X308 XJR remote central locking not working?
Discussion
Hello all,
I've recently purchased a 1998 XJR and one of the issues I'd really like to solve is the remote locking not working.
The car will unlock and lock on the key fine, and locks as soon as you put the car into drive etc.
So far I have replaced the batteries in both fobs and checked all fuses in the fuse panels below the rear seats, but pressing the fob unlock/lock gets no response from the car whatsoever. Interestingly the boot release button on the dash and the boot release button above the rear number plate do not work either, that also has to be opened on the key. I just wonder whether this is all related. It'd be nice to have it working again, I'm getting tired of unlocking the car and quickly jumping in to turn the ignition on so the alarm doesnt go off!
Thanks, Lew
I've recently purchased a 1998 XJR and one of the issues I'd really like to solve is the remote locking not working.
The car will unlock and lock on the key fine, and locks as soon as you put the car into drive etc.
So far I have replaced the batteries in both fobs and checked all fuses in the fuse panels below the rear seats, but pressing the fob unlock/lock gets no response from the car whatsoever. Interestingly the boot release button on the dash and the boot release button above the rear number plate do not work either, that also has to be opened on the key. I just wonder whether this is all related. It'd be nice to have it working again, I'm getting tired of unlocking the car and quickly jumping in to turn the ignition on so the alarm doesnt go off!
Thanks, Lew
How good is the battery charge?
On my X300 if the voltage drops a bit odd things happen to the electrics including having the central locking sulking.
The other likely hood is that the fobs need reprogramming. Hopefully some owner of an X308 will be along soon to say what magic combination of buttons you need to press to get the key fobs programmed to work with the security system/visa versa.
On my X300 if the voltage drops a bit odd things happen to the electrics including having the central locking sulking.
The other likely hood is that the fobs need reprogramming. Hopefully some owner of an X308 will be along soon to say what magic combination of buttons you need to press to get the key fobs programmed to work with the security system/visa versa.
Well worth a check sir! I shall get the meter out tomorrow and have a look. The battery on it is enormous and never fails to start the car without issue so I imagine it'll be okay.
That is a good point about reprogramming the fobs, I read not so long ago on here how to do it in detail so much appreciated to whoever posted that up
That is a good point about reprogramming the fobs, I read not so long ago on here how to do it in detail so much appreciated to whoever posted that up
Check the batteries are in the correct orientation.
Strip the remote, remove the rubber cover on the buttons, then if you have alcohol wipes available give the buttons on the circuit board a clean, also give the internal part of the rubber buttons a clean. ( if not a very small amount of wd40 type spray is what i normally use ). You should be able to feel the button click, this confirms that the mirco switch on the remote is working.
In the video he talks about the sounder chirping, if your sounder is duff or even not programmed you wont hear it, so carry on with the steps just wait about 5 secs between each step where he says wait for the sounder.
Sorry for the american video, but he has the correct procedure, and i find it good to watch a video rather than trying to explain in text format. He's seen the light !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let us know how you get on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZODvPRiEPw
Strip the remote, remove the rubber cover on the buttons, then if you have alcohol wipes available give the buttons on the circuit board a clean, also give the internal part of the rubber buttons a clean. ( if not a very small amount of wd40 type spray is what i normally use ). You should be able to feel the button click, this confirms that the mirco switch on the remote is working.
In the video he talks about the sounder chirping, if your sounder is duff or even not programmed you wont hear it, so carry on with the steps just wait about 5 secs between each step where he says wait for the sounder.
Sorry for the american video, but he has the correct procedure, and i find it good to watch a video rather than trying to explain in text format. He's seen the light !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let us know how you get on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZODvPRiEPw
melhookv12 said:
Strip the remote, remove the rubber cover on the buttons, then if you have alcohol wipes available give the buttons on the circuit board a clean, also give the internal part of the rubber buttons a clean. ( if not a very small amount of wd40 type spray is what i normally use ). You should be able to feel the button click, this confirms that the mirco switch on the remote is working.
