Bill,
That's because when I joined this Forum 10 years ago I knew as much about my XKR as you do now. This is a great place to learn a lot about our cars and appreciate how great they are in terms of design, materials, and how they were manufactured.

Enjoy these two videos.


Top Gear 2007 XKR

Stuart

 

Thanks for bringing this back to life @Stuart S . This captures exactly what I think about these cars.
and better yet, very few know.

It’s for the reasons listed in these videos that I really need to think about “will this modification enhance”?
I love driving the car hard and some of those mods are strictly for looks, not handling.

 

I just checked the CTEK cables for continuity, and all came back good on the multimeter. The car seems OK now, so I won't ask for more help at this time. If it acts up again, I will come back here with symptoms. Thanks again everyone for the good advice, and Stuart for the great video!

 

Thanks for the update Bill, hope all stays well.

 

I had similar problems with my 2010 XKR where the battery would be flat for no apparent reason. Many visits to dealer, new battery etc. Then I found a service bulletin that shows a problem with the battery monitoring module. Has this changed and no problems since. Not too expensive, CAN$300 and I got Jag to pay for it! Might be worth checking if your VIN is one of the affected cars.

 

I used to hang my key just inside the garage door which was about 6 ft from the ignition but thru the wall. Kept going thru key fob batteries and needing to charge the battery as well (before I put maintainer on it) found out this was too close and caused usage due to attempted communication between items. That’s also when I learned to always lock the car. So key fob distance is also an issue it seems. Still go thru fob batteries about every 2 months when using regularly. A little better since I started using higher quality batteries also.

 

I have six Jaguars sitting in my driveway. A 95- XJ6, a 98-XJ8, a 2000 4.0 S-type and three 3.0 X-type's. In regard to battery issues. I can only trust the X-type. Which explains my affection for this model.
The XJ's and the S-type share the same battery maintenance issues that many of you also suffer. The word suffer hardly describes how inconvenient this is. I've never owned any other vehicle that drains
batteries the way these cars do. I have installed brand new batteries, just to find the new battery dead the next day. I can't trust these cars. This is far from practical and absolutely unacceptable.
I love the way these cars drive. But these electrical issues are driving me away. Jaguar has a long history of electrical issue that go way back before Ford took over Jaguar. These unresolved electrical
issues almost killed the company. It was the primary reason that most buyers steer clear of Jaguar. Why Jaguar has not effectively corrected this battery issue is unforgivable. Just the fact that right here on this
forum, many of you openly admit that you have to "maintain" your cars battery between uses. Only highlights your complacency with this issue. If you have your "pet" Jaguar sitting in the garage. By all means, put
a maintainer of the battery if the car is not driven often. We use our cars as daily drivers. All to many times I have gone out to use one and the battery was stone dead. Only the X-type can be trusted to be useful.
The XJ6 has sat next to our garage for years without use. When we first purchased this car, it ran great. Until we began having problems with the battery being dead the next morning. I eventually tracked the problem
down to the security system. Inside each door is a micro switch that tells the security system the latch position. These switches need to all send the same signal. I had one that was stuck and never changed. This put the
security system active all the time. Draining the battery. I corrected this and the car ran great again right up to the point when it just stops running. The car was electrically dead. I eventually found a "cooked" main
connector on the frame near the right front headlight. I have not been able to find what is overloading that circuit.
The 98 XJ8 is a car I picked up for $400 and needed motor work. The car is in great shape other then the usual problems with the clear coat. In all honestly, we have not used the car since I completed the engine rebuild.
That doesn't mean I trust that it will not have the same problem as the XJ6, being these cars are very similar. Right now it sits because the fuel pump has failed.
The 4.0 S-type has been this ongoing battle that appears to have no solution. This car was purchased and needed motor work. I installed a professionally rebuilt engine. The engine is a beast, and the car ran great at first.
Then came the constant battery failures. We now keep the car plugged in to a maintainer whenever it's parked. I have tried to monitor the current draw on various circuits while the car is shut off. That has not bore any fruit.
I've tried to isolate different circuits in an effort to corner the power drain without totally gutting the cars interior.
I've owned Chevys and Fords. Dodges and Toyotas. I've owned a Datsun 240Z. We had a couple Buicks for a short while. None of these cars have ever given me battery or electrical issues like these Jags do.
My father was an auto mechanic. I grew up around cars. I've never seen this before. How one manufacture can allow these similar issues to persist over decades. Makes me question a willingness to solve the problem.
At some point, you would think that leadership would stop and decide that they need to reevaluate their engineering. The idea that you can not connect a charger directly to a battery makes my head hurt. Many of you
have advocated the practice of connecting ground to a frame ground to protect damaging the electronics. A ground point no more then 10 inches from the battery. If the electronics can not handle a 12 volt surge. Then
there is a major engineering problem. Voltage is not the problem, Current is the problem. Something is drawing way to much current and that is what damages the circuit. It's also what drains the battery.
In my years of automation industrial repair. We often would see these high voltage motor starters fail due to a poor connection. The poor connection would spike the current across the contacts and blow out the contacts.
Something very similar is at work here. The problem is locating this poor connection in the miles of wire inside one of these cars. It's clear that Jaguar engineers have not learned their lesson, following their failures during
the 70's and 80's and I don't have the time to be constantly chasing these electrical failures.
I'm pretty much at the point of being done with this phase in my life. I'm ready to start selling them off and buy something American made that I can actually trust. Repairing my Jaguars has become a full time job I don't need.

