Stability Control Fail/ Traction Control Fail

[djws61]

This warning appeared a couple of weeks ago on start up “Stability Control Fail/ Traction Control Fail” on my 98 xk8 but went off after a minute or so, it came on again this morning and went again after a minute, is this a major problem or an easy fix?
Thanks

[Nik]

Easy thing to do is get the codes read , there are many,many possible causes to your problem from sensor failure or ECU problems right down to a poor battery or a faulty connection ,

Hope this helps ,

Nik

[J44EAG]

I agree with Nik.

XK8 and S-type have very similar electronic architecture. As a consequence they can glitch in similar fashion. What you describe is not unknown with the S-type also. Indeed I have experienced similar DSC faulting.

When on rare occasions this has occurred, it has been during cold weather. I`ve been inclined to put this down to low battery terminal voltage which has caused the start up diagnostics not to complete. I also have it in mind that control module circuitry may not be a as temperature stable as we would perhaps like it to be. The electronic platform for our cars go back to 1997 and advances in technology since then might hopefully have improved matters.

You might care to look at my posting on the S-type BB in this regard. Go to the electrical section and look for "S-type electrical glitches and gremlins, duff batteries". I think you will find the discussion on that post helpful.

Mike K

[djws61]

Easy thing to do is get the codes read , there are many,many possible causes to your problem from sensor failure or ECU problems right down to a poor battery or a faulty connection ,

Hope this helps ,

Nik

Thanks for the help

[djws61]

I agree with Nik.

XK8 and S-type have very similar electronic architecture. As a consequence they can glitch in similar fashion. What you describe is not unknown with the S-type also. Indeed I have experienced similar DSC faulting.

When on rare occasions this has occurred, it has been during cold weather. I`ve been inclined to put this down to low battery terminal voltage which has caused the start up diagnostics not to complete. I also have it in mind that control module circuitry may not be a as temperature stable as we would perhaps like it to be. The electronic platform for our cars go back to 1997 and advances in technology since then might hopefully have improved matters.

You might care to look at my posting on the S-type BB in this regard. Go to the electrical section and look for "S-type electrical glitches and gremlins, duff batteries". I think you will find the discussion on that post helpful.

Mike K

thanks

[Brakebuster]

yup

deffo the battery , get a drop test carried out, this is way more involved than just checking the voltage, as it measures the cranking amps, a voltage check will not show this up

our cars suffer from a lack of cranking amps and sends the electronics into confusion

recharge , or change the battery , its the first and quite often the cheapest option , at around half the price of plugging it into a computer just to see what the fault might be

BB

[J44EAG]

Here is my drop tester in action. Sorry the pic isn`t that good.

php6rAAVvPM (2).jpg (60.31KiB)Viewed 4200 times

Note the low voltage under load on a dead battery. When I released the load switch, the needle shot back up to a state of 12 volts. Not good. The needle should rise slowly. What I had here was a battery with voltage but not capacity. Broken!

On my new battery, the tester didn`t drop below 11 volts on load. Rather different from what you see here.

My unit is made by Draper and cost around £70 five years or so ago. One of the most useful tools I have. It takes all the guess work out of arriving at a true battery condition. Before I brought this tester, customers would argue that their batteries were ok. Once I had this piece of kit, the customers couldn`t argue any more! It also saved me getting it in the neck each time their decrepit boats refused to start!!

Mike

[djws61]

Here is my drop tester in action. Sorry the pic isn`t that good.

php6rAAVvPM (2).jpg

Note the low voltage under load on a dead battery. When I released the load switch, the needle shot back up to a state of 12 volts. Not good. The needle should rise slowly. What I had here was a battery with voltage but not capacity. Broken!

On my new battery, the tester didn`t drop below 11 volts on load. Rather different from what you see here.

My unit is made by Draper and cost around £70 five years or so ago. One of the most useful tools I have. It takes all the guess work out of arriving at a true battery condition. Before I brought this tester, customers would argue that their batteries were ok. Once I had this piece of kit, the customers couldn`t argue any more! It also saved me getting it in the neck each time their decrepit boats refused to start!!

Mike

Its happened again this morning but after the cars been running, Ive seen a couple of drop testers on ebay for around £30 I think this maybe a good investment
Cheers Mike

[djws61]

I’ve just seen this advertised on ebay “Car fault reader code scanner diagnostic tool “ any thoughts on this rather than taking it to the garage, has anyone used one of these?

[djws61]

Easy thing to do is get the codes read , there are many,many possible causes to your problem from sensor failure or ECU problems right down to a poor battery or a faulty connection ,

Hope this helps ,

Nik

Thanks for the help

I’ve just seen this advertised on ebay “Car fault reader code scanner diagnostic tool “ any thoughts on this rather than taking it to the garage
Thanks

[Montana5]

This one gets a good name and is used by many S Type Owners.
ELM 327
Comes with software and usb to plug into laptop.
Plenty on e-bay.

[J44EAG]

Seems to be ok for Windows 98, 2000 and XP but I wonder if it will run with Vista or 7?

The unit certainly appears to have the common use functions. Have you used this unit Doug?

Mike