Hello, i'm new to this side of the forum, usually I inhabit the XK8 part. Brief history as to why I am here now also. I am a retired police officer and bought a Mercedes 320 CLS over 4 years ago, and it was a lovely car, I could not afford a XJ at the time and even XF's were at my upper limit for buying. So I got the best CLS I could find in a stunning pearl blue. I got smacked from behind mid July by a Nissan Navara and my car was written off.
As I had always fancied an XJ so I started looking, but they were still on the plus £20k side, as I could not drive I had plenty of time to play on the net and see what was available. After a about a week I saw a 2010 Portfolio with 37k on the clock way down the country in ice blue with navy leather, it looked lovely and a mirror image of my XJS colour wise. Cutting a long story short I bought the car and drove it home over 310 miles and got a healthy 48 miles to the gallon, so well please. I am a bit of a compulsive idiot for detail and started to get the car the way that I was comfortable with by cleaning it. Interior came up like new. Under the bonnet was a different story, it was covered in a layer of sand and six years of dust. The sand and dust were damp wiped with a microfibre cloth and she came up very nice too, then I finished off with Armorall plastic cleaner as it worked well on my previous car. This took me over three days inside and out.
Now the point of the post is, when I came to start her yesterday she failed and the display stated flat battery please start. I contacted our local dealer in Newcastle ( UK ) and they said to charge the battery off the car. I asked if the codes for the radio etc would be lost and was told it should be no problem they would be retained. I disconnected the battery leads, checked the battery and discovered the cells were very low. I topped up with distilled water, about a pint and put the charger on. This is the point I am at whilst posting. So fingers crossed the battery ( original Vatra 950ah ) has charged and that was the problem, if not I have disturbed something in the engine bay while cleaning. I will now try and look for similar scenario's on the forum, and further my knowledge of the car. If you got this far thanks for reading.

 

Congratulations and welcome! Hopefully it was just due to the battery's poor condition and having the doors open a lot while cleaning. There are quite a few active bits that stay on even when the car is off but most turn off when you lock the door. So make sure you lock your doors to minimize the draw when parked. Good luck. When you get a chance, post some pictures of your new pride and joy.

 

Thanks BlckCat, yes it was the battery, even over night it was still not fully charged, but it was enough to start the car. Took it for a half hour run, did a spot of lunch with my son, then drove home. Only problem I have is I left the boot open over night and closed it by hand as the battery was disconnected, now it will not close under its own power but will open no problems. Just a small thing and not a big concern. Will post pics when the weather improves.

 

Here are a couple of pics taken before I got to work on her.

 

48 MPG?

Is it a diesel?

 

Yes mate it is diesel, and I did not break the speed limit, just maintained it for over 300 miles

 

That's a relief. Otherwise, I'd be wondering why my gas mileage
is so much different.

 

What size is yours and what mpg are you getting? This was my first drive in the car and it was 95% motorway. Today I bought oil,air and fuel filters,and pick up the oil on Monday, its always had castrol edge 5w-30 in from new and six service stamps from the Jaguar dealer. the filters were £37 and the oil £50 +vat. I get trade discount from my local auto shop as I help out once a week for a few hours.

 

It's the vehicle in my sig, so a 4.0L SC of a different vintage
altogether.

According to the conversion tool below

Fuel Economy, Gas Mileage, Fuel Efficiency Calculator

I did 28'ish MPG imperial, on my last trip with the new wheel
alignment. I push it harder than some, 80-85 cruising speed.

 

Did a bit of cleaning under the bonnet.

 

Arty, if you push the trunk closed it will "default" to manual closing. If you close the trunk using the keyfob or you press and hold the button for a few seconds, it will go back to electric close. I was not used to the electric close and I would push the trunk closed when I first got mine. Had to reset the trunk closure a few times.

 

Is this actually possible?

 

Ronnie, thanks for the question. I had to go out and prove it to myself and I guess I had a brain fart. You can only open the trunk from the fob. I know I used the fob to reset the trunk. SO, I guess the statement should read that you can manually close it and then open it using the keyfob, this will allow you to push the button on the trunk lid to electrically close it in the future.

 

Cheers Thermo. You had my hopes up

 

Roonie, i am sure if I thought a little bit, I could figure out a small circuit to add that would allow this to happen. Guess I have a little quest ahead of me to look at the diagrams and see what I can do about making the desired circuit.

 

Don't know why Jag doesn't enable that by default, that you can open AND close it using the Keyfob.


The other thing that bugs me is that the driver's side mirror does not tilt down automatically when you place the car in reverse....only the passenger side mirror auto tilts. I had a Land Rover LR4 loaner the other day and it auto tilts BOTH mirrors when you place it in reverse...wonder why couldn't the XJ(L) do the same???

 

LIquidIce, I seem to remember that when I first got my XJ, the driver's side mirror did move to aid in parking the car. But, I have noticed recently that it no longer moves when the car is placed in reverse. It only sticks out in my head because I found it frustrating to back up because the mirror actually turned side to side to aid in seeing where you were going when you back up and make a turn. Personally, I like it where the mirror is fixed and I know what I am looking at and can immediately start going vice having to stop, put it in reverse, wait for the mirrors to do their thing, then start backing up to have the mirrors go all over the place.

 

I used my memory button #3 to program both driver and passenger side mirrors to tilt downward. So, when I put it in Reverse I also press memory button #3.

The only problem is that I have to remember to press memory button #1 when I put it in Drive.

 

Thanks Thermo and Stuart. Yea, I did try the Memory program option, but for some reason my driver's side mirror did not dip as low as I wanted it to. I usually park very close to the curb and like the mirror way down low so that I do not damage my rims against the curb.


And Thermo, I do not recall the driver's side mirror ever tilting down during reverse. The owner's handbook (page 48 for my 2011 MY) states that only the passenger side mirror dips down automatically

 

Liquid, guess i have been hitting the mead a little hard lately. Oh well, memory isn't what it used to be. Guess I have to read my book again and make sure I was not halucinating. LMAO.