:

Duff battery…

I'm hoping so! Fingers crossed, getting it checked in Halfords tomorrow. 

[Big John]

Hi

If you are getting 12.4 v on a cigarette lighter socket voltmeter with the car unlocked but not running the true resting voltage is probs 12.8v (fully charged). As soon as you unlock the car (and enable the socket) the car is drawing around 4 Amps and voltage drops significantly. As mentioned before, if S/S works battery is fine.

I would be looking at an ABS wheel sensor as cause, along with a fault in the TPMS which luckily I don't have as they are very tempremental. One approach to sorting the TPMS is to over-inflate the tyres and then reduce pressures back to normal. If that does not work it is most likely a wheel Tyre pressure sender at fault.

Systems like traction control rely on knowing how fast each wheel is turning, so a faulty ABS wheel sensor (which is what measures each wheels speed) will generate a fault which forces other functions that rely on its input to fail and throw a warning light so you know that function is not available. A failed parking sensor will switch off the reversing camera as well and alert you that you are "on your own" as there is a fault so don't blame us if you hit something when reversing!

Good luck

John

[Coolcity]

Agree with John, but as Jim says the TPMS is probably separate so it could be a below-par battery. As you can get a battery test for free there's no harm in doing that first. 

[David Taylor]

On 8/24/2021 at 8:27 AM, Big John said:

Hi

If you are getting 12.4 v on a cigarette lighter socket voltmeter with the car unlocked but not running the true resting voltage is probs 12.8v (fully charged). As soon as you unlock the car (and enable the socket) the car is drawing around 4 Amps and voltage drops significantly. As mentioned before, if S/S works battery is fine.

I would be looking at an ABS wheel sensor as cause, along with a fault in the TPMS which luckily I don't have as they are very tempremental. One approach to sorting the TPMS is to over-inflate the tyres and then reduce pressures back to normal. If that does not work it is most likely a wheel Tyre pressure sender at fault.

Systems like traction control rely on knowing how fast each wheel is turning, so a faulty ABS wheel sensor (which is what measures each wheels speed) will generate a fault which forces other functions that rely on its input to fail and throw a warning light so you know that function is not available. A failed parking sensor will switch off the reversing camera as well and alert you that you are "on your own" as there is a fault so don't blame us if you hit something when reversing!

Good luck

John

A useful response, thanks John. 

I'm booked in for a battery change, anyway, as S/S hasn't been working for the last 8 months. I hadn't really thought about it, just putting it down to me not 'activating' it properly. But if that doesn't solve things, then It'll be on to the wheel sensor next. Would be a real pain if that, and the TPMS, went at the same time. I don't have a reversing camera, only the audible sensor, which still works. That may also indicate it's not just a battery issue. 

I suspect I've got a duff battery, as well as some failed sensor. 

[David Taylor]

OK, so @Big John wins. Battery was fine and a change hasn't solved the issue. Codes are hinting to it being the ABS sensor, offside front. 

Then two faults related to "High Speed CAN communication bus"... whatever that does.