Hi,

My name is Sidney from Germany. I am a very proud new XK driver. It is a XK 4.2 Coupe from 2007 and I bought it with 53k kilometres and one year guarantee from a official jag dealer.

In the last days I already had a lot of fun, even if just having a quick visit in the garage for having a look on the car because of the bad weather. What bothers me a little bit is something that happend in the first days and probably you can help me with that. I put the ignition on (without starting the engine) in order to acquaint myself with the different functions. After 6 or 8 minutes a message appears that the ABS has failed/is not working followed by the DSC, pedestrian protection and speed control. As I tried to start the engine the car swichted off and locked completely. Also the trip recorder and the time format (again 12h instead of previously set 24h) got lost. Some minutes later I was able to start the engine, speed control message and curve light lamp still blinking but disappears some minutes later. Is that something I should worry about or is it only due to weak/becoming weaker battery condition?

Some replies would be really appreciated, probably you can give also some additional hints about the things I should pay attention to.

Thanks

Sidney

 

Welcome aboard!! You are in for a treat with your new XK. Your XK was suffering from the "weak battery syndrome" (my name for it). All kidding aside these cats have lots of electronics in them and they are notorious drains on the battery. However, there is a fairly simple inexpensive cure -- Acquire a CTek battery tender which you can find online either on Amazon or Ebay at a cost of around $60-$65. Hook it up as directed in either the driver's manual or the Ctek instructions to the battery (which is in the trunk on the left side) and keep the Ctek plugged in when not using the jaguar and the problem will most likely disappear.

On the other hand your cat is 8 - 9 years old and may be ready for a new battery. If so, the recommended type is an AGM not lead acid battery. For more information in the search box up above type in Ctek or battery issues and you will find several threads dealing with this issue.

Happy driving!!

 

Ralph,

Lead-acid batteries include (1) the wet cell or "flooded", with removeable caps for adding distilled water to replenish the electrolyte; (2) the gel cell, which is usually sealed; and the Absorbed Glass Mat. Instead of the electrolyte sloshing around inside the case ("wet-cell" or "flooded"), it is absorbed into a glass fiber mat. AGM is still a lead-acid battery.

See: https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/arti...ry-basics.html

Good advice about using a CTEK battery maintainer. Also, be sure to always lock your doors, even if you're parked in your garage, to shut off Convenience Mode and minimize electrical drain on your battery.

Stuart

 

I am stickler for that one. I also leave the CTEK quick connect attached to the battery.

 

The second day I had my XKR, I killed the battery by accidently leaving convenience mode on. Fortunately it shuts off at 7 volts, so the battery won't be completely dead. Your emergency key can pop the trunk, so you can charge it up.

I would avoid any wet battery, as it's inside the car, and would go gel at minimum. I do the same with my motorcycles, as spills can get quite messy/dangerous. A sealed battery is much safer.

 

While many recommend the battery charger, I don't. I would suggest a new battery though, if yours is currently not working properly. This car was not designed to require a battery charger attached to it when you park it for the night. If the battery is not holding a charge, then fix whatever is draining it. Putting a charger on it does not fix the underlying problem. My car is also a 2007 and it never required a battery charger to keep the battery from draining and neither should yours. But again -this is just my personal opinion and others here will disagree. Since you say the dealer gave you a one year warranty, then it might be time to start using it to fix your current problems.

 

I think the general consensus is that the battery tender is really mainly needed if you don't drive the car regularly. I used my 08xk for a daily driver and rarely had issues but noticed if I hadn't driven the car for several days to weeks then I would have wonky electrical issues like nav head unit not coming on or freezing. I got a ctek for my new xkr as i drive it less often.

 

I agree that if you do not it regularly then the tender would be of help to keep the battery strong. But then the bigger question is...why the heck are you NOT driving this amazing car regularly???

 

If I had a convertible, I'd probably be less inclined to drive it in the winter months. Don't know why, it just doesn't feel like the right thing to do. Only on the warmest and dryest of winter days does the stingray come out.

 

Since this is a recent purchase and unless you have any recent history to give you a head start, I would definitely suggest purchasing fa fresh new battery. After that, if you drive the car regularly, there should be no real issues unless there is an under lying electrical drain somewhere. However most of our issues are resolved with a new and fully charged battery. If you don't drive your car regularly and it does sit for a week or more, definitely go for a CTEK battery charger. There are many posts on keeping your battery fully charged for you to look at on this forum. Good luck and enjoy.