Trunk release button has been intermittent for several months.
Then about 2 weeks ago the trunk lights were intermittent then gone.
So I decided to get after it.
Turned out to be bad nicks in the wire harness done at manufacturing
time. Nicks were under spiral tape wrap, under corrugated plastic
conduit, itself wrapped again. This area is just forward of the
passenger side hinge where it comes out from under the plastic
cover to go toward the gas tank. The harness is tie-wrapped to the
gas spring tube. Flex point is aft of that tie-wrap. That’s a
designed flex point but the nicks concentrated the flex until the
wires broke. 2 wires were broken and 2 others had insulation nicks
one of which was bad enough to need repair as well.
Some wire strippers, soldering and heat shrink tubing (fiddly
work!) put it all back.I left off the tiewraps holding the bundle
to the gas spring since I see no need to restrain the harness that
much at that point.
All good now.–
Unimogbert ( X308 - 2001 XJ8)
Ft. Collins, CO, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
In reply to a message from unimogbert sent Fri 3 Oct 2008:
I had the exact same problem. Once the trunk/boot light quit
working the car wouldn’t come out of valet mode either, so the
trunk release wouldn’t work.–
The original message included these comments:
Trunk release button has been intermittent for several months.
Then about 2 weeks ago the trunk lights were intermittent then gone.
So I decided to get after it.
Turned out to be bad nicks in the wire harness done at manufacturing
time. Nicks were under spiral tape wrap, under corrugated plastic
conduit, itself wrapped again. This area is just forward of the
passenger side hinge where it comes out from under the plastic
cover to go toward the gas tank. The harness is tie-wrapped to the
gas spring tube. Flex point is aft of that tie-wrap. That’s a
All good now.
Would anyone have a photo or schematic of the problem area?
I’m just starting to tackle the issue on a 2001 XJ8.
The description is quite good, but I don’t want to mess up.
2001 MY XJ8. All wires at hinge broken but one(suspect a PO got at it.
Every wire repaired by a non colorblind friend.
Good news: boot button and dashbutton work, as do tag lights.
Bas news: Park / selector interlock no longer works (screwdriver release being used)
Interior lamps dead
Steering column inop
Mirror adjust inop
Screenwasher inop
Battery volts good
Am thinking body processor module but could a temporary swap with a friend’s module fix my car without damaging the donor module?
Just to close the thread in case anybody has the same problem:
I checked all fuses under the bonnet and the right heel board and found a dud in the left heelboard. A 15A one connected to the body processor module. Replaced it and all five inop systems now OK.
Was forced to try and find the issue after I got home this afternoon. I sat and watched the steering wheel move up and down on its own even AFTER I’d removed the ignition key! I couldn’t sit back and risk a totally flat battery.
How or why the transmission interlock is connected to mirrors or interior lamps, or the steering wheel connects with screen washer, only the designers of that body processor module know, I guess?
Yes there’s one in right heel board cluster as well, all in the handbook. I thought a dud fuse would cause an open circuit and failure to move the column, not make it shuffle around on its own. It’s almost like a biological inhibitory feedback system.
I was thinking a bit closer to home. The seeming paradox of how lack of a key neurotransmitter in the body processor module between my ears can result in excessive unwanted motor movements…