www.jec.org.uk

Hi
I am ocassionally getting these messages. Its not a low battery.
It always seems to occur when i pull away from stop position/junction in first gear. As i pull away the car lurches (as if no drive) for about a second and then picks up as normal. The 'ABS Fail' 'Traction control fail ' messages are displayed temporarily. Sometimes the ABS light stays on but there is no braking issue. By turning the ignition off and on again will reset back to normal (light off)

I presume this is the traction control 'kicking in' and might be a sticking brake or caliper?

I thought the problem might be at rear but more recently when i brake (i think its more pronounced if going around corner or wheels turned) i can occasionally hear a cllicking noise (near side front) which sounds a bit like a spring being coiled/ uncoiled when its overwound, on say a clock or clockwork motor!!) The brakes dont come on, but is that an abs sensor?

When the car has done a few miles and warmed up it isnt an issue.

It recently had MOT and i asked garage to look if anything obvious but they said everything looked very good?

Any suggestions please?
Thanks
Craig

If the traction control cuts in as you drive away from rest, as it can do under wet conditions or on a dry bumpy road combined with heavy acceleration, the ABS lamp will flicker and then go out. The excessively spinning wheel will be braked and engine power reduced during the operation of traction control. If the lamp stays illuminated, the system has some sort of fault which needs to be cured. The last thing you want is to confirm an ABS fault diagnosis during an emergency stop!
The quickest way to find out what's wrong is to use the car's diagnostics ability. £50/£60 to pay at a Jaguar specialist with full Jaguar diagnostics kit isn't much to pay for an accurate diagnosis. The alternative of changing one ABS related component after another in the hope of finding the guilty one will inevitably cost more. However, unless the battery is brand spanking new and fully charged, don't rule it out of the question as a possible culprit. A good indicator of battery condition is the need to reset the window drop. Should that be necessary from time to time, the battery/charging system is likely to have become suspect which in turn could affect operation of the warning lamps. Mike.

I had a similar issue some months ago. I thought it may be the wheel speed sensors, so I changed them all, but the problem remained. I tried plugging my little OBD11 code reader in, but it didn't detect the problem. My only option was to take it to my local Jaguar service centre and get them to put their code reader on it, and it turned out to be the ABS module at fault. Initially they tried to get me to buy a new module at around £1,800 , but as this is not an uncommon problem, I told them that the existing module could be repaired (a fairly simple soldering job on the circuit board), so they sent it to a company that specialises in repairing the modules at a fration of the cost of a new one. Problem solved.