When I got my car it has had a host of issues with warning lights, restricted performance, the gear stick locking itself in park. After a couple of diagnostic checks which suggested all was fine I was resigned to taking the car to a Jag dealer for a full diagnostic at £140, ouch!

But, before I did that it was suggested I check that battery and lo and behold it was faulty. Something to do with the amps, so it would start fine but was causing the EMU to think that there were problems. £110 and a new battery and all the gremlins went away.

That was about a year ago and still no repeats of the issues I had.

So I thought I would share and suggest whatever your issue, check your battery is working properly.

 

Several of us have recently came to the same conclusion. There is at least one other blog on the website that discusses this very issue (Gremlins) in great detail. In fact, I am going to follow the advice of one writer who says if you are going to not drive the car for a couple of weeks, hook the battery to a trickle charger. This will save you alot of pain and consternation.

 

Totally agree. Ours spent a few months in a salvage yard. Battery replaced a year ago but drained from sitting. Jumped the car with a booster pack but got a gearbox fault message right away. Once the battery was charged the fault message dissapeared.

 

The trickle charger is a great idea. I might get one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-Automot...860474&sr=8-13

and I do make sure the car has a decent 30 minute run once a week.

 

Not a trickle charger as long term it will kill the battery I hear. Instead a battery maintainer or whatever they're called.

 

I bought one of these from Walmart for $20.00. It has a sensor that only adds juice when needed and has the option of a permanant cable hook-up to the battery, so all you have to do is literally plug it into the car when you are going to be away for a bit...

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumacher...arger/13005742

 

If your battery charger works on the constant-voltage charging system, which it should do when charging a lead-acid bettery, the charge limits itself to practically zero on reaching 14.4volt. (For a 12volt nominal battery). Of course, if it happened to be another technology such as nickel cadmium, lithium-ion, NIFE etc., that would not apply. Eg. nickel cadmium and nickel-metal hydride use a smart charging system that tests the battery voltage under load for a second or two when the charge cycle is finished.
The reason why a battery can be responsible for all sorts of random errorcodes in a car has puzzled me for a while. Suffice it to say when I put a 68,000microfarad capacitor across my battery (S-typeD) the odd MIL light and restricted performance I was getting has stopped altogether for more than six months now. Not even once!
Leedsman.

 

A what??