I’ve been having trouble starting if I leave the car for more than a few days. On Christmas Day we loaded up to go for the family lunch. With perfect timing she decided to refuse.
A specialist car electric workshop has recently had it overnight. They said that it’s electrically very clean and shuts down well. I’ll be leaving to with them when we go skiing for a week in March to see what might wake up and drain it but would like to replace my two year old battery anyway. Could anyone tell me what’s the best quality battery to buy in the UK. Yes I will fully charge it before installation.

 

I've recently replaced my battery after 2 years following some problems. It turned out not to be the battery but I just wanted to rule that out first.

I decided to buy an AGM this time. A lot more expensive but I decided to rule out battery problems completely.

Put your reg no. into Tayna batteries and you can see what they have on offer. The non-AGMs are around £100 and the AGMs are around double that. I chose the Bosch AGM at £180 but Yuasa are also good. Anything around £200 will be good quality. Delivery is usually next day, even at this time of year.

Richard

 

Just fyi, you probably know that many owners recommend a trickle charger. I have bought a CTEK but am reluctant to start plugging it in, as the battery is dated 2017 and works fine. I do not leave it parked much more than a day or two.

 

I have a CTEK trickle charger, but the car is parked on the driveway as don’t have a garage, so it’s a bit of a faff on. Instead I have installed a solar panel charger on the rear parcel shelf held down by black elastic cord, both from Amazon. It’s not particularly elegant, but since installing it I have never had an issue starting the car - even after 3 weeks of non use. There is a thread going on jaguarforum.com - the UK site where other members have had a lot of success using this method.

 

Another Tayna recommendation for members in the UK. Competitive prices and rapid delivery. I've had three batteries from them. Their impact and spill-proof packaging is a work of art.


You are likely to find the battery drops off a cliff rather than gradually fails. One day the vehicle will start as normal and the next it won't turn over. Around five years is normal lifespan although we do have members reporting still having a perfectly serviceable battery after twelve years. Batteries are a lottery but regular use of a CTEK certainly extends the life.

As a new owner, I recommend you familiarise yourself with the external battery connection points. The day you can't get to the Owner's Handbook in the glove box or a dead battery in the luggage compartment is not the time to start finding out.

Graham

 

Also lock the car when leaving it to minimize battery draw from the security system. The system shuts down to its at-rest state quicker when the car is locked.
And +1 on Graham’s recommendation to learn the external connection points for jumping the battery before they are needed.

 

Thanks all that’s most helpful. I’ve actually had the car for 15 years and it’s usually very well behaved!

 

Mine's in its 7th year - it's down to 600 crank amps from 800. I give it a charge very occasionally if I've been doing short trips. My drain at shutdown is 6 milli-amps.

 

Also shut off stereo and climate. Then completely shut off infotainment screen (past Jaguar logo to black). I've left my car in storage for 3 weeks w/ very little drain. Thanks to Panthera for sharing this.

 

Thanks Richard and others.
All v helpful.
I’m looking at Tayna/Bosch still at around the same price. Is there anything this ignoramus needs to know about swapping the battery on my 2007 XK 4.2? For example, is it best to maintain power using a battery booster whilst making the swap?

 

I used an old battery and connected it with jump leads to the +ve terminal in the left hand side of the boot (behind) the inspection grill) so I didn't have to reset anything. However, all you do have to reset is the windows (to restore the one-touch and crush protection features) and the parking brake (which happens as soon as you apply it) so it's not much hassle if you don't use a booster.

Richard

 

UNLESS you need to have an MOT or equivalent. Emissions status will be reset as well as the windows and brake. That'd make about 200 miles of driving before the emissions self tests have completed.

 

Well done. Though I don’t lock the car when she is in the garage, mine sits without issue for 3+ months.

As for maintaining the learned memory of the car during a battery swap… I purposely don’t. I want to go through the re setting and re learning process. It keeps me and her ‘fresh’.

 

Good advice...you have motivated me to hook up the CTEK and look up those jumper points. Thank you!

I do lock the car always. I currently keep it outside (covered) and have qualms about having the charger outside but more about keeping it in the car. Any thoughts there? And FWIW, I use a cell phone charger that also displays voltage in the cigarette outlet on the console ...not a big deal but I do like having an eye on the actual house voltage...the car is a little over-automated for me. One of very few complaints.

Quick question: I see your 2014 is a Signature Edition. I read in a Nigel Thorley book that all 2015 XK's were Signature Editions, though I don't see any confirmation of this exalted status on my car. Has painted Orona wheels rather than the Kalimnos or Takoba he mentions. But some of the other features seem to be there. How do you know this...?

 

Having owed XJ Series 2, XF, S-Type, and X-type this failing of the battery in my 08 XKR is new to me. Never had a problem with any other Jaguar and that is with storing the S-Type and XJ sitting over winters in the Northeast.

 

I'm ashamed to say this, but I grabbed a 15 year old Varta AGM battery off my daily driver and slapped it onto the XK. Trickle charged it once a month and never had an issue.

 

Just checked the battery voltage. Zero loss in 2 weeks. Commercial grade meter. Agree on avoiding having to do a reset.

I bought a clamp on ammeter (thanks CJ, didn't even know they existed). Found a 40A version after problems w a high quality 10A meter. I leave the battery panel off so it's simple to check the draw. Do a trunk latch "screwdriver lock" while in storage so I can check draw anytime when the car's off. If you're starting from ignition on, interesting to watch the amperage drop over time and see the end results.

 

As I started this thread, I thought it might be useful to post an update.

Back in January I bought a Bosch S5 A13 AGM battery and fitted it myself. As I’m UK based, I also followed forum advice and bought mail order direct from Tayna Batteries. Excellent service. After a few minutes run, it seemed to sort all the systems out apart from the satnav which has only come live today (!?). The big test was leaving it for over a week whilst we went skiing. Happily it started first time on return. I did also follow advice from this forum by pre-charging the battery for 24 hours before fitting, shutting the display down to a black screen and storing the keys well away from the vehicle. I’ve no idea which of these precautions actually worked but summat did!