Bruce, I love you

 

Comparisons between an XKR and a space shuttle. I thought I had heard it all.

The funny thing is these problems affect all current Jaguar models. Or rather, as you put it, all current Jaguar model owners. Anyone without a battery maintainer clearly doesn't have critical thought capability or mechanical ability. I hope these poor people can get educated!

 

if I drive the car every few days would I need a battery maintainer?

my only car issue was the battery died causing a few headaches when I put in a new battery but we are goo now

 

Good God.

 

It probably depends on a few things...

1. how far you drive it
2. whether you have an AGM battery or not
3. the climate

If you drive it a good 30-60 minutes every few days that will probably charge the battery sufficiently to last a few days. If you have an AGM battery (versus a lead acid) the battery will charge faster and will discharge a little bit slower. It seems in cold weather, the electrical problems are worse. I'm not sure of what the connection between battery voltage and temperature is, but there does seem to be some sort of relationship.

Ever since I got an AGM battery, my electrical gremlins are much less frequent, but can still happen on very cold days when the car hasn't been driven in a long time (a week or more).

 

These reports need to be taken with a grain of salt.


Car manufactures like Toyota offer more off the self low end production models. These mass production, cookie cutter, cars are engineered differently with little consideration given to enjoyment or performance. I'd like to see the underlying brand breakdown by model. If the report was stratified by low cost, medium cost, and high end cars, I'm sure you will get a completely different report and again a different report if it were based on luxury or performance cars. To pool all cars from a manufacture together and comparing cars like Nissan Sentra's, Toyota Corolla's etc. against a Jaguar gives the reader little information and is too general.


There was a report a few months ago published saying Jaguar was one of the least popular cars among manufactures compared to Chev, Ford, Nissan, Toyota etc. The report was based on all cars under $100,000. The report was meaningless and garbage to compare sales of a manufacture that only builds $100,000 cars with manufactures like Nissan, Toyota etc. Of course, Nissan sells more Sentra's, it's a completely different market.


I'm sure the 2010-on Jaguar XK is one of the most reliable and best manufactured luxury performance GT cars in it's price range compared to other brands in the same market. However, for Jaguar to be in the top 15 amongst these mass production car brands is good.


Also, different manufactures use different ways to account for servicing their cars. One manufacture may consider low air pressure in a tire as a service hit well others will just have someone go out and put more air in the tire without bringing the in incurring a service record. These reports are so general the reader needs to take them for what they are, very limited information and a lot of noise.

 

If this is the kind of owner that needs to purchase a Jaguar, they are really not going to sell in any volume, and the brand might not survive. I'm willing to put up with a few "gremlins" and can work around them from my experience with some unique cars because I love Jags. BUT asking a majority of new car purchasers if they want to deal with it, and they will choose the Lexus, Mercedes, Porsche, BMW most of the time.

 

I dunno... I have a 2011, which I usually drive about once or twice a week. Sometimes it'll go longer than that, but never too much. I don't have a battery tender and I've never had a battery related issue. I did get something in the mail from Jaguar that said there is some kind of software update that deals with changes to battery management, but as far as I know they haven't updated my car because I always forget to ask for it.

I do always lock my doors though, even in my garage. A while back somebody here did a test and found that the car was drawing power after it had been turned off, but that locking the car caused the draw to stop. Not sure if this applies to newer / older models, but it'd make sense. There was some speculation about what the effects of leaving the car unlocked with the key nearby (as I imagine many do) would be, but I don't think there were any conclusions drawn on that.

 

The locking issue is true for all models. When it's unlocked, the car stays in 'convenience mode' for half an hour, keeping a lot of the systems ready for lift-off in case you jump back in. That's also why just stopping & quickly re-starting the car doesn't always clear temporary electrical gremlins, because many systems stay on. When it's locked, the car begins an orderly shutdown, reducing the power drain from over 10A to <0.5A over about 10 minutes or so (Jaguar says "<20", but that's to achieve the lowest level of 0.03A). So, yeah, lock it when you're not using it, or if you're trying to clear a fault.

