www.jec.org.uk

I am new to the J.E.C. having only rejoined recently,the last time i was a member was 1995 and there was no web site then,!!
I have read a few posts on the bullitin board of people having problems with batteries in particular after a winter lay over,or not using a car for a period of time If i may offer some "tips" on battery care i have learned to my cost over the years, Firstly if you do not intend to use your car for a period of time ie, over winter, discontect the battery from the car,and remove it from the vehicle store it in a resonably warm environment freezing cold temperatures in garages wont do it any good. when you want to use your car again and obviously charge the battery can i say a very WISE investment is an intelligent battery charger a brand name that i would highly reccomend is "OPTIMATE" as favoured by Motorcyclists of which i am also one, bike batteries are even worse over the winter lay over and the afore mentioned charger unlike many aimed at the motorist we tend to buy from the high street will NOT fry a battery which is fully Desulfated {Flat,! } these chargers begin with a gentle charge rate to bring the battery up to functional use, as the charge builds the charger increases the rate of charge to the battery you can keep your car battery contected to the charger in particullar if you have a car alarm/Immobilizer system fitted, another great DRAIN on the battery when the car is not being used,. The charger will keep the battery topped up permanently while the car is out of use for just a few pence a day,!! you can close the boot lid and the charger is slim enough to place in the boot and the battery chargers thin power wires wil not get trapped in the boot lid. In my experience, High St chargers tend to fry fully dicharged batteries "Zapping" them with lots of charge from the word Go,!! usually causing the battery plates to buckle and hey presto-new battery required
the cost of an "Optimate type machine is around £40.00 and if you cant buy one from a car accessory shop -just call in to your local Motorcycle Dealer,!! there are several brand names for these "Intellegent Chargers" i tend to favour the Optimate as its been worth its weight in gold to me over the years, Another cause of batteries flattening on XJ-S cars are faulty Courtesy light switches which stick when the doors or boot are closed leaving the courtesy lamps partly illuminated which is enough to flatten a healthy battery over a few days in the garage,you can replace them for around £6.00 each from Jaguar,another wise investmant ive found as i have had to replace these switches on both my Coupe and Cabriolet XJ-S cars over the years and on more than one occassion not the best designed door light switch i have to say, and something well worth checking if your battery keeps flatening off,-remember the boot lid too you cant see the lights that stay on in there when you lock the car up and walk away. Replacement is simple just two small grub screws either side of the switch and two wires to unplug one Earth,-and one Feed wire refitting is simply a reversal of this.Or try liberally spraying with something like WD40 as a quick fix this may free the "sticking Button" but experience has shown me that once they stick.... its time for file13!! as i have already mentioned new ones are resonably priced for a Jaguar genuine part,!! and that along with an intellegent charger is a lot simpler than shelling out for new batteries every couple of years, hope my words may be of use to some of you best regards Glenn.

Interesting subject battery care, some further points, If you disconnect the battery make sure you know the radio code on the later cars. A further known source of battery drain is the electic aeriel sticking and failing to switch off, this soon drains the battery, if you suspect this as a fault, disconnect it to check.

Just as a point of interest on the subject of flat batteries....

My Battery was going flat so I replaced it 2 years ago with a "cadmiun" battery from Halfords (HCB 075) which has worked well until a couple of months ago. The return of a flat battery after a week standing re-appeared, so after checking all the usual XJS suspect I couldn't find a problem. I took the battery back to Halfords who exchanged it (4 year guarantee) without complaint.

Since fitting it all is OK, i.e. no fault with the car - so be aware that cranking a big engine will kill a "small" battery over a few years.

The issue of why some batteries seem to fail after a couple of years and some go on for 6-7 years plus is confusing.

I personally think that turning over a big engine is fine - after all that's why the battery is rated at 70ah +. The problems for me always seem to come when you have cars left for a while and being slowly drained by accessories even as minor as alarms.

So I would suggest, drive the car a lot, then the battery will last longer!

Paul

I agree with Paul drive the car lots and if there are no problems with the charging system this will look after the battery.

