Secrets of the Jaguar XK8 & XKR Ep 20 VIN code from your ECU
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- Thanks to one of our 'Super subscribers' Andy Kirwan, we have a solution to obtaining the VIN number stored on your Jaguar XK8 & XKR ECU even if you can't do it through a code reader.
wow, now that's cool. It's great to see members are supplying further tricks to our cars.
Nice one Andy! I think John has more than a few ex Jaguar technicians tuning in!
I got an XK8 last week . Love these videos .
Thanks David. And well done on your choice of toy👍
Always so cool. Thanks again John. Looking forward to seeing your next blog. Cheers, Tim
Cool and me, are rarely in the same sentence😉
Thanks for watching Tim
Hi John,
Well done Andy...nice and simple.
Hi John. I could see that the 10’ and 11’ letter in your VIN Code is AR - same as my XK8 from 1997. However - these letters do not match the officiel VIN codes as A should be 1980 og 2010 production year. Any good explanation ? And thanks for some reel good and educating videos.
Hi Tommy. Answered your email just now👍. Thanks for watching, and look after that 96
I never knew that!!
Great
Nice trick! Do you maybe know how to switch miles to kilometres on odometer (XK8 '00 from US market). I've changed it on trip A/B, but mileage is still in miles :/
Hi Unfortunately there is no User accessible method to change the overall Odometer. Its programmed into the ECU at the factory in relation to the territory it will be sold in. A good Jaguar dealer may be able to read and write to the VCATS and change it, but Im not sure. Because if you could do that, it stands to reason you could access the number of miles/KM covered and that will be very well protected.
Sorry
@@ToTheGarage got it, thanks for information! ;)
Hi Andy Like all your tips and tricks. Though this one is not exactly right. The shown number is stored in the odometer, not the ECU. I know because I changed the main instruments in my XK8. Mine was originally sold in the US market which you can see in the whole ID number: SAJ (=Jaguar factory) J (=Jaguarmodel)G(XK-model)X(=made for USA or Mexico)F(=cabriolet)4(auto/LHD)G(=4.0 motor)W(=1998)E(=emissioncode)018924(=VIN number). That VIN number was even in the original odometer which was for the English/american market which is miles/hour. Not that good in Scandinavia wher we use km/hour. I therefore got hold of a main-instrument from a crashed swedish XK8. And changed to that one. And now if I press the A/B and turn on ignition I get the VIN number 020460. My conclusion is that it is stored in the odometer ;-) Best regards Richardt
Fascinating Richardt.
This I did not know.
Is there anyone out there who knows the intricate details on this? Is it in the Instruments only or in both ECU and Instruments?. Can Richardt get his ECU to update the instruments or (and it would seem unlikely) change the VIN number in the instruments?
Lets see what responses we get Richardt👍
Well firts of all- sorry for calling you Andy - distraction, tsk tsk. I have digged into my wrong VIN-number. Got back to the crashed XK8 in Sweden and found the original ID as it is in the door. And YES it was the same production-number as the one I get in the instrument. So the VIN is stored somewhere in the odometer. I would love to be able to reprogramme the odometer - not so much because of the VIN. But as it is it shows wrong distance driven. Now I keep the right distance in a little book with all the modifications that I have made ;-)
Thank you again JOHN for all these secrets
Hi John - don't know if you see messages from the "old days". BUT A friend of mine bought 2 maininstruments from the EBAY Germany with km/hour. First instrument gave a lot of faults in the message-center and it was impossible to turn of the red light because of failure in the motor, transmission and whatever possible failures.... and therefore his car would not drive with this instruement. So he bought another one from a used XKR also in Germany (or Spain? not sure..) and this one showed failures too. So he continued driving around with his US instrument with miles/hour. In december I got hold of a maininstrument from a XK8 in Germany and it was without failures - except for the green message panel. The messages wre blurred (wonder if it is liquid crystals or??). But I got the XKR instrument from my friend and changed the front from his XKR to mine "new" XK8. And voila they work fine together with the VIN number of the XK-instrument.
So CONCLUSION: If you ever want to change the main-instrument from the miles/hour to the km/hour or the other way around, don't change the whole instrument!! If you take them apart and keep the back of your original instrument with the print and just put on the black front you can keep your original VIN-number. I wish I had known. My original VIN instrument now drives around somewhere in another car in Germany with miles/hour.
And I now own a lot of back prints with failures from XK8/XKR that had a lot of failure in the memory of the instruments. Don'T know how to erase these failures(?)
