Lazlo Woodbine

The first thing I would do is check battery voltage. Although I have an early car I know that the later ones with CAN-BUS can be very sensitive to low voltage and throw up all sorts of different faults and codes when they don't get all the amps they want. This feature is combined with a charging system that is notoriously fickle, there are certain types of battery that the later S-types' electrics can't charge fully, but that's where my knowledge runs out I'm afraid. Back to the pressing issue; As I said, check for low voltage, I would put money on that being the problem. I would want no less that 12.8v with no load but it's best to then put a load on the battery and see how much the voltage drops, electric windows/wipers/headlamps etc will do. This load test can show up a low battery that with no load appears ok, remember points of a volt can make all the difference! If it is low then the best solution would be to take the battery home and put it on a charger for as long as you can, half an hour won't do much! I hope I'm on the right track here, it could of course be a central locking fault but the battery would be my prime suspect, plus it's an easy check.

Russ68 put me on to a spoiler from ebay that he seems very happy with, you can find it here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191631596389?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT His car is the blue one part way down this thread: http://www.jaguarownersclub.com/forums/topic/15217-surging-on-the-overrun-at-around-1800-rpm-30-v6/

That's a still from an old TV show by the way, not a suggestion..

Thank you for the link. That is not a lot money when you think about it, I may well get one. I would like some R rear lights, they're silly money. But I have a plan to tint my own, not the lens itself but inside. I'll let you know how it goes. My Discovery is far from ready for rust proofing, learning to weld better is my next task.. Waxoiling/filthy weekend:

Hey Russ I like the look of your car, a spoiler really does improve them. I would be grateful for the link please. I'll investigate the STR intake, it sounds like a good solution. I just couldn't run the car if I didn't do all the work myself. I think I've only ever paid for work to be done on a car 3 or 4 times in 20 years, the last one was supplying and fitting a gearbox in a Discovery as I thought I couldn't do it on the drive. It came back with a mis-aligned clutch, leaky slave cylinder unions and leaking transfer box which convinced me that whatever the job I will learn how, and/or get the kit, to do it. Except for big paint jobs maybe. Tis' a helluva car, especially as mine still stands me at less than that out-of-focus dog...

I'm looking for a detachable tow bar for my 2002 S-type, anything considered.

Assuming it's a 3.0 petrol the 'box is a Getrag 221 which is used in many different cars which widens your options if going to a dealer. However I would approach a transmission specialists first. Dealers would probably do the same anyway.

Hi Russ I can't imagine it having an auto box to be honest. I was actually very lucky with my car as it almost found me! I'd been idly looking at S-types about 18 months ago but knew I couldn't really afford the manual Sport that I really wanted. Then a few months later my father mentioned his friend was selling "the Jag" but didn't know what it was apart from it being a manual. Well I was expecting a diesel X-type but when it turned out to be this I was amazed. It had many faults and 5 minutes MOT but I got for very cheap and fixed it up, it was due to got to the breakers so I'm glad I got to save it. I would like to make mine a little louder but not too much. I can't afford the nice stainless exhaust boxes from Adamesh etc. but if I can find a couple of rotten standard ones to use the front pipes off I may well experiment with some generic re-packable straight though boxes. I have a pile of used spares including an airbox so I have put a few 1" holes in the old one which make a nice growl on WOT. I made sure they're all on the wing end of the box to (hopefully) suck in only cold air and I kept the original pipe in to the wing. I would ideally run a pipe out to the upper grill aperture in front of the radiator but space is amazingly tight around there. I will have the inlet manifold and breather system apart soon as I want to change the plugs and the RHS cam cover gasket needs replacing. Also there is a fair bit of oil getting into the manifold so I'm going to fit an oil catch can in the PCV system to try and stop that. It may be that that oil being burnt is exacerbating the surging I suppose. I'll double check for any unmetered air that may be getting in then.

Hi Russ Yes it's a manual. I have driven a few automatics but never owned one, they're just not for me. I think a manual box suits the 3.0 V6 so well, it really likes to rev and for "making progress" the manual really lets you use that upper end power to full effect. I thought that what I see as a problem might been a built in "feature" and have searched for information on it but what with manual S-types being so scarce it's difficult to find. It's not a massive issue but if I can stop it happening I will. What bothers me is that in third gear at 30 mph the revs are right at that point where it starts surging and as I like to drive on the throttle not the brakes (if you see what I mean) it makes town driving tedious.

I have no fault codes either present or pending and apart from this issue the engine seems to be running well. There is a bit of oil in the inlet manifold which I will be sorting out soon and I did have some funny tickover issues a year ago when I replaced some ABS sensors but I shan't go into that yet. I changed the oil and air filter today, I will be doing the fuel filter tomorrow. Imminent plans include new spark plugs, cam cover gasket and an oil catch can to stop the inlet manifold filling with gunk.

Hello. I'm not an expert on engine management but I am aware of "fuel cut" on the overrun in EFI systems. I would expect the system to turn fuelling back up/on (depending on whether it's a partial or total cut) at 1500 - 2000 rpm. The problem I'm getting is a surge as I slow in gear with a closed throttle and it's reliably as I get to around 1800 rpm. It's not violent as such but it makes driving smoothly very difficult and frustrating, in fact I often end up either having to use the brakes inappropriately to overcome the surge or just using a lower gear than should be necessary. When driving hard it's not an issue (although engine braking is not as good as I'd like) but trickling along in traffic can be quite a task. I'm thinking that the ecu is a bit to keen in turning the fuel back on/up but further than that I'm not so sure. Is what I'm describing to be expected? I would hope not as coming off the brakes after being on them for a few seconds only to then suddenly gain 5 mph because the revs happened to have dropped below 2k is a bit silly. Has anyone else had a similar issue?

