NHTSA Complaint #10078731 — 1998 JAGUAR XJ8L

THE VEHICLES ENGINE STALLED WITHOUT WARNING WHILE DRIVING AT APPROXIMATELY 60 MPH ON A 4-LANE LIMITED ACCESS HIGHWAY. THE INSTRUMENT PANEL DISPLAY READ ENGINE STALLED. MY WIFE WAS DRIVING AND SHE WAS ABLE TO COAST THE CAR TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD TO A SAFE STOP. FORTUNATELY THERE WAS NO OTHER TRAFFIC IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY. THE ENGINE RESTARTED ONCE THE IGNITION WAS TURNED OFF AND BACK ON. WE HAVE EXPERIENCED SIMILAR INTERMITTENT STALLING OVER THE LAST YEAR OR SO, BUT NEVER AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS. LAST JULY (2003) A LOCAL JAGUAR DEALER REPLACED THREE (3) ENGINE RELAYS AND DECLARED THE PROBLEM FIXED, BUT IT STARTED RE-OCCURRING AGAIN WITHIN A FEW MONTHS. THE CAR IS CURRENTLY IN THE SHOP HAVING THE PROBLEM LOOKED AT AGAIN. THE INITIAL RESPONSE FROM THE TECHNICIAN WAS THAT THE SAME THREE ENGINE RELAYS ARE BAD AGAIN, BUT I ASK FOR A MORE THOROUGH ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM TO BE PERFORMED& WHY ARE THE RELAYS GOING BAD? OUR EXPERIENCE SOUNDS SIMILAR TO NUMEROUS OTHER COMPLAINTS (SEE LIST OF IDS BELOW) LOGGED ON THE NHTSA WEB SITE FOR OUR MAKE, YEAR AND MODEL (AND OTHER SIMILAR MODELS). THERE ARE ALSO MANY, MANY OTHER REPORTS OF SIMILAR EXPERIENCES ON JAGUAR-RELATED BULLETIN BOARDS ALL OVER THE WEB. THERE ARE EVEN INDICATIONS THAT A RECALL MIGHT BE PENDING, BUT I COULDNT FIND ANY DEFINITIVE INFORMATION TO VERIFY THAT. THE DEALER SERVICE TEAM DOESNT HAVE, OR ISNT WILLING TO PROVIDE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT ANY PENDING ACTIONS. UNDER THE RIGHT CONDITION, THIS FAILURE COULD LEAD TO DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES. OTHER SIMILAR COMPLAINTS TO NHTSA: ODI ID NUMBER : 548127. *AK ODI ID NUMBER : 10014366 ODI ID NUMBER : 10038465 ODI ID NUMBER : 10040883 ODI ID NUMBER : 10057140 ODI ID NUMBER : 10065259 ODI ID NUMBER : 10074913 ODI ID NUMBER : 10001379 ODI ID NUMBER : 10070414 ODI ID NUMBER : 10024745 ODI ID NUMBER : 10031410 ODI ID NUMBER : 10072764 ODI ID NUMBER : 890973 ODI ID NUMBER : 895022 ODI ID NUMBER : 10042999