Damn that car is sensitive.

[Raistlin]

I was dispatched to the local chippy last night and, returning to The Princess through driving rain and howling wind, jumped in, ignition on and turned the key to start, only to be met with no cranking sound at all and a stream of fault messages on the display. Park brake fail, gearbox fault, DSC fault, cruise control fail, you name it...

 

Looking at the weather, and the fact that SWMBO was waiting for her supper I sort of swallowed hard and re-cycled the ignition switch only to see the same again except not quite as many faults. Eventually, after recycling the ignition seven times, she smoothly burst into life.

 

There was clearly ample capacity in the battery to turn over the engine very rapidly.

 

I drove home without incident but, having parked in the garage, I switched off, waited for a few seconds and tried to re-start, seeing the whole problem again. Now, bearing in mind that there had been more than enough battery power to spin the engine over, I was less than confident that the fault originated in the S-Type's notorious sensitivity to battery voltage.

 

Anyway, I connected up the battery charger, one of those new fangled digital devices which you can use on the more modern batteries and it did a quick check on the battery informing me that it was at 60% capacity. According to the charger manual that indicated a no load battery voltage of 12.1 volts. It then proceeded to run an automatic charge and test sequence, culminating in a reading of 100% when i looked at it this morning.

 

Sure enough, The Princess started smartly, first time, and with no fault indications.

 

Now, on reflection, all I had done was move the car around on the drive a few times yesterday, say eight start / stops, without allowing the engine to recharge the battery. In addition, the battery is only a few months old and the battery charger pronounced it perfectly healthy.

 

Clearly, the S-Type is extremely twitchy when it comes to battery voltage.

 

I don't care thoguh. I still love the darned car to bits

[JOE-DOT-COM]

Hi Paul,

Diesels do eat batteries

my local battery supplier if you ask for a battery and you know the part number,

he will ask what car its off, if you say a petrol you will get a 4 year guarantee but if you say diesel you only get 12 months, for the same battery

and to top it off the jag has so many toys that also puts extra load on the battery

Ive got a Jaguar trickle charger on mine, which is just a rebadged CTEK charger and is well recommended, it keeps the battery tip top

also on my car when i had it, if the car was left the battery went low enough after only 3 weeks not to start

and when i looked into it, the battery was quite new but i found my car had a tracker fitted, which i assume was fitted from new, but there was no info in the service history about it

the tracker had a battery backup on it, which was a battery like in your house alarm panels and been 10 years old, this dud battery was causing the main car battery to go flat a lot quicker than normal

since removing the tracker the battery lasts much much longer

also i have read on some sites thats these cars require a certain type of battery,dont know how true this is never looked into it

its most probably just because you started it a few times in short duration and it just took too much out of the battery

i bet a good run will sort it or a night on a trickle charger

cheers

joe

[Old Peter]

Very fussy cars, these Jaguars.

 

Like their owners they like the better things in life, and when you start them up they expect to go somewhere! :D

[Raistlin]

Joe,

 

What sort of trickle charger do you have please? Is it solar powered? Where is it installed?

 

Thanks.

[JOE-DOT-COM]

hi Paul

I have the genuine Jaguar charger, it came with the car, its mains 240v.

and its really good, keeps the battery tip top, you can run the car also while its on charge and is a definate if your using sdd/ids software on your car, because you keep have to cycling the ignition to do various things, when reseting faults.

I was thats impressed with the ctek charger  i bought a second one for my mitsubishi off amazon there only £40 the model is CTEK XS3.3

its a smart 4 step charger, works really well

Ive installed the plug, at the front, in the grill, just under the number plate, when i get home i put the car in the garage, i just plug it in.

when i go out i just unplug it, or if i forget, as i usually do it just unplugs it self, just goes back to the fuse box and fuse protected.

some pics 1st one the genuine charger these are over £150 from Jaguar, the 2nd is the exact same charger, same model number but only £40 from amazon only difference is no Jaguar logo and no fancy jaguar case

 

Cheers

joe

[Raistlin]

Thanks Joe :)

[JOE-DOT-COM]

Hi

mine came with croc clips and direct connection lead

I had to extend and add a fuse to the direct connection lead, fuse is a must

but there's load of accesories for the ctek chargers, leads, led leads that show battery level at a glance, mounting brackets

they also come with a 5 year guarantee which is good

the genuine Jaguar one has a socket in the boot, which is a pain if you forget, so i altered mine to the front of the car.

[Raistlin]

I was thinking of installing a socket in the boot Joe, directly connected to the battery. I have a convenient mains power point in the garage just by the boot of the car when she is in the garage.

[JOE-DOT-COM]

Hi

Yes thats where the original Jaguar one is, right hand side in the recess, fused 20A

its also handy for tyre pump

cheers

joe

[Raistlin]

Bonus :D

 

Got me a Ctek MXS 5.0 for £35 including a free Battery Status cable and, after I badgered, a free wall bracket.

[JOE-DOT-COM]

Bonus :D

 

Got me a Ctek MXS 5.0 for £35 including a free Battery Status cable and, after I badgered, a free wall bracket.

hi

thats good where from ?

cheers

joe

[Raistlin]

The manager of the local MotorWorld just happened to be one of our guests for Christmas dinner