Well I rebuilt the original o/s/r caliper and fitted that today. Simple stuff really, just wind the threaded piston out, remove a circlip and the whole handbrake cam assembly comes out in one piece. Muck had got past the external seal of the shaft that the handbrake arm fits to made it all rusty. The piston and its seal were in good condition so I cleaned that up the handbrake gubbins and reassembled it. I now have a working handbrake, which is nice. I may bebuild the knackered spare caliper with new seals just for fun.. So having got the car back on its wheels and knowing I had four working wheel speed sensors I disconnected the battery and went in for a cuppa. Half an hour later I hooked it back up, ABS light on, but no DSC warning and I could switch it on and off, encouraging. I figured it was wiser to have it scanned now and reset the light rather than risk the light staying on becauseit wouldn't reset itself or worse there was another fault (MOT on Monday). So I set off to collect the ball joint I'd ordered and go to the garage. A mile or so down the road the ABS light went off! Despite repeated re-starts it won't come on, fantastic! Not so fantastic is the tickover now stays at whatever revs you were at when dipping the clutch. Sometimes it will drop back, sometimes not. I've told myself it's the ECU trimming up after the lack of power..

Thank you for the input but it's the matter of the fault codes clearing themselves without the use of a scanner that I need to resolve. I've got a handle on the mechanical side of things but OBD is new to me. Today I made an LED test light rig to test individual wheel speed sensors and found two (both o/s) which I have replaced with good used ones. Now that I know the colours of the wires leading to the ABS/TSC module I shall use the same rig to test the loom between the plug into the module and the sensors. Once I've got this issue sorted I'll try and find time to do a write up on making the test rig and how to use it, it's no OBD scanner but it cost under a tenner and actually allows you to do things a scanner won't. The burning question still is whether I need to plug the car in to clear the DTCs which the ABS light tells me must(?) be there. Due to a stupid error the car is still on stands tonight so I haven't had a chance to find out yet. Once it's running I suppose I can use it till Saturday and if they're still there I'll have it scanned. That error, yes.. The o/s/r caliper seemed to be working on the footbrake but not the handbrake, not at all. So I had a look at the two calipers in that pile of used parts I mentioned above. One was nice and shiny with a smooth handbrake cam, the other was seized up with burst seals and a rusty piston. Guess which one I needed.. yes the knackered one. No problem! The only difference left to right seems to be the handbrake arm and cable bracket. I'll just swap them over and Bob's your mothers brother. This was great until I fitted the newly fettled shiny caliper and realised that the bleed nipple was at the bottom, below the hydraulic line, meaning it would have to come back off for this and every subsequent bleeding. Swearing commenced followed by packing up and putting the kettle on.

As per the title. My ABS and DSC lights are on constantly, they come on with the ignition on check and never go out. "DSC system fault" shows on the screen 9/10 times. I have only occasionally not had it appear and when it doesn't I can turn DSC on and off as normal but ABS light stays on. I bought the car two weeks ago knowing it had a fault, the previous owner only used it occasionally and a few weeks ago he went to drive off only to find the brakes stuck on. He unstuck them by just driving away and that's when the lights came on. The o/s handbrake is useless so my hunch is that it was the sticky one. Cruise control works but I don't know which wheel speed sensor it uses. I had a local garage use their Solus scanner on the car last week but my battery voltage was too low for the scanner to communicate. I have since replaced the battery as a matter of course since two days on a smart charger wouldn't revive it. I now have a collection of used ABS sensors, front uprights c/w hubs and the ability to test and fit them so was hoping to save paying for use of the scanner. I also have four callipers and a spare ABS pump c/w module just in case. So yes is there anyway to reset the DTC once I fix the problem? As it is I can test individual sensors, the reluctor rings and probably the loom back to the ABS/DSC module but if it's none of them and the codes won't reset themselves I'll be stuck with repeated scannings and paying for the pleasure. PS. I did buy a Maxiscan Vgate VS890 which was recommended (on this forum no less) and advertised as doing ABS codes, it doesn't..

33 for me. The image of a car doesn't really bother me, I can like most cars as long as they do something well. As for stereotypical old man cars I had a Rover 820 Vitesse (complete with added tartan rug and nodding dog) in my 20's and a Volvo 940 turbo estate (caravan club and national trust stickers) at 30. They both earned their keep as they were fast (once I'd tuned them) but the Jaguar is just all round, nice? I don't know, it just does most thing better and I like that. I've had it 10 days now and am just starting to feel like it's actually my car rather than one I've borrowed. It's quite surreal really. Very different to the Viva HC's I started off in, oh yeah I've still got one.. I've actually been eying up a 666 plate for my one..

Hello, again. Sorry for not replying to you Peter, various events put getting another car on the back burner for a while. However this week I bought a 2002 X200 Sport with a manual 'box, three weeks MOT and an DSC/ABS fault, happy days.. I have been fixing various lesser issues the last few days and hope to get to the bottom of the DSC/ABS fault this weekend. My fears have eased a little, it is only nuts and bolt plus some electronics after all.

Hi Peter, thank you for the welcome. I'm actually looking at the lower end of the scale, up to £1.5k. Not enough for a diesel but I prefer petrols anyway, I've got an old diesel Golf for going to work etc. so fuel is not so much of a worry. It will have to a manual as well, I've driven various autos and they're just not for me.

I'm looking to get a modern, comfortable car to squire my wife about in and an S Type seems to be one (of the very few) we both agree on. I do all the work my cars need doing myself and to be honest a modern (to me) car does worry me a little. So I'm joining up here to learn as much as I can before going to look at any. I'm heartened to hear that they rust quite well, familiar ground.. Anyway I'll leave all that for the model specific section. In the meantime, hello all.