"Stability Control Fail" light on.

It sounds like if this is a car with the brake interlock, meaning the car will not shift from park unless the brake is pressed, there is a malfunction there, some are electronic and it may not be getting power to it especially if there are other warning lights on the dash. It would help if you could give more details, like which lights are on. Most cars with a mechanical interlock will have a cable you can adjust either at the brake cable or at the shifter.

have the check engine light checked at a parts store its usuall free. I would bet its the idle air control motor. This controls the fuel air mixture at idle

the stab light comes on if the battery is low because you are cranking the engine your aj26 v8 engine may have a common problem for cars up to that model/year with worn nicosil coated bores ie. low compression check the vin no. at your jag dealer you can get it started by removing the spark plugs and putting a egg cup of engine oil in to each of the cylinders the first thing to do is to check for fault codes using a obd code reader for a clue followed by a compression test

Hi David,

Sounds very suspicious of a failing alternator. BMW alternators are notorious for failing when hot. I would high recommend having the alternator checked while hot..ie after a long test drive. Usually the voltage regulators fail, but I would recommend the entire alternator. Both Bosch and Valeo brands are usually interchangeable. I would recommend the cheaper price of the 2. It could save you a few hundred dollars.

Take it back to where you got it and make them refund your purchase price. If they refuse and you finianced it go to them, There a law called "The Lemon Law" that makes it unlawful to sell something like that. Sounds like you sure bought one. Don't do anything to it just get hold of the place where you bought it and tell them to come get their junk out of your yard! dhgill1949

Check the battery connections on the positive post. I have a 96 Caddilac Deville and had simuliar issues. On alot if GM cars a dual booted connectors are installed on the positive/red side of the battery. Over time and battery replacements the connections wear out or become less effective causing voltage issuses in the ECM thus createing troubles through out. I removed both boots and and direct connected both leads. No more speedometer issues.

Wouldn't think sensor or computer problem , more likely an ignition module . When it dies pull a plug wire an check for spark ,i think you will find no spark . Just from my 30 years of diagnosing GM vehicle's this has been the #1 cause of a start an run till warm an dies an wait 20 min . to an hour an it starts again problem. But without testing to know for sure that would be a guess . Having a qualified an certified repair technician diagnose the problem is always the best idea.

Just a quick mention - for about a month my XK8 low coolant light came on intermittently. This week with no notice while driving normally I got Stability Control Fail and FailSafe Engine Mode and wtih great difficulty got the car back to where I started from (less than a mile). Two days later (when got time) and after a bit of research, I tried it again - same problem and a very unhappy engine. I then disconnected the battery for 15 minutes (probably more) to clear the engine codes as well as check all the wiring and vacuum stuff I could under the hood (at a Jaguar master mechanic's recommendation). No problems found but the car would start and immediately stall with the air intake hose disconnected from the intake butterfly. After I reconnected the air intake hose, she started and purred like normal. The problem is the BATTERY... It is low - I've known it for a LONG time BUT it always started right up and never skipped a beat. I intend to replace it tonight but fully expect that's the issue. I've had the car 6 years (it's a 98) and had NO problems except a dead taillight asembly.

Hope this is of value...

sounds like its not accident related, more like a idle air control motor or something of that nature, ive also herd of this happening when the crank sensor is going bad, it warms up and starts missing the signal.

Some cars cut off as a fail safe to overheating especially on newer cars. The computer controls the fans and if they are not working the computer is probably telling the car to shut off. Have you replaced the motors already, if not, this is what's happening. Once you replace the motors it should run fine. I wouldn't suggest driving it too much with this problem as it may affect the computer by giving it false info.