Hey everyone,

I am having a multitude of issues with my SRT-6 Roadster and I am at a loss as to what the issue is.

Everything started the other night during a terrible storm. The car was parked outside and the alarm started to go off uncontrollably. I don't think it was the storm that created the issue, but I thought it was a funny coincidence looking back on things. Because I could not get the alarm to shut off, I decided to just leave the car unlocked with the alarm disabled and tried to get some sleep.

Fast forward to the morning. I now have several new issues including the following:

1. ABS Light is on
2. BAS/ESP light is on.
3. Dome light will not turn off when door is shut
4. Fog and Parking Lights stay on even when the **** is on the off position
5. Convertible Top will not work at all. (No beeps, not light)
6. Power lock switch on dash doesn't work.

These are just the issues I have found so far. Other than those issues, everything is great

We just moved to Nashville and are living in an apartment while our new house is being built so my work area is fairly limited. All I have tried to do at this point is pulled and tested the fuses and they all tested out ok. I replaced most of them anyways just to be safe. I do have the fuses pulled for the fog and parking lights as that is the only way I can get them to turn off.

I'm looking for any suggestions you guys may have as to what my problem may be. I know these cars can be funky and one small issue can sometimes cascade into a big one. The car only has 41,000 miles on it and this is a bit irritating to say the least.

If anything, I am also looking for a good, reliable mechanic in the Nashville area if anyone has any suggestions.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'm looking forward to what you guys think.

 

This just a guess, judging from all the posts I've read...

If you have the original battery, change it. The XF's electronics are VERY fussy!

Or check for water under the foam panel in hatch area.

I know I'm overdue for a new battery!

But all works for me right now....

 

I know this sounds nuts, and post 2 contains VERY good advice about the battery, but it sounds to me like you car may have been hit by lightning.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Everyone done laughing at me now? Ok.

I have spent 30 years caring for in-car radio, radar, lighting and siren systems for emergency vehicles (police/fire/ems). (Actually left the field last fall).

And in all of those years, I know of two vehicles hit by lightning. Oddly, both were parked and unattended at the time. One was back in the early 90's and a tree was hit by lightning next to the car, there was no direct hit to the car. This was in the days of IMTS mobile phones and the wire from the phones' junction box to the car's horn relay picked up the EM spike from the nearby strike and the surge shorted the phone's transistor that activated the car horn during a call. The transistor shorted in all three directions - causing the horn to blow until the guy went out and pulled fuses.

I had the phone fixed in an hour by simply replacing the transistor.



The other one was a direct strike. It blew one tire out (as the charge jumped from the rim to ground). This one was brought to me about a week after the strike. The customer had taken the truck in after finding the flat tire (which they assumed was vandalism) because it would not start. The dealer replaced several modules and got it running. It was then noticed that the radio (this was a fire truck) would not work. SO, they brought it to us.

I found the antenna relay circuit destroyed and the receiver front end mixer transistor blown, and obvious "lightning tracks" in the PA. A close look at the roof mount antenna revealed a burn to the corona ball and melted solder and brass in the mount from the huge current.

This customer brought all of the radio and truck repair receipts to their insurance, who paid for the whole claim, based on my letter of testimony on what I found.

IT CAN HAPPEN, it is very rare, but lightning does hit vehicles.
Keep this in mind as you pursue this.

 

Call me crazy with you..
Driving my Chevy truck, lightning strike hit a tree (I'm guessing) just as we passed. Scared the crap outta everyone and lit the cab up. Wasn't positive but thought it might have hit the truck. Either way after about 30 seconds I asked the other occupants "Is is me or is this seat warmer than what it should be?" They agreed.. There were no other side effects, but all I could figure is the wire frame acted like a toaster heater element.

 

The battery is the original and is probably due for a change, but could a quirky battery really cause all of this?

I didn't want to be the first one to call it lightning. It could be a coincidence I guess...

I was reading up on the forums, and got scared that it might be the ECU.

