Own 2015 XF 3.0 sc with 15,000 miles. Use it for local low mileage driving. For the first two years only used battery tender one in a while. Now need to use it every two weeks or Intelligent Auto Start Eco does not work. Car starts fine and no error messages, etc...After one night on battery tender auto start feature works fine again. Is this normal? Thank you.

 

Long sits and or low miles can really shorten a battery's life (Your car has 2, one for the auto eco start and another for the main electrical system). The low mileage actually keeps the battery's from getting a full charge, and these cars are VERY battery dependent. I put mine on the tender any time it sits for more than 3 days. Probably just time to replace you auto eco start battery since it's limp home mode is to not operate if its battery voltage is too low.

 

Thank you Big Will for your answer.

Would there be any downside to simply plugging car into Battery Tender every couple of weeks to get auto/start to work which is what BMW once told me to do for a similar situation? Thanks again.

Ed

 

Why would you want auto stop/start to work anyway?
I find it to be extremely annoying and irritating, it saves you next to nothing in gas, and one of the first things I did when I got my F-Type was to permanently disable it.

 

None I can think of but if the battery is already shot, its not going to charge or hold a charge.

 

Modern Jaguars are very sensitive to battery condition and charge. A combination of low miles and short journeys won't keep the battery fully charged.

Many members (myself included) use an 'intelligent' tender whenever their Jaguar is garaged. The favoured brand is CTEK.

If your battery is failing, I'm surprised you haven't found other weird electronic issues on the vehicle. It's a regular cause of odd error messages and unusual DTC's being set.

Graham

 

Thanks to everyone for their insightful answers.

I really do not want or need Intelligent auto start and I have had no other electrical issues or error messages with car.

I don't care if it works or not but was concerned how it is connected to larger major battery since I do not want to come out some morning and car is dead because smaller Auto Start battery is not holding a charge unless I put car on Battery Tender overnight. An overnight Battery Tender session will get Intelligent auto start to work fine for two weeks or so which is a new factor for this car.

Thanks again.

Ed