Gear box fault

Hey Bill,
I have an '03 X-Type Sport 3.0 and I've been having the same problem. I was going about the same speed when it kicked into 4th gear then down to 3rd. As soon as it happened the trans fault light came on followed by "cruise not available" and "dsc system fault". This is the second time this has happened and it seems to be only during a rain storm. Also, the gauges on the dash all went to zero, excluding the fuel gauge, and all the lights came on (engine, brake, abs, oil temp, etc).

I went online and found someone who had the exact same issue. Apparently there is a short in the wiring harness that is causing it. Turns out that there is a wiring harness between the engine compartment and the dashboard which controls a number of things including the dashboard instruments and the transmission controller. There is a point in the path of this harness where it makes a 90 degree turn. It turns out that the harness was rubbing against some metal right where it makes the turn and the insulation had worn off on of the wires in the harness and was shorting against the body of the car. The insulation was just barely worn through so that's why it didn't happen all the time. Whenever the wire shorted, it glitched the signals going to the transmission controller and the transmission would detect an error and go into "Fault" mode. They only found it by accident when they leaned on the harness and the problem instantly occurred.

I just found this out today, and I tried playing around with the wires myself but the trans fault light is still on. I'm going to try to get it into my friends shop tomorrow and really get into it. I'll let you know if I get it fixed. Hey Bill, I have an '03 X-Type Sport 3.0 and I've been having the same problem. I was going about the same speed when it kicked into 4th gear then down to 3rd. As soon as it happened the trans fault light came on followed by "cruise not available" and "dsc system fault". This is the second time this has happened and it seems to be only during a rain storm. Also, the gauges on the dash all went to zero, excluding the fuel gauge, and all the lights came on (engine, brake, abs, oil temp, etc). I went online and found someone who had the exact same issue. Apparently there is a short in the wiring harness that is causing it. Turns out that there is a wiring harness between the engine compartment and the dashboard which controls a number of things including the dashboard instruments and the transmission controller. There is a point in the path of this harness where it makes a 90 degree turn. It turns out that the harness was rubbing against some metal right where it makes the turn and the insulation had worn off on of the wires in the harness and was shorting against the body of the car. The insulation was just barely worn through so that's why it didn't happen all the time. Whenever the wire shorted, it glitched the signals going to the transmission controller and the transmission would detect an error and go into "Fault" mode. They only found it by accident when they leaned on the harness and the problem instantly occurred. I just found this out today, and I tried playing around with the wires myself but the trans fault light is still on. I'm going to try to get it into my friends shop tomorrow and really get into it. I'll let you know if I get it fixed.