I need help getting into my xj 2010 boot
My car had a flat battery and needed to go to the garage so I removed the battery to charge it overnight and take it to the garage next day.
Here my problems started! I can no longer get into the boot to replace the battery as my car does not have the 60/40 rear folding seats and I believe that the live terminal is touching the bodywork in the boot so the charge point underneath the bonnet is just shorting out and won't let me open the boot and nothing lights up at all inside the cabin when connected. I was told by jaguar that you can gain access to the boot through the rear seats but upon removal of the back seats was confronted by a large metal panel with no obvious way into the boot. Now I would prefer to do this DIY than have the vehicle recovered as this would be expensive and I m on a budget with this. But I admit to being a bit out of my depth. Is there a simple fix I ve missed? Or is recovery my only option?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

 

I am assuming that the floor carpet board/trim piece is still present in the car and covering the battery so you need to gain physical access rather than just pull the cable away from the body.

Therefore your best bet is probably to gain access by pulling the emergency release cable. I've had a look in my boot and I reckon you could get to it through the parcel shelf speaker openings once the parcel shelf and the speakers are removed. Then use a cable rod with a hook on it to grab the handle. If you don't have the speakers you should still have the holes present, and even if not there are vents to equalise the cabin pressure when you close the doors that are big enough to get most of an arm through.

If you are going to try that, take a look at the way the rear of the parcel shelf sits against the rear window glass, and alignments with the C pillar trims before you remove them as they are fiddly to realign. I would also remove the soundproofing from the car to prevent it being damaged while you climb about on it. That requires you to remove the seat belt brackets and seat back pivot brackets. While you are there it is a good idea to rip the perforations so you can access the main fuse box easily in the future at the side of the road.

Otherwise you can get to it destructively by releasing one of the white plastic cable trays that carry the body or telematics harnesses through the rear bulkhead and then hole saw your way through the carpet trim to get line of sight access to the release cable.

I get in the habit now of placing a screwdriver handle through the latch loop whenever I disconnect the battery on mine so it cannot accidentally close.

Good luck!

 

Try removing the license plate. See if there are any rubber plugs or screws that you can remove to gain access to the trunk. If so, try using a long thin flat head screw driver (or a piece of a wire coat hanger) and a flashlight to see through the hole and locate the latch mechanism. With a little luck, maybe you can move the screwdriver/coat hanger around and push the lock mechanism to get the trunk to pop open.

My 2009 XKR has an "Old School" mechanical lock behind the license plate that is operated by the flat laser-cut emergency key in the SmartKey fob. Why that feature was not incorporated in the X351 design is beyond me. The XJ emergency key works only in the doors.

Good luck!

 

Thank you for the suggestions!
Destructive is definitely a path I want to avoid!
I ve looked behind the number plate and cannot see anything to help me there so I will try and have a go with the parcel shelf at some point this weekend. I will let you know how I get on.

 

Ali.mb, I have looked and unfortunately, there is no electrical way to pop the trunk as the module that controls everything is located in the trunk. So, this leaves you somehow accessing the pull handle as being your main way back into the trunk. From the suggestions, I am thinking that pulling a seal plug from the spare tire area and sticking a coat hanger up to grab the release is going to be your best option. This may also be one of those things that you will have to remove say the rear seat to give you access to see the release handle and then with the help of a second person try and direct them to grab on to the release.

 

My initial thoughts where it was to save the cost by removing rarely used features, but I suppose it could be a limitation caused by the unbroken design of the boot lid. There is no obvious place to add a key opening that wouldn't look out of place.

The latch can definitely be forced to release - when mine was rear ended the bumper cover and boot floor was forced down and the trunk lid just popped open on its own with no damage caused to it or the latch. Poking around in mine today I can get access to the alignment buffers at either side (under the flappy cover in the black plastic trim above the bumper cover) by forcing the bumper cover down with my hand. There is a little lip to keep the water out (see the photo), but it looks like it might move enough to get a flat pry bar in onto the top of the right hand buffer and force the cover down enough to get a screwdriver in from the left hand side and operate the latch with force. One slip and you've scraped your boot lid though, so I'd prefer to practise on a damaged car first...

If the boot floor trim is still in the vehicle then you won't easily get past that from below to access the handle. Through the rear of the cabin appears to be the cleanest option without causing damage.

Thankfully the emergency pull handle is glow in the dark so once you have hand access you can shine a torch in there and then use a stick mirror to direct a cable rod or coat hanger to hook onto it.

 

I thought there was an old thread where someone had the same issue of the positive battery cable was "grounded" and they opened a rubber grommet/seal where the wires for the rear parking sensors goes through the trunk (see attached) and fished a wire coat hanger and pulled the positive wire away from the body. Then they were able to open using the power points under the hood. Hope this helps and is a lot easier than going through the rear seat.

 

xdave, I figured if he had the battery out, then most likely he has the plate over the top of the spare tire off, giving him the needed access. But I think what XJsss is recommending may be the easier method in simply moving the battery cable off of the body of the car (slide a rag in with the hook under the clamp to insulate the battery clamp from the body of the car?). Then power can be supplied via the terminal under the hood and the trunk can be opened normally that way.

 

On mine the drain holes are under the spare wheel with no way to get access above unless the wheel and polystyrene support are removed. It may be possible to get access by removing the battery vent pipe grommet (shown below) but the battery tray partially covers it so you'd need to pull it through from below rather than push it forward. It would be very tight to both see and work via that hole; an inspection camera/borescope would help. The positive cable passes right by that hole on the way to the mega fuse box so it might be possible to move it away by pressing on it. I can't check in the dark but you might need to remove the heat shield first.

