New battery clears persistent uncoded glitch.

[J44EAG]

I`ve had my X350R since September last. It has never been a fast cranker and a persistent glitch would often occur with MIL lamp and engine check light frequently illuminating thirty seconds after a cold start or around half hot when warming up.

In addition the glove box would drop open, the console roof light switch on and the fuel cap flap would pop open. The colder the weather, the more frequently the issue would occur due to reduced voltage at the battery terminals under such conditions. I`ve been obliged to run the car with my iCarsoft 930i diagnostic tool plugged into the OBD port to clear the restricted performance, MIlL and check light on almost every trip since the middle of February. Pure laziness on my part precluded me replacing the battery sooner.

A few days ago I ordered an new battery via ebay from Alpha Batteries in Rochdale. I went for a top of the range Bosch Silver 100ah in a standard size 019 case. That is 10ah up on a standard Jaguar labelled 90ah Varta product that I found fitted in the car, age unknown. The Bosch replacement arrived next day with SIX year warranty and delivery for just £105 which I consider very good value indeed. For comparison, retail, a bog basic Halfords 95ah battery is just under one hundred pounds and only has a three year warranty....and you have to go and collect it.

The car now cranks with considerable enthusiasm and after traveling from Portsmouth via the bottom of the M25 to Dover last night, the glitch previously experienced seems to have gone. I expected to still have a clouple of fault clearance issues despite a twenty "hard dump" carried out when changing out the old and new battery. I`ve often found that three or four attempts have been necessary to finally get the electronic systems to accept new perameters following major changes to components. This seems to be some sort of internal software issue which does not readily adapt to change. Given a couple of diagnostic tool clearance sessions, a persistent glitch will often sort itself out.

The car is now thirteen years old and I would expect it to have had at least one battery replacement over the period. If the battery I`ve just replaced was the original, then i`d say it has done pretty well. Sadly no date of installation or other markings to give any idea of the age of the battery.

So off we go again with hopefully increased reliability as part of the package.

Mike K

[thomas45]

Good ! Mike you got rid of the Poltergeist and the Bosch silver seems to be one of the best. I had a suspicion that the very cold weather had an effect on my battery which was new last summer. I think it has the brand name 'Global' and they also make the 'Yuasa'. I just checked and it is 100ah but maybe not as good as the Bosch Silver.So I've made a note of that for future consideration.
Thomas