After a couple of very cold months (minus 33 the other night) the battery on my 04 VDP needs replacing.

Are there any hints or tips that I need to know of in terms of the replacement battery?

 

The only hint I have is to make sure you reattach the ventilation tube to the battery very carefully. Mine popped off at some point, resulting in sulfuric acid all over the bottom of the trunk, which peeled eroded some of the coating and made the interior of the car smell very strange.

 

Thanks for that tip: sulphuric acid everywhere doesn't sound good!

 

All done: I got a 6" extension for my ratchet driver which helped me undo the bolts holding the battery in. The bolts are 10mm.

 

AAA came to me and replaced my battery while I stayed out of the cold. it was about $150.

 

Why would you want to put a liquid acid battery when you can use a dry (maintenance free) battery with no sulfuric acid at all. Check with your local electrician AC Delco are good and affordable and come with 1 full year guarantee. I am sure if you chnage your battery at your jaguar local dealership they will defentaely use a dry battery and never a liquid one.

 

I 2nd Alan's post , maintenance free batteries are the best ones I can recommend .
AC DElco, Varta, Bosch are all great choices

 

Do not be confused with what is meant by a maintenance free battery. Maintenance free batteries can contain acid and can leak but the caps do not come off to enable topping up the cells. Then there are dry or gell batteries such as optima which do not contain sulphuric acid and will not spill. I have heard of some applications where they have even been installed upside down.

brdave

 

The main thing to know is that you will need to reboot your parking brake after reconnecting. Start the engine and press the foot brake while pulling up on the parking brake switch. Comments on the vetn tube shoudl be followed. The real reason for the vent tube is to route hydrogen gas outside the car to prevent an explosion. I have nevedr seen a modern battery spit acid out the vent tube but I guess it's possible. I will note that maintenance free batteries have acid in them and it can spill. The only dry battery I know of is the Optima. I use the standard Bosch or similar group 49 battery which is the type that came in the car. Just be sure it has a vent and that it is connected. Be careful of AGM batteries (very rare and made for marine use), the standard alternators in cars do not charge them properly, tehy are very sensitive to charge rate.

 

I just replaced the factory battery with an Interstate MTP93. Unfortunately the vent connection is oval and the factory hose connector is of course round.

Has anyone here found a solution to this?

 

Yes, there is a short rubber extension hose - round - that when you squeeze it it goes oval to fit over the oval port, un-squeezed it is round to connect to the round rubber vent hose. It was pretty easy on mine, I have the same battery.
I also noticed that there are various rubber adapters like that available at most auto-parts stores for cheap.

 

You did notice that this thread is six-and-a-half years old ?

 

Yes but at least they searched before posting and if on topic there is no need to start a new thread. I prefer one thread with all of the old posts than having to search and open 10 threads to get the same information.

 

Ditto.

I just put in a new Exide battery but the old hose adapter is too big to fit inside the vent hole (see photo). Where can I buy these adapters? Also, do I need to cap off the other vent hole or can I leave it open?

 

Wolfy, when you purchased the battery, there should have been an elbow in one side and a small plastic plug in the other. These are reversible. You may need to use a small strait tip screwdriver to pry the small plug out of the positive side you wish to insert the vent hose to and place the plug in the open end on the negative post side. (I can see the shoulder of the plug in the photo) The original Jaguar elbow does fit the hole. I use the original elbow on mine. You do not leave the other side open.

 

For a few dollars you can get a package of tube adapters at O'Rilley/ Autozone, NAPA - just about any walk-in Autoparts store. That is what I used..

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the adapter tip

 

Thanks for the alert guys. Turns out whoever changed my battery didn't reconnect the overflow. I got this plastic elbow, described as 5mm, from an auto shop.
I guess a boot full of hydrogen might do a good simulation of a Ford Pinto :-)

 

Now I've read this forum from end to end, and Box is right that the car is intended for a "Calcium" battery, he even showed the Jaguar USA specs whch say "Silver Calcium".
I don't think my battery is. The issue being that a non-calcium battery might out-gas more due to overcharging.
HOWEVER (direct tests on my own car)
Whilst the charging system raises the battery to 14.8v (Calcium level, ornery batteries should be lower), it only does this for ~5mins from startup and then switches back to ~13.1v which is a very safe floating voltage for any car battery.

Now my battery voltage after sitting for 12hrs or so is around 12.2v (I would expect ~12.5v fully charged), so I have convinced myself that the floating voltage is too low. (but not much I can do about it) Battery is about 3 months old definitely replaced by dealer.

 

Is it advisable to hook up a new battery to a trickle charger immediately or better to wait for the battery to 'break in'? I drive the car on average about once every 1-2 weeks.