I am going to help yet another friend with an instrument within a couple of weeks - from miles/hour to km/hour
Wonderful cars
How do I open my trunk on a 97 ski coupe having only the green key and stuck in valet mode
a) try Borrowing a friends remote. Programme it to your car. pop the trunk
b) ring Jag with your VIN number and proof of ownership and order the black key.
Hello.
Do you know any way to read the codes for the srs system on a 1997 jaguar xk8 US car.
No it does not come through on obd2 readers that I can find I have tried many different ones.
Also no flash of the light either.
Its just always on I have changed the srs computer and didn't help.
tested the air bags them selves and test good.
Also the front crash sensor tested good as well..
Changed srs fuse still light is always on or the alarm beeps for a few seconds when starting if the light doesn't stay on.
Any way the read the B codes.
Hi John, trust you are well. Do you or any fellow followers please have a VIN decoder for the XK8. I'm looking to buy across the x100 range and have only found generics which have 60% of the 'story'!? Also is it possible to print Gary van Remortel's 'bible' - some greta stuff in there but couldn't access this morning her in Aus? All the best Dave
Im looking into the same thing myself Dave. Know I can subscribe to TOPIX and that 'should' give me all the info but its not cheap (£20 for an hour or £147 for a year) and im loathe to do so without knowing if I can get a full build sheet on my very early car.
I think an annual subscription to TOPIX is well worth it if you are a commercial garage with loads of cars coming through each week but not for the one or two requests I have per year.
Anyone else have a good recomendation for an effective and non scammy VIN look up site that will give us some individual car history without resort to the dealer network or Topix?
@@ToTheGarage I'm in same situation, finally getting to purchase a vehicle (got my eyes on a '97 coupe low kms) and looking to understand the VIN beyond the obvious, one letter 'A' doesn't make sense for '97 (should be 'V'), all else makes some sense for 4l, coupe, etc.. I did find your item on trim colour coding absolutely invaluable - thanks!
Btw vehicle 'in my sights' hasn't had the upper timing chain done (happy to tackle myself with tooling) but has had S479 applied to the ECM to improve cold start issues....should I be worried about the old Nikasil factor - just worried difficult to test for damage absent a blow by (or compression?) test!? Should I shoot for the post 200 model - remind me why you prefer pre?
Take care back there, slowly getting out of isolation here in QLD!!
Hi John, thanks so much for these videos. Doing this on my Jag just returns all zeros - should I be worried? It did have an engine change in its former life and I believe the odometer was replaced at the same time - so I'm guessing that would have affected things? The other VIN numbers front and rear check out ok!
Hi Doug. No need to worry but yes that will be the cause. The ECU, and Instrument pack are a pair and a swapped instrument pack won't report the VIN number. It can I believe be paired up, but thats certainly beyond my skills and software.
If you think about it, its quite clever. The Odometer is reading a legitimate number for the engine, but for those who know the vin code trick (thats you😁) it tells you that the instruments were changed or reset..
@@ToTheGarage Thanks John, appreciate you getting back to me! That's reassuring, and in a way it is nice to only see the mileage that the second engine has done, so I am not reminded about just how many miles the chassis has turned since rolling out of the factory! Once again, love the channel - it has been invaluable to me in getting a feel for the cars prior to purchase, and I hope to share a bit more about mine in the coming weeks. Keep up the great work!
wow, again. Will that work on a 98 XJR?
I would imagine so Mitch. Let us know.👍
Yes. I’m an x308r owner and it does. And should anyone NEED to change the dash board language then reply to this. Don’t want to post too much as people could end up with the wrong language! There is already a land rover owner wondering what is wrong when the dash displays LIQ LAVAV INSUFF 😂
@@AndyK.1 lol, thanks Andy. Look at my page, my hobbies are also Jaguars.
Love these videos. I've got a 2006 XK8 that is displaying a DSC System Fault code on the dash all the time. Any insight on how to fix?
Low battery voltage can give this result or possibly a wheel sensor failure. Code reader will tell you if it's a wheel sensor.
@@mistermikeanson My battery is new. Will check code reader for wheel sensor issue. Thx
@@monicamccready7720 Totally agree with mike.
If its not the battery or wheel sensor it MAY be the ABS control module. There are a couple of soldered joints that commonly fail inside. Although its meant to be a sealed module you can fix them. Not a five-minute job, but doable. I may do a vid in next month or so but a cant promise.