Nige005

Sorry to hear of your troubles. a terrible thing to happen, hope you can find some solution. I have no idea what is happening when you have a failure like you had, perhaps it would be stuck in the gear it was in at the moment of failure, I just don't know. If it was a catastrophic failure in the engine and/or gearbox I s'pose at that point it doesn't really matter, it's going to be a major repair either way. There is a fairly easy way to release the run of the mill stuck in Park problem, it will be in the Drivers Manual or you'll find many " how to " on line If it's just a simple problem ( ie flat battery, faulty brake light switch etc. ) Sadly it seems that you may have more of a problem than this, good luck with a fix. Nige.

It turns out that the existing Switch already on the car did not require changing, it seems that just a good clean and re grease of the ball joint and cable were all that was required. However as these Switches are now about as common as rocking horse poo and even more expensive I will be carefully wrapping up the refurbished one and stashing it away somewhere safe - just in case !

XK8 Key Fobs – A Repair, Sort Of……. Some thoughts, some ramblings, some ideas and one “sort of” solution about the LJA 2610BA XK8 4 Button Key Fob. I’m sure you all know the scenario. You walk up to the car and press the ‘Unlock’ Button and hey presto, nothing happens. You dance around the car, often hopping on one leg, whilst under your breath reciting ‘Abra Cadabra’ ( or some other words which I can’t possibly repeat here ) pressing and holding the button, waving it around the roof and ‘C’ pillars hoping that waving a virtual magic wand cunningly disguised as a Key Fob will actually make it work. The final incantation of ‘Open Sesame ‘ doesn’t work either at which point you give up and return indoors for a stiff drink ( strong coffee, what do you think I meant ? ) whilst you change the batteries for the second time in a week convincing yourself that the recently replaced batteries must have been faulty. Of course they aren’t and you are no further forward other than needing to visit the loo for a comfort break after supping even more coffee. I know that you could have opened the door with the key and listened to the countdown of the Alarm about to unleash all hell on me and the rest of the neighbourhood if I fail to get the key in the ignition in time to prevent this happening or even if I do manage to do this in time the Alarm fails to disarm and then both the Alarm and myself enter panic mode, I have a ( irrational ? ) fear of this, perhaps I’m not alone in this or is it just me that’s paranoid ? Answers to me on a free voucher for the local psychiatrist. The problem is of course wear on the contact pads of the Rubber Buttons, the solution is to replace the Rubber Pad. I’m talking about the four button one, LJA 2610BA and other similar variants, and here lies the rub. Not that many years ago this type of Fob Case complete with new Rubber Pad were readily available on line for about a fiver, now they all seem to made of that wonderful and oft used classic car material called ‘Unobtanium.’ Over the last few years I have travelled the world, virtually of course, and have found absolutely zero, none, zilch, of these available anywhere so what next ? POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS Repair Services. There are plenty of people out there offering repair/refurbishment of your existing Fobs and I assume that this includes repair of the electronics AND replacement of the Rubber Pads and Case. If so where do they obtain these parts ? These services are priced anywhere from £30 to £200, what the difference in prices may indicate I have no idea, but if all you need is the Rubber Pad even the cheapest is a bit steep. Even so if one of these guys are prepared to sell me just the Rubber Pad I may be prepared to pay over the odds to obtain a couple of spares. I haven’t asked any of them so have no idea if any of these repair services would be prepared to do a deal. The other thing I, probably unnecessarily, worry about using a repair service is the reprogramming of the repaired unit. Everyone seems to think that the reprogramming is a simple task that takes just a few minutes of flashing the lights in sequence and this may well be so, but at this point my paranoia rears it’s head again……. Graphite Buttons Graphite buttons are cheap and readily available. The idea is that you get the right size buttons and then glue them over the worn buttons on your Rubber Pads with some contact adhesive and then the job is done. My worry here is that this may be a one shot only job. If the buttons either don’t stick very well or don’t work for some reason then that’s the end, the contact adhesive will have probably ruined whatever was left of the functionality of your existing buttons, however poor they were they are now a darned sight worse. Consequently I haven’t tried this. Modifying Different Rubber Pads I thought I may have cracked it with this idea. I bought a 5 Button Rubber Button Pad for Jaguar X S F TYPE XJ XK XF XKR remote smart key. It looked like with a bit of judicial trimming and some fettling it would fit inside my Fob and the key markings and spacing looked pretty much the same, as indeed they are. Unfortunately the finger pad part of the buttons do not protrude through the Fob, they are far too shallow. You could extended the finger pads by gluing some rubber or something similar on top of them but you would lose the markings and I think even then the contact part of the buttons would be far too long so constantly touching the contacts and permanently activating the electronics, this would probably confuse the car as much as me and as for battery life….. I think this idea could work if we could discover which type of Rubber Pad could be modified, however I have no clue as where to start on this. My Solution The only solution I can offer right now is using some electrically conductive paint on the contacts of the buttons on the Rubber Pad. The stuff I used is in the pic, other similar products are available and all are easily and cheaply obtainable from well known on line retailers. It’s easy to use. Remove the Rubber Pad from the Fob and clean the contact part of the buttons with Isopropyl Wipes or liquid IPA or similar. Apply a small amount of the “ paint “ to each of the contact buttons and let it dry, make sure it’s totally dry before putting it all back together. I know that you’ll be eager to try and see if it works but be patient ! Whilst you are in the Fob carefully clean the gold contact pads of the PCB, including the battery area, with the IPA stuff or Contact Cleaner, make sure that everything is clean and dry before reassembling it all with new batteries. This repair worked wonderfully on mine, it was like having a brand new Fob, no more dancing around the car like a loony and no more arcane incantations. BUT. ( Why is there always a BUT ? ) This repair worked perfectly for five months and then total failure, not one button worked. Don’t panic, a few minutes work repeating the above procedure followed by a few hours waiting for paint to dry and all is good again. So, far from a real solution or ideal but at least some sort of a cure and if you have to repeat it every few months it’s no big deal. If you’ve read this far through these ramblings you probably have an interest in this problem, if so I’d be happy to hear your thoughts and ideas, Thanks, Nige.

Well the Switch arrived back yesterday and it looks nice and clean. It has obviously been opened as the rivets holding it all together have been changed. So far so good but of course the acid test will be the functionality once fitted - I'm still nervous !

Hi Jim, thanks for the help and advice. I did find Dave's website AFTER I'd found an outfit on eBay offering a repair service. As usual I leapt before I looked...... I sent the switch to them by Special Delivery on Monday morning and it's already on it's way back to me and due to arrive today. Obvioiusly I don't yet know how this is going to pan out but the eBay feedback is 100% positive so I'm trying to be equally positive about it but not yet 100% sure......! I can't get the Switch fitted until the beginning of June when the car is in for MoT and service so I'll just have to fret for a little longer. Once it is fitted and I've given it a good test I'll Post the results and details of the outfit on here in case anyone else wants to give it a try. Fingers and webbed toes crossed. Thanks again. Cheers, Nige.

Good morning all. Having intermittent problems with the ( I think ) Rotary Switch on the Gearbox, if you select " D " sometimes the " D " light does not illuminate and the gears will not change, seems to be stuck in 1st or 2nd gear. If you move the gear selector around a bit to other positions and then back to " D "the " D " light will come on and then all is well. The problem is intermittent but I think getting worse - it's making me twitch a bit now ! It's possible that the selector cable is sticking or mis adjusted, that was the cause of a similar problem a couple of years ago but I would like to be really sure this time and get the Switch repaired/ refurbished before getting the adjustment done. A brand new switch would be nice but not sure if they are available and dread to think of the price even if they are. I know that some companies offer a repair service for some of the electronics bits like ABS Control Modules etc so does anyone know of a company that offers repairs to these Switches ? Any help or advice gratefully received ! Thanks, Nige.

Hi everyone, I suspect that I may be having problems with this, the indicated temperature seems to be about five degrees out and slow to change so looking for a bit of help regarding this Sensor, three things that I’m struggling with. Eventually found the Sensor behind the split grill on the DRIVERS side, not on the passenger side as t’internet had told me…………. It’s mounted on the same fixing point as the Horn. Only a five minute job to remove and test – six hours later I was losing the will to live. In the end I had to cut the mounting bolt as it was seized solid. However this was far from the end. So – Q1. How do you remove the Sensor from the bracket, it seems to slide on to the tongue of the bracket and clips on. I can’t figure out how to release the clip. Q2. Same problem with the Connector Plug, can’t see what clips hold this connector on to the body of the Sensor or how to release them. Q3. This Sensor provides the Ext Temp reading on the Climate Control Panel but does it provide information to a control module for other things such Engine Cooling Fans, Air Con etc ? If all it does is provide the Temp Reading then I’m happy that I don’t have to rush into replacement whilst lying on a gravel drive dodging thunderstorms, my old bones are getting too ancient for this lark ! Any help much appreciated, Nige.

Had a similar fault three or four years ago but cannot remember what the fault code was. I didn't have Engine Fault light or any other indications, just engine cranking but no starting, bit like a failed crank position sensor fault, which I initially thought it was. Had the sensor replaced but this didn't fix things. In my case the cure turned out to be simple, it was just the operating cable sticking slightly so not selecting all the contacts correctly. A good clean up and lube of the cable sorted out the problem. Apparently this is not unusual. Naturally I didn't find this out until I had obtained a replacement switch and had it installed to find myself no further forward.......... Hope you manage to sort things out.

When ( if ) I work up enough courage I'll look at those Vids again ! Slightly off topic but related does anyone know how easy it is to get a key cut and reprogrammed ? I've done this with other cars and found Timpsons and the key guy on the local market do an excellent job for about £30. Is it the same for an XK8 key ?

That's a good question ! You can occasionally find complete second hand Fobs complete with the electronics on E Bay for about £100, give or take a few quid. Of course that still leaves you with the problem of reprogramming the " new " Fob. I've looked at this and although I can't remember all the details I seem to recall that the whole idea frightened me. I seem to recall that a few places advertise a repair service but I have to say I wasn't convinced by what I read. Just a few years ago you could buy just the Fob case with all the buttons for about £5 but these seem to have disappeared now. These were handy as they had nice new buttons that made good contact with the PCB and swapping the old case to the new one was very, very easy. Monte, sorry as I don't think that I've helped much, if at all, but like you I would be interested if anyone has found an answer without having to re mortgage the house or suffer a mental breakdown trying to program a " new " second hand one. In my case it's for a 98 XK8 and the Fob is the square four button one. Good luck !

At least if you hang it in the garden you will be making good use of the CD if, like me, you suffer from squadrons of flying rats ! Glad you are sorted out though, a good result. I did know about the Boot Lock, I use it at least once a year and squirt a bit of lubrication in there to try and keep it going. I bought the car from a friend and he had to replace this lock as he didn't know it was there for years and when he did realize it was there it was seized and rusted beyond repair, don't want that to happen again. You can find Fobs on Ebay and some specialist Jag suppliers, think they go for about £90, but of course they then have to be programmed. Doesn't sound too difficult but I don't really know. At one time you could buy just the Fob case without any of the electronics for less than £10 so you could put your own electronics in, great idea in if the buttons on your existing one have worn out. I've been looking for a spare for years now, they seem to have disappeared, but during my searches I found many complete Fobs available. Anyway I digress. Glad that you are sorted out, now get out there and enjoy it, sod the fuel costs, vroom, vroom ! Cheers, Nige.

Interesting problem, didn’t even know that a “ Valet Mode “ existed but sounds like we should try and find out about it. I’ve found the following suggestions on the ‘net but I’ve no idea if they work, fortunately they are all very simple to try. Using the remote fob seems a very simple option to cancel the Valet Mode, just unlocking with it does the trick. Other than that, you have to get the boot open so the boot lights come on. The boot lights are the signal for the system to cancel Valet Mode, the key in the door or just turning the boot lock won't do it. Also, if the switch in the boot latch has failed so the lights won't come on, the Valet mode won't cancel either. Unlocking the driver's door with the black headed key should/might ? reset the Valet Mode. Easy enough to try anyway and at the least it may get you into the Boot so you can change the CD and release you from the purgatory of "The Best Air Guitar Classics in the History of the World (II)" ! Another idea I’ve found is that using the key to open the truck may also override/reset the Valet Mode. The key goes in a hole that is between the X and the K on the emblem on the rear of the car. As I said I have no direct advice to offer so I’m just trying to help with things I’ve found as I’d be very interested to know the solution to this. There is quite a lot more stuff out there on this subject, if you find the cure please let me know.

Yep, the pins are still in mine ! One of these days I'm hoping to have a day out to Kent to have a new one fitted but for now it'll do !

Good luck, hope you can sort something out.

Can't help too much but a few years ago the ABS Control Unit failed on mine and the local Indy had a " catalogue " from a company that repaired most Electronic Modules. Can't say if they repaired ECU's or not but suspect that they may have. The repair cost for the ABS Module cost about £120 and took about 4/5 days. If you can find a local Indy you could try them. If all else fails you could try giving the one I use a call, nothing to lose, and they are good guys and will help if they can. https://www.jaguarfuelconversions.co.uk/