I have previously bought a Bosch Silver 75aH battery from www.eurocarparts.com

It came with 3 year warranty for £65 ish and they gave 10% first purchace discount.

Regards Mark.

The issue of why some batteries seem to fail after a couple of years and some go on for 6-7 years plus is confusing.


It really helps the life of a battery if it's brought up to a full charge before it is fitted and used for the first time.
As most owners buy a battery because the last one has let them down waiting another day for an Optimate to fully condition the new one before use isn't high on their wish list.

Most garages just connect one up and off you go! It will never last

Pop

Hi all,

I still think that modern batteries are built down to a price and will inevitably fail for one reason or another - I think the point I really wanted to make is that just because you drive an XJS, it doesn't mean the cars electrics are always at fault........

just usually I guess!!

I found your advice Glenn very interesting. I was wondering if you (or anyone else for that matter) knows how well solar powered trickle chargers work with an XJS.
Last winter I disconnected the battery and covered the XJS, leaving it outside as I have no garage. Come April this year I reconnected the battery but found consitent problems with the alarm. The remote fobs wouldn't work and the only way to stop the regular 'beep' was to drive the car or disconnect the battery again. This was only rectified once I had visited my local main Jaguar dealer, bought a new remote alarm fob and had them remap it for me.
To avoid possibly encountering this problem again I am considering the aforementioned solar trickle charger. However I am still hesitant as on my previous Jaguar, an X300, it simply failed to work and I found myself with a flat battery.
So if anyone has experience of these solar chargers I would be grateful to hear from you. Thanks.

Hi all

Just thought I'd add a little about the last battery problem I have had. I also purchased a Halfords Cadmium HCB075 just over 3 years ago. It lasted 4 months before it went belly up. They replaced it without a problem and that has lasted me until the AGM last week. I had charged the battery the week before and since Birmingham was a 2 hour drive for me it should have had a good charge in it. After the AGM finished I went out and the engine was turning over fine but there was no hint of a spark of life in it.

Thankfully since it was the AGM there were lots of fellow Jag nuts around to offer advice (thank you to them one and all) and after lots of head scratching and panel removal we eventually hooked up a jump from another car. At this point the engine was still turning over but was obvious a bit drained. On the first try witht the leads on it burst into life without a hiccup.

After a bit of discussion there seemed to be a concensus that the fuel pump in the facelift cars need a good 12V to operate. If the voltage is a bit low then no go.

It lasted me all the way home and started fine the next day. I put it on charge again overnight and it seemed fine. A few days later totally dead this time. Halfords have changed it again for me (it does say 4 year warranty in big letters on the side) and fingers crossed for this one.

So guys be careful of these. Sometimes its not the battery capacity that is the problem but the actual voltage coming out. I'm off to get one of those conditioners ASAP.

Charlie

See www.optimabatteries.com for a load of useful info about batteries and their use . We had an expert to our club meeting and it proved to be a very interesting talk. A lot more to it than at first appears. As a result of his talk I got an Optima absorbed glass mat Red Top battery from him and am so far delighted with it. See our club list of approved suppliers under BOM Batteries. They are at Owston Ferry (where the hell is that I hear you say).

For the last 2 years I have been disconnecting my battery removing it from the car leaving it in the "garage" anywhere from 8 weeks to 6 months. On my return from overseas I stick it on the battery charger for approximately 12 hours connect up and away we go.......never had a problem!

Cheers
Dougie

CTEK battery conditioners are available from Annie at our Club Shop. She has them in stock and will be delighted to put you one in the post. The XS3600 seems to be the one to choose at about £50. She also sells the quite NEW Ctek Comfort Indicator which connects permanently with your battery and has a 'traffic light' system to show when you need a charge. I ordered one yesterday - £20. Paul.

So far I have not had a battery problem with my XJS or any weekend car that I have owned but then again I do dry it at least every 10 days even in the winter months.

My point is, there is no substitute for driving cars on a regular basis, it is not just the battery that suffers if a car is left standing for weeks or months on end.

Just make sure you have plenty of rust proofing and drive drive drive and be happy