I hope you all can help? I just had my xk shipped from north Carolina to san diego. the car was on the truck for 8 days and started fine when it was unloaded. I drove it home 4 miles without incident.


several hours later I was going to head out for a drive and the car will not start...batt seems dead but not so dead that the a/c was blowing and had enough power to raise the top. just dead enough to apparently not be able to crank the engine.


this seems very odd. what is happening here? help??

 

maybe the battery is not the issue?? any feedback appreciated.

 

Pete,
Welcome to the forum! You'll find lots of helpful members and information here. Learn to use the search function, since most, if not all, of your questions probably have already been answered.

2007-up XK/XKR (X150) models are known for having electrical gremlins when their batteries get weak. Since your car wasn't started for 8 days and the condition of the battery prior to that time is unknown, my first suspicion is a weak battery. If you don't already have a battery maintainer, the CTEK brand is used by many members. Get the battery tested and if it's OK charge it and see if it starts your car. Good luck and keep us updated.

Stuart

 

ok. battery charged. now some very screwy stuff is to ensue. car fires great...no problem.


problem: the top will not go down. the rear little windows will go down when I try to lower the roof. the door windows will not go down...until I try to press the raise the roof function.


seriously odd!!!


I then disconnected the neg batt cable foor 5 mins...I did leave the pos cable in place.


upon hooking the neg cable back...lights went on and the systems in the engine compartment began to make some odd sounds as if to say things were working again.


but...the roof still does not work and does the same screwy window stuff.

 

stuart, I appreciate the reference to the search function. I am quite familiar with it but was only able to find one seemingly similar scenario regarding the roof. plenty of battery tender info however as you suggest.


don't know what a system restore means nor requires...don't know why the roof is not working and the windows are acting as they are?


I was in quite a hurry to be somewhere but I am left stranded at home in my new car

 

Another thing - always lock your car even when it's parked in your garage. Locking shuts down all of the computers. Otherwise, convenience mode stays awake for a while (I think it's around 20 minutes) and that can cause a weak battery to run down further and not have enough power to start your engine, even though your courtesy lights may work.

And keep your smartkey at least 20 feet away from your car so it doesn't keep activating convenience mode and running down the battery.

Stuart

 

any thoughts on the top and the loss of functionality?

 

Both the top and the windows need to be reset. There are threads about both. I don't recall the exact steps for the top reset, but window reset easy. They're both in the Owners Handbook. Good luck!

I'd post the links but I'm replying from my cellphone and can't do it.

 

thank you stuart. I will try.

 

You'll probably have to reset your seat memory and radio presets since you disconnected the battery.

 

To reset the windows and top, hold the up button on the drivers window until all the way up, keep holding it for a few seconds and you hear a faint beep. Hold the down button for a few seconds after it is all the way down and you will hear a beep again. Repeat for the passenger window. This should reset the windows and the top. The seats, radio, etc shouldn't need to be reset.

Govtslug

 

That sucks to have a problem right on delivery. Electrical issues are certainly not exclusive to Jag's, my recent car was a BMW 650, all the issues brought up on there were common there also. Modern luxury cars have so many sensors, systems, computers, etc. that it taxes batteries and alternators to a high degree.

Like many on here who use a tender, I hooked my BMW up to a trickle charger once a week to give it a top off. I called it my Prius. Mainly because my Wife's commute to work is 4 miles in stop and go traffic so the alternator never gets a chance to recharge the battery hogging systems.

Give your battery a solid trickle charge overnight. If you continue to have issues your battery may be getting weak. Since you bought an older XK it may be hard to tell how old the battery is?

 

back on the road. this forum was helpful. I must say that I am smitten by what I think is a truly handsome car and very nice to drive as well.