Apologies for the poor photo - it is night time and my phone camera is not the best.

[ edit ]

I meant to add: I cannot get access from the rear bumper harness grommet (left hand side standing behind the boot) to the battery cable as the wheel and harness connectors are in the way. If you have a repair kit/foam rather than a spare wheel it might be ok, but having been through that hole myself when fitting the BSM sensors to my car the access with the bumper cover on is very limited (finger tips only). Really you need to take the cover off to get clear access, which you can't do without opening the boot to remove the bolts. Catch-22 here!

 

Massive thank you to xdave for your help!
I was able to remove speakers and fortunately my girlfriend got the boot open through the hole as was too small for me!
The pdfs were very helpful too! But the parcel shelf is a right so and so to get back in!

Thanks again for the all responses, help and suggestions

 

I'm glad you got it sorted, that is good news.

For future reference, did your girlfriend move the positive terminal clear of the bodywork, or pull the emergency release handle?

The parcel shelf is more fiddly to install than the dash board with the angle of the rear glass and the limited space to move around. I have always found getting the rear edge to sit down properly is the hardest part - I'd get one side flush and the other would be riding up or two far forward. I'd love to know the technique they use on the factory line to get it right first time.

 

Glad to hear you got the trunk open.

 

She managed to get the boot release with a coat hanger through the speaker hole!
As of now I haven't actually managed to get the parcel shelf back in! If there is a tip or trick to it I would be delighted to hear it!

 

Not really a trick, but more technique. It is logical to lift the front edge up while you push the rear in, but once it is roughly back in position (to the point the plastic clip in the middle is against the metal) you should keep it level while pushing back evenly from both sides or you may find it goes in askew and then won't shift without pulling it back and trying again. Once that clip gets far enough in the mating hole it tends to be too stiff to adjust and you can't lift the front anymore because of the angles. The problem is that the clip is angled such that it needs to be pushed down to get it in to that hole so you need one hand on the back of the shelf which only leaves one to push it back without doing it askew. If you struggle then ask your girlfriend to help with one side while you do the other, but try it first because you might be alright.

The telematics harness on the right hand side tends to catch if it has been disturbed so make sure it is all pushed down out of the way. Do check the pads (page 9 of PDF) are in place or you may get rattling. Easy to forget!

Before tightening any of the bolts/screws along the front edge check all three are aligned with the holes. If the shelf is not aligned correctly you'll spot one side won't push back enough even though it might look ok. If you find that don't waste time trying to force it back, just partially remove it and try again.

You'll have lots of fun getting the upper C-pillar trims into the slots at the very rear corners too. If you have a tool with a hook on it ( ) you can use it to pull the rear outwards and slot it in easily, otherwise it's just rinse and repeat until you get lucky.

 

Genuinely can not get parcel shelf back in :/
The "tail" at the back just sits too high and won't go into its slot. I ve tried numerous different ways but can't get it to go for love nor money. Must seem like a total half wit to most but I m fast losing motivation with one problem seemingly following another!

 

Your girl friend solved the difficult problem. If she can put the parcel shelf back in place, marry her!

 

Not a half wit at all, it is a real pain. Your description of the tail/clip at the rear being too high and preventing it going in is what I found the first few times I tried it. It is frustrating because you cannot see how far off it is and it otherwise looks like it should fit back in.

You need to push down hard on the rear/centre above the tail to get it into the hole while pushing the front edge level like a drawer (don't raise it too much else it will bind at the edges and get stuck - 15 degrees is what you are aiming for - refer to page 10 in the PDF where it explains this). The way to push is to wedge your hand between the glass and the raised hump where the stop lamp is fitted and try and spread it with your fingers across the stop lamp moulding. The closer you get to the stop lamp the more force you can apply because the plastic moulded bit pushes the clip down (they are the same plastic part).

While pushing, slide it back by pushing either centrally along the front edge, or if you have help each push the outer corners while wiggling slightly and if that clip is low enough it will go home.

In the photos, the pink arrow shows where to press. The green circles show where I think the binding happens (but I could never tell because the rear glass is tinted on my car).

It is worth double checking the telematics harness on the right hand side when you are in the car facing the rear window. It goes up to the roof pod, antenna, etc. It should be pressed down out of the way as if it has ridden up it will catch the underside of the parcel shelf.

 

...don't make the maddening error of disconnecting your battery and then shutting your boot lid. I haven't had such a trial getting into a boot since my wife told me she'd locked the car keys in the boot of our then Audi S8. That time I smashed the rear light to get on only for her to discover that she had actually dropped the keys elsewhere.

Anyway, if you do end up locked out of your boot, then end up on this thread and thereafter removing half your rear interior, my number two tip concerns getting the rear parcel shelf reinstalled. I had the same problem as Ali.mb -- just couldn't get that wedge back in at the rear of the parcel shelf. The solution was to stick a metal 30cm ruler in the hold, tape it to the rear windscreen and then use that to guide the tab into the hole. After spending about an hour trying to get it in by various means that did the job in 20 seconds.

 

Hey xdave what is that manual that you send snippets from?
Is there a place we can get it?

Thank you

 

I had this exact same issue when attempting to reinstall (couldn't tell because of tinted rear glass).
I wanted to use the ruler method but I had just tinted the rear window and didn't want to scratch it.

After about five hours I came up with my solution which took me a whole 15 seconds

Find any thin speaker wire and wrap it around the tab. Slide the parcel back while holding the wire and it will slide right in the slot. You then simply pull the wire out...DONE!

Here you can see the small gap:



My fix was using speaker wire (orange):