Hello Lew,
I had similar problems when I got my first XJ8 so I did lots of net trawling and eventually put all the info together in an article for the JEC magazine. I also put a page on my web site
www.stallard-engineering.co.uk
It's in the 'what's new' section under XJ8 key fob programming.
Hope you get a result,
Ian
I had similar problems when I got my first XJ8 so I did lots of net trawling and eventually put all the info together in an article for the JEC magazine. I also put a page on my web site
www.stallard-engineering.co.uk
It's in the 'what's new' section under XJ8 key fob programming.
Hope you get a result,
Ian
Well I had a play with it this morning and no matter what I did with the programming I got nowhere. No chirp and I never 'saw the light' haha!
I went up to my workshop and cleaned both fobs with electrical cleaner to a sheen, put it all back together and tried the process again. No chirp or light but I carried on regardless. Hey presto we now have working remotes. Thanks chaps! I owe you all an Internet pint.
The button part of the board was rather manky:
I went up to my workshop and cleaned both fobs with electrical cleaner to a sheen, put it all back together and tried the process again. No chirp or light but I carried on regardless. Hey presto we now have working remotes. Thanks chaps! I owe you all an Internet pint.
The button part of the board was rather manky:
Ian I have to say your site is very interesting, super work with the XJS. I sold mine recently to 'GraemeV12' on here, you may have seen his thread on it in the Jaguar section, he's doing an excellent and thorough job of looking after it. Lovely car, and in my opinion very much still from the days of 'proper' Jaguars.
LewG said:
The battery on it is enormous and never fails to start the car without issue so I imagine it'll be okay.
Great to hear you've sorted it.I'm guessing here that the X308 battery is the same as the X300 one, so yes it's huge. The guy down the road saw mine once when I was jump starting a friend's Beamer and reckoned it was bigger than the battery in a lot of the trucks he used to work on back when he was in the RAF.
Any way the electrical gremlins creep in long before there is any problems starting the car, actually in the over 19 years I've owned the car the only time it wouldn't start was when I managed to flood it one morning.
Hello again Lew,
Thanks for the kind words about my site and glad you got a result in the end. Your pics are very indicative of what happens to those contacts. The rubber pad is carbon impregnated and therefore connects the grids together when a button is pressed.
Yes the car battery is huge and must be kept in top form otherwise many spurious error messages will appear to frighten the bejaysus out of you. As these cars are all now at least 13 years old it's good practice to check and clean all earthing points and connectors (there are lots of them!!) before anything untoward happens.
Ian
Thanks for the kind words about my site and glad you got a result in the end. Your pics are very indicative of what happens to those contacts. The rubber pad is carbon impregnated and therefore connects the grids together when a button is pressed.
Yes the car battery is huge and must be kept in top form otherwise many spurious error messages will appear to frighten the bejaysus out of you. As these cars are all now at least 13 years old it's good practice to check and clean all earthing points and connectors (there are lots of them!!) before anything untoward happens.
Ian
a8hex said:
I'm guessing here that the X308 battery is the same as the X300 one, so yes it's huge. The guy down the road saw mine once when I was jump starting a friend's Beamer and reckoned it was bigger than the battery in a lot of the trucks he used to work on back when he was in the RAF.
Any way the electrical gremlins creep in long before there is any problems starting the car, actually in the over 19 years I've owned the car the only time it wouldn't start was when I managed to flood it one morning.
Indeed, mine was on its second Jaguar battery (replaced in 2006) - looked after (no short runs) and always charged once a week over winter, but a few months ago the car started throwing up 'stability control fail' sporadically on start up.Any way the electrical gremlins creep in long before there is any problems starting the car, actually in the over 19 years I've owned the car the only time it wouldn't start was when I managed to flood it one morning.
Although the battery was holding charge on a drop test and always firing up the car instantly, when I checked it with a Snap On device I found it was low on volts (about 12.2 - 3 IIRC even after a run) Replaced with a new Bosch and never had the error message again yet.
Digging around the internet it seems these cars (like P38 Range Rovers) are highly sensitive to low volts.
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