I am not so pleased that the systems are so needy. the re-set everything when the battery is disconnected or is anything's...totally not acceptable to me. my Ferraris and porsches are never this way and they too are essentially zero mile garage art. but when I want to drive them, they are simply ready...reconnect the ground cable and go. the xk is also only a 5k mile car - it is new! in my mind, it should not be w/ any issue. clearly this xk will not be so user friendly when I travel east for a month at a time and return...it will not be as easy as simply connecting the ground strap and rolling off.


clearly this car will need a battery tender. I will begin to look into that over the weekend..


thank you again to everyone as I really can get frustrated with these things and you all really talked me off the ledge.


ii think this was just a bad day and added to the broken antenna during shipping...a bit of a straw that broke the camels back kind of thing

 

Most likely, as stated, your car is fine, your battery not so much. Replace your battery, period, install a smart charger and plug it in everyday and life WILL be good. Do not count on your alternator regardless of how far you drive everyday to fully charge your battery. These cars need the battery at 101% at all times. I strapped my battery tender to my battery. I get home I open the hatch plop out the plug in for the charger and shut the hatch. Takes all of 10 seconds. Is it ridiculous to plug in your car everyday.... yes, but it works. Once you do this your issues disappear, guaranteed...ish.

 

All the symptoms described are related to battery voltage being low - all of them. Replace the battery, and install a CTEK charger , lock the car when not in use and use the CTEK unit when the car is not actually being used. Result? ZERO problems. If the battery voltage drops even a bit you WILL get random issues with seat movement, the top, the windows, warning lights, the touchscreen, etc. In every case the problem is a simple one: low battery voltage. Please believe this....see the photo of my happy, trouble-free 07 resting with the CTEK unit plugged in.

 

ferraripete, what do you know about the bat's history? When I took delivery of my '08, one of my first installations was a new battery and a battery tender. I too am a CTEK user. I like it's available 4 to 8 stage charging technology.
Welcome to the group....

 

new batt will be installed next week. cheap peace of mind.

 

Pete,

I recommend that you get an AGM battery (not a flooded battery) see: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...acement-54583/ and a CTEK MUS4.3 battery maintainer see: You'll be glad you did. Make sure the new battery is vented to the outside, like the OEM battery.

You won't have any electrical gremlins if you always keep your XKR on a battery maintainer and keep the doors locked. That's been my experience - no gremlins ever.

I agree that it would be nice to simply disconnect the ground cable to keep your battery from discharging. I did that on my '60 Vette with a ground cable accessory knob that unscrewed to open that circuit;much quicker and easier than disconnecting the cable. But like my old Vette, you can't compare the electrical systems of your early Ferraris and Porsche to your 2007 XKR, as those '80 models didn't have the multiple power-hungry computer modules that are in your XKR that, if they lose power or are disconnected, can cause all sorts of gremlins. That's the price of progress.

If this was helpful, please press at the bottom right.

Stuart

 

I got my car 15 months ago and it had 6600 miles on it (2012 XKR). It was a trade in to a dealer for a new F-type and was purchased at that dealer. I asked the dealer for the service data and they ran me a PDF copy of the history. 6 Months before I bought the car the battery was replaced under warranty as it was dead. The car sat for a month as we closed the deal and it was shipped to my home. It started right up and I put it in the garage. Being on this site for 6-8 months prior to me buying the Jag I got the point of the battery issue. So when I put the car on my lift I also put my 10 amp charger on it and the needle jumped up while charging. After 4 hours it dropped down to less then an amp charging. I removed the charger and put my smart charger on it. In about a half hour it went from yellow to green and the battery was fully charged. I use the car about 3-4 days a week and just around town but at the end of the day I plug in the smart charger and it goes green in about 15 mins. Just my experience and so far no issues.

 

Hey ferraripete,
First of all, welcome to the "club," I'm sure you'll sort out the battery/starting issue with the new battery and charger. Secondly, I see that 1983 512bbi in your avatar. My late best friend hid his 512bbi from his ex-wife in my garage for two years about 30 years ago. I've always thought it was (is) one of the most graceful designs ever to come out of modern Ferrari. But I am surprised that you can just reconnect the battery and go after letting it sit. On my '72 Pantera, if it isn't started every week, you end up having to pour gasoline down the secondaries to get it started. I finally wasn't driving it at all knowing what a pain in the **** it would be to start. I decided to change it to fuel injection because if I wasn't going to drive it at least once in a while, then why keep it. It has been in the shop for about 6 months (rebuilding, upgrading engine, cooling system....) and I should be getting it back in the next few weeks.
There is something very special about '70-early '80's Italian automotive design that I don't think has ever been equaled. Enjoy!