 

Let start by saying that I've been charging my battery wrong for a few years. I fixed negative cable attachment but I wonder if there is a way for me to test BSM to make sure it's OK.

 

I attach my 120v battery charger/maintainer to the remote positive on the left side and the remote negative on the right side . Some here attach the negative to a more convenient body bolt or such on the left, but such a point will likely involve higher resistance paths and consequently hot spots under starting currents.

 

Something isn't right then. I have had my '10 XKR for 3 years and use it most days and haven't had to change the fob batteries.

 

Same, for one fob I think I’m on the third battery in 12 years, the other fob had a rinse in the wash and though it fully works, needs a battery change once per month.

As for vehicle batteries, I’ve had quite a few (10) JLR products starting in 2003. Now some were 2-3 year leases so I can’t include them in this case study but for others the batteries have consistently lasted about 6 years. And for the most part other makes as well (Mercedes, VW, Jeep, Infiniti, Ram, etc) The exceptions have been an Infiniti QX80 which went through 2 batteries in a 3 year period from new and a 2015 L319 which is on its 4th warranty battery AND had the BMS replaced in 2017.

 

Help - Just purchased a new CTEK MXS 5.0 for my 2010 XK Convert. Works fine with the clamps attached to Positive inside back grille and Negative to ground point in spare tire wheel well When I attempt to attach the permanent 'Harness' ant then connect the CTEK - I get a Red Light indicating a problem. Car is now in hard Service Mode. Taking it in for Reset today. Any thoughts?? The harness ohms out OK. Fuse is fine. Any help is appreciated.

 

First of all, you know that your CTEK works, since you successfully attached it to the remote battery terminals in the trunk using the alligator clips. It appears that you did something wrong when you attempted to attach your CTEK directly to the battery using the eyelet connector pigtail. I know it's a stupid question, but was that pigtail attached to your CTEK when you attempted to attach it to your battery?

We need to know exactly what you did when you attached your CTEK eyelet connector pigtail to the battery. Specifically, what did you disconnect and connect, in what order, and to where; was the ignition on or off or in Convenience Mode; did you connect the CTEK to the pigtail before or after you plugged it into the wall socket?

I've had my battery maintainer connected to the remote battery terminals using alligator clips with no problems for many years, and see no advantage in permanently attaching it with the eyelet pigtail.

 

The CTEK MX 5.0 instruction manual states that the order of connection should be:

• Connect pigtail to battery
• Connect pigtail to MX 5.0
• Connect MX 5.0 to wall socket.

Let us know if this works out for you after the reset.

 

For the 5.0L models, never connect the negative pigtail directly to the negative battery terminal. Doing so can damage the BMS module. Connect it to a chassis ground.

I explained this in my Post #3, above.

 

Sorry I should have been more clear.

I did not mean to suggest that letsgoblue 67 should connect the negative lead to the battery if his car is a 5.0L, only that the pigtail should be connected BEFORE connecting to the maintainer or connecting the maintainer to mains power.

 

Thanks, Stuart, for the prompt reply. I started fine with the clamps - unit worked fine. Then - with car ignition OFF - I attached the Red lead to the Positive terminal inside the grille at rear of trunk. Then attacked the Black (negative) lead to a body stud located in spare tire wheel well. When connected to CTEK - just the Red indicator light came on - and unit signaled SMALL battery - toggled the Mode button several times with no luck. Disconnected everything and went back to the clamps. The car apparently went into Service Mode - audible alarm in dash when in motion (Drive or Reverse) - could not get it out of Service Mode - the reset procedure (which I've performed several times after oil change) would NOT reset. Left car charging over the weekend - it ran today just fine - no alarm. We now permanently hooked the 'harness' inside battery 'hatch' at back of trunk under the top storage well. All works fine now. Appreciate your response.

 

I'm glad you got it fixed.

 

I don't think it damages it, it just confuses it because you are putting a charge on the battery that it isn't aware of.

 

The Jaguar BMS Module reminds me of a other BMS device - the Biden Memory Saver. It gets him confused when it wakes him up but there's no damage since he's not aware that anything happened. If Biden doesn't remember it, he didn't do it.