Question on best battery for a 2004 XJ8 with under 56,000 miles. May need a replacement even though current battery is only 2.5 years old so if I need a new one to solve message & flashing dash lights problem, then I prefer to go with the best within an acceptable price and availability range.
Anyone got information on this for me. BTW, thanks in advance. Also, what is the deal with the handbook stating that only a Jag Retailer/Service Technician can deal with the battery? Is it so advanced that an expert tech can do it?

 

"Best" means different things to different people. I changed mine two years ago to an O'Reillys store brand battery and have had 0 issues. Now, it is my daily driver so the battery does not get a chance to slowly drain since it is not being kept as a garage ornament.

If yours is not driven daily, a trickle charger will extend the life of the battery and avoid issues such as the one you describe.

 

wladja,

The original Jaguar battery was made by the German company Varta, which made and may possibly still make many of the Bosch batteries. PepBoys and possibly other auto parts stores can order you a Bosch.

Varta is now owned by the U.S. global corporation Johnson Controls, which, along with East Penn and Exide, manufacture nearly all of the automotive batteries in the U.S., including the brands Interstate, Sears DieHard, AutoZone Duralast, Walmart Everstart, Advance Auto AutoCraft, NAPA Legend, Costco Kirkland, GM AC Delco, Ford Motorcraft, