Need your expertise…

My car’s alarm lights start to flicker and draw power from the battery, there is no way to stop the process while it’s happening until the battery is dead. And the car can only work again after a jump start.

I brought the car to a “specialist garage” that found out “after extensive testing the instrument cluster is defective”. 

Jaguar doesn’t produce or repair the instrument cluster for this model anymore. 

Here my questions:

- Anyone of you with a similar problem was able to “get rid” of the issue and how?

- Is it possible to repair the defective instrument cluster, where?

- Is it possible to install and successfully reprogram an used instrument cluster from a different car/same model? 

Any other way to go around this issue and have a reliable drivable car? 

 

Hi RoMie, this is quite an unusual set of problems on a Modern XK, but not unheard of. I do fear however that you may have a mixture of faults to contend with.

The first and obvious fault is the main battery, how old is it and is it in good condition. The ability to start the engine in the car is no longer a safe indicator that the battery is in good condition since the sensitive electronics of a Modern XK will rapidly start to display and store a plethora of faults - including dash lights going haywire - when the battery is in less than ideal condition, so check that area first. If it is more than 5 years old, think about replacing it.

Secondly, with a 2007 car, the auxiliary alarm package, which contains a set of rechargeable batteries also begins to fail and cause unwanted issues, including the alarm sounding off. I believe this auxiliary alarm package is located under the bonnet, close to the firewall but underneath the actuator of the pedestrian safety system - the cannister with the airbag label attached. In failure mode, this package often emits a loud clicking noise, similar to a home smoke detector, but more frequent. These are generally available to purchase, but use the VIN to obtain the correct part.

Lastly, if your Instrument Cluster has failed, and that is again not unheard of, then it can usually be repaired by suitably knowledgeable technicians. The last time I heard of someone needing to have the Cluster repaired, they used a company called "TotalTronics" who offer a service whereby you can take the car to them and they will remove, repair and replace, or you can remove the Cluster yourself, send it off and they turn it around in a day - a great service I am advised. Removing the Instrument Cluster is not overly difficult with the correct tools. However, should you feel the need to locate a replacement Instrument Cluster, be prepared for a world of pain. As well as needing to be reprogrammed to the car, it needs to have the mileage updated to what your car currently has, plus I understand that the keys for the keyless entry are programmed through the Instrument Cluster. All of this would need access to a garage with the appropriate Jaguar Specific versions of the software and someone who knows how to use it. A repair option would be the safer bet.

Good luck and post back with how your progress goes.

N6 JMX

Hi N6 JMX,

Thank you for your detailed answer. I have shared it with my jag’s mechanic, hoping he will find a way to either replace the instrument cluster, or to repair it, through the company you referred here. 
Will keep you posted. 
RoMie 

Hi N6 JMX,

Thank you for your detailed answer. I got a good amount of info from my jag’s mechanic, explained below. 
Please send referrals if you know a cluster’s rebuilder that can fix a lack of communication/network down.

Attached the diagnostics reports, yay! 

You DO NOT have a security system problem and the lights you see flashing are NOT from the security system. Also when the problem first happens the battery is NOT drained. What is happening is the CAN is going down, when that happens the lights start flashing and the start/stop button is not responsive, in addition the lights on the cluster flicker. This may make it seem like the battery is drained because it will not start, but the battery is not dead at this point. If this continues it will obviously drain the battery. We have verified that the battery is fully charged while the problem is occurring and we have also attached a MidTronics battery supply unit so we could continue to test with a steady 13.9 volts.

I have attached the diagnostic reports from when the problem first happened at our shop with all the fault codes and a later report during our testing. As you can see when the car first came in on 10/25there were a lot of CAN communication codes. We started diagnosing what was causing the CAN to go down. To do this we use an oscilloscope to test the CAN wires and communication with individual modules disconnected. If the network comes back with an individual module disconnected we have found the bad module. In this case the instrument cluster is what we determined to be taking the network down. We also use SDD, but usually only for programming, when just getting codes these scanners are faster. SDD is what we used to try and program the 2 used clusters. Also as I mentioned yesterday we have not found a rebuilder that can repair the instrument cluster for this exact symptom. There are many rebuilders that can fix different cluster problems but we have not found one that can fix a lack of communication/network down issue.

XK 2007 IC Quick Test.pdf 1 - XK 2007 original quick test.pdf

Hi RoMie, okay so it sounds like your garage have a handle on what is happening, but not sure why they cannot locate a suitable repairer - have they tried?

The company I mentioned above TotalTronics, have a website and the link is below, but they have been closed for the festive season and will only be reopening on Jan.24.25. When I put "totaltronics" in my search engine, I came up with a whole heap of "hits" for Instrument Cluster repairs - try it.

Instrument cluster repairs in Dorset | totaltronics.com 

N6 JMX

Yes, they’ve tried their sources with no success, and I gave them your referral. Waiting for totaltronics to reopen. 
Thank you!