Dear all,
Yesterday, I plugged a new battery "Bosch S5013 100A/h-830A" in my xk8 1997 4.0L V8 and when I tried to restart I got the following messages :
- engine fault
- gearbox fault
- trac not available
- incorrect part fitted
and some other faults.
From there, I recharged the formal battery to max and tried it also, same messages list.
I found the method to do an hard reset, but still same messages list and still failure with both battery at full when test were performed.
I suspect after having read multiple threads that it's supposed to be linked to the wires or the relay but outside of that, I'm completely lost and currently with a useless brick at the garage.
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

I would check both battery cables first. If they’re hot, they’re bad. Crimps may go bad over time.

Also clean their end connectors, sand it shiney and use electrical contact cleaner spray.

For the red positive cable, check its connection in the HPP fuse box. This nut is known to work loose. Pic below for location.

 

Welcome to the forums Guillaume,

Other than needing a new battery, was the vehicle running properly before the change or did it also have other problems?

Graham

 

Before this battery change, the car was perfectly fine.
I have disconnected the battery and checked every fuse (front and back), and now i'm letting the battery disconnected to test the method described in this post (below topic) :
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...lt-etc-210610/

Hello DavidYau, I will use your advice and check clean the battery cables. Thanks.
I will let you know later if any success
Fingers crossed

 

I agree with David's suggestion about the main cables to the HPP (High Power Protection) module. As the car was OK before you changed the battery, just moving the cables could have loosened the connections or further damaged already weakened crimp terminals.

Graham

 

+1 with David and everyone. BTW "scroll of death" - that was a good one.

John

 

Hello guys, yesterday late i finally tried to reconnect the new battery after having disconnected it for hours and it works perfect now, no more warnings and the car start and drive perfectly, thanks to all of you.
However, just by precaution I checked the cables and the box, especially the nuts in the box and although the contact is ok, the cables seems really tired, the pastic around it is partially damaged. I will check in the EPC Jaguar for the reference of the cable and try to replace it as soon as possible.

 

Thanks for the update. Glad your Jag is no longer a “brick” in the garage.

If you are getting new battery cables, go for the solid copper crimpless type. Plenty cheap after market products readily available. Just get the right lengths. Here’s a pic of what I did.

 

Good to hear it's started and running again.



You may want to find an alternative source for the positive battery cable. The list price from Jaguar is 70 UKP.

Graham

 

And back again, just after I cleaned again, when I restarted sadly the scroll of death reappeared and now I'm stuck far From home.
This time I tried to disconnect for 30 mins the battery to empty the ECU memory but it didn't work. I'm now waiting one hour, hoping it will work.
After analysis of the situation, it look like there is a misconnection somewhere and the ECU gearbox seems to be a good candidate to scan but I have no idea where it is and how I can check the connection.
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

I'd say that 99% it's a bad connection somewhere around the battery, given that it was fine until you disturbed them by swapping the battery, and then fiddling around back there resulted in everything running ok. Whatever it is has probably just come loose again.

 

After review of different posts, I will continue to change the ground and positive cable around the battery, but I believe I have somewhere else a loose ground cable or damaged one. I finally succeed to restard the car after having done an hard reset of the car. Tomorrw, I will also check with a multimeter what is the voltage in my battery when the engine is on.
If the voltage is not a strong 14 V, I may suspect the alternator or something else. I noticed that on the dashboard the voltage shown was 13 V when engine is on but I'm not sure this information is accurate.
The investigation continue.....

 

This is definitely not an alternator problem - none of the symptoms or problems point that way. Whilst you could, very coincidentally, have a loose cable elsewhere in the car, the fact that the problem appears and disappears when you fiddle around with the battery cables is incredibly suggestive of where the fault lies.

 

I have tested the voltage when the enfine is runiing and it's a solid 14.23 V so the alternator is out of the picture (I had to check just by precaution).
I dismantled the both battery cables and they seems really rigids, not flexible. I will order new ones, if you have any alternates to Jaguar references, just let me know.
Thanks in advance.

PS : I found these cables on eaby but sure they will fit :
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/Positive-Ear...ytoDKFSRPuS6-Q

 

The old cables do look a bit tired, doesn't mean they don''t function, but new has to be the way to go on your application and problems.
I would take them off and head to the auto parts store you trust and get the correct length for the 3 cables in the trunk. Braided ground would be my choice, if I had one.
Hope that will solve it.

 

Sadly, after having received the new cables I have connected the new cables and especially power red one to the box but I've been too much pushy and I broke the threaded shaft.
So now I need to replace it, does somebody has the reference of this part ?
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

This looks like part# LJA2850BE. Other pictures seem to show the 2 lower posts being bridged. So, for $0, either try and swap the threaded studs or use the second one if you can convince the cable to get there.

WARNING: This is a high current area, with potential for high heat and sparks, not far from a tank of fuel. Don't take my word for this alone. Only do this if you are sure. If not, just get a replacement part. Does not seem to be too expensive.

 

Dear all,
Finally, after having replaced the part, the car was finally running approximately well.
But, since there is a but, yesterday, at 100m from home (and the garage) in the middle of the street, suddenly the engine stopped and I got again the scroll of death. This time, the car stopped in a one way road without any possibility to restart or park it somewhere.
I did battery disconnection for 30 mins, Hard reset, it didn't work.
I did another time after 2 hours disconnection, Hard reset, it did start for a couple of meters so I was able to park it somewhere safe, and again the engine stopped and again the scroll of death.
I let the battery disconnected and recharged it for hours, then when full tried to restard it, only the scroll of death. Luckily a friend was not so far and he joined me with other people to push the car till the garage (I unlock the gearbox and put it in N position).
I did a little video of this extremly annoying dashboard messages :
So after reviewing again many messages on this issue, obviously, it seems as I have still an eletrical issue (eletrical connectors, cables grounding etc). What i noticed is first this issue doesn't happen when its cold outside.
Second I noticed i have maybe an another poblem which is linked to the fuel tank. After the problem happened, I opened the fuel tank and notice a strong depression at the opening which may also indicate that the air pipe which bring air within the tank is blocked by something.

Anyway, if you have any schematics of the principle power lines, it would be greatly appreciated since obviously, i will have to check/clean every cables within this car before I shall be able to establish a proper diagnostics and restard the XK8.
Thanks in avdance.

 

Personally I would suspect that the battery has an internal short - worked before new battery, now does not work. Under normal driving there is no way that the hefty battery cables are moving that much, but an internal part of the battery that has not been secured properly could.

You should also do a voltage drop test on all the parts around the battery (not a resistance test which is pointless most of the time but in this case especially). Turn on as much load as you can, headlights, ignition etc, set your volt meter to 2v and clip one on the +ve battery terminal probe all along the +ve lead connections right up to the double leads on the fuse. You are looking for anything on the VM bigger than about 0.1v, Then do the negative from -ve terminal terminal to earth point.
If you find a big voltage drop move the terminal clip/probe end towards it until you isolate it.

 

!00%. This has happened to me before, ''oh it couldnt possibly be the battery its new''................................it must be something i have done, many hours and much swearing later i found a bad new battery. The upside was many many very clean electrical connections.

Best of luck OP