I do have comp.insurance on the car, so a lightning strike would be covered.

 

ABS Light is on
2. BAS/ESP light is on.
3. Dome light will not turn off when door is shut
4. Fog and Parking Lights stay on even when the **** is on the off position
5. Convertible Top will not work at all. (No beeps, not light)
6. Power lock switch on dash doesn't work.

2. start the car and rotate the steering wheel left to right lock to lock and back to center. this should exstinguish the bas / esp light
3. is the switch in the center? if its to the side it will stay on
5. theres about 5 sensors that could affect the top operation.
eurofix in nashville is a decent shop so is stuggart south. if you want to bring the car to the house i can look at some f the issues. im in murfreesboro

 

Yes. Get a new battery, then re-read 32Krazy!'s post.

That battery owes you NOTHING after all this time, it's time for a new one anyway.
Proceed from there (that is how I would deal with it.)

 

Might even go with disconnect the battery for 15-20 minutes.. kinda does a system reboot..

 

Ok.

I did rotate the steering wheel as instructed and once I put the car and gear, the abs, and BAS/ESP light went off.

I am seeing a few new quirks. The tow away alarm light is now completely illuminated and I cannot disable it.

I also tried the convertible top once more. When I unlatched the top, the windows did go down automatically. The button still does nothing. I was only able to accomplish this once.

I restarted the car and the convertible top button then became solidly illuminated, but when I pushed it, nothing happened.

The dome light is now randomly turning off and on while in the car with the doors closed.

The fog and parking lights still stay illuminated regardless of switch position and the only way thus far to turn them off is to pull the fuse.

Either the electronics took a buzz, or the battery really is causing all of these oddities. Changing the battery isn't a big deal and I'm really hoping that is the issue.

 

Truely the battery will cause a lot of strange things to happen to the car. But, I use small batteries in my cars. They go dead all the time and I have never experienced any signs of trouble other than the car is dead... So, I am skeptical... May be a modul, but Pizza may be on the something since it happened in a storm...I thinking more of a water problem, modul area... we shall see... Interior didn't get wet did it, or the trunk area?

 

I just left town on a quick business trip. When i return, thenfirst order of business will be to change the battery and see where that gets me.

Fingers crossed...

I will update everyone once I've tried that.

Thanks to everyone for your help thus far.

 

Update:

I just replaced the battery as it was completely dead when I got home. The convertible top still does not want to go down, the tow away alarm light is completely illuminated, and the door lock/unlock switch still does not operate the locks.

I'm thinking at this point, the car is due for a trip to a repair shop for further diagnostic.

 

I had a volvo with what seemed unrelated problems- one headlight would not light, front wipers and rear wiper would not stop and other problmes I can't remember. All caused by a bad ground connection behind the head light.

To trouble shoot multiple problems, I usually start with what appears to be the easiest- door lock switch. New thought. Will the door lock switch function when a door is open??
Will the top go down with a door open? Maybe the dome light is telling us something.

 

Unfortunately none of those items work under any given situation. The dome light seems to work when it wants too.

I'm actually going to be gone quite a bit this August, and we just bought a new house. My time available to mess with the car went to zero, so I dropped it off to a shop yesterday. After 24 hours with the car, they still have no idea what is going on, but they are looking. My guess is that they call it lightning and just start replacing things since the insurance will cover the damages.

 

It's gonna take a GOOD electronics technician to fix this. Not sure any shop willl have one.

What they may also need is some spare modules (not easy to find).


Sure wish I was there to swing at it. I need a challenge these days, work is just so boring.
But I STILL think it was lightning.

 

If the battery checks out good, and the car was working well before the storm, I would suspect water infiltrated either a wiring harness or connection to a control unit. If there is a common connection/harness or control module that joins all the affected areas together, perhaps it got wet and is still not dry. Would start with a clean fresh battery, even if it's borrowed for testing. Reset the ECU. Still seems like there's a module that got wet that had 12V on it, grounded out via the water, and now is partially operational.