The issue of keeping the key nearby when you have the keyless entry system fitted is not conclusively proven, as far as I know. The way the workshop manual is written, it implies that the car communicates with the key before you attempt to unlock the doors. That would imply that the car is always transmitting, and the key will be responding if it is in range, so keeping the key near the car would keep this conversation going all the time.

However, when the manual talks about locking the car using the button on the door, it is clear that pushing the button initiates the conversation between car & key, which actually makes more sense. Having the car transmitting all the time, just in case there's a key approaching, seems daft. My guess is, the manual describes things poorly, and the car transmits only when you pull the handle - there is a brief authentication exchange with the key, then the car unlocks.

If that's correct, having the key within range of the car is not an issue. However, it's probably not good practice from a security perspective!

 

Not really, unless you find you're having problems. I only drive mine every few days (probably twice a week, on average), and that's usually only 1/2 an hour each way at under 30 MPH. I've not experienced any battery issues since the early days of ownership, probably because the battery was low after sitting on the dealer's forecourt for weeks.

I do use a solar maintainer, but only when I'm going to leave the car for more than 2 weeks.

 

Hi all,
Although new to this forum, I've owned my Etype for over 40 years and my XJR, is in it's my 11th (purch. 31-Jul '03). I was amazed that it was only last summer 2013, that I had the battery replaced in the XJR. It was an interesting experience, as I was on beltyway, when every fault light known to man lit up the dash. However, the Jag still got me home. After shutting her down, it never woke-up until the battery was replace.
It's been dealer maintained since new and is just shy of 80K miles. If I know the car will be "asleep", usually most of the winter, I connect a Battery Tender. So, I don't know if my routine added to the longevity of the battery, or not, but I sure got my monies worth out of it.

 

When starting the car for the first time during the day, how long does it take for the main screen to pop up (not the logo screen)? I'm always curious about this as it seems that whenever the battery is fully charged, it comes on immediately. If not, it comes on after several seconds.

 

I know several commercial pilots who fly large passenger jets, probably the most sophisticated machines in the world, who are seriously mechanically challenged. When I expressed surprise at their ignorance I was told, their voices dripping with condescension, “We are pilots, not mechanics”
Later I discovered pilot flight training, although expensive is completed within a year or so. Training a good mechanic, although much cheaper takes much longer.
I think I’d prefer my aircraft mechanic to have a college degree, and my pilot a high school diploma, rather than the other way around.
Regards,
White Bear

 

Never taken enough notice, I'm afraid, - I'll try to monitor it, and see how much slower it is on the first start than subsequent ones. I'll have to discount any where the car has only been stopped for a short time, since it won't have shut down completely.

 

Actually, last spring when my battery was brand new, the main screen would pop up instantly, without even having the logo screen pop up.

 

That is my experience as well and has done it ever since I had the car.

Since I bought my CTEK charger and left it connected to the battery for a whole weekend it comes on instantly every time so I now just use that symptom as a sign that I need to charge it again.

 

That is correct. This is from another source:

System Control

The keyless entry system consists of the Keyless Vehicle Module (KVM), three low-frequency transmitting antennas and a high-frequency receiving antenna. A low-frequency antenna is located in each external door handle. A third low-frequency antenna is mounted in the rear bumper for trunk access.

The high-frequency antenna is located above the roof console. When either door handle is pulled or the external trunk release button is pressed, the KVM activates the low-frequency antenna at the point of access (either door or trunk). If the Smart Key is within 1.0 meter (3.3 ft.) of the active low-frequency antenna, the Smart Key will transmit a high frequency signal which is received by the antenna above the roof console. If the Smart Key's code is recognized, the vehicle will unlock the doors and disarm the security system when accessing a door.

If the trunk is being accessed, the trunk will release but the alarm will remain in an armed state.

The vehicle is locked by pressing the button located on either exterior door handle. Pressing the button will activate the low-frequency antenna within the handle.

If the Smart Key is within 1.0 meter (3.3 ft.) of the active low-frequency antenna, the Smart Key will transmit a high frequency signal which is received by the antenna above the roof console. If the Smart Key's code is recognized, both doors will lock and the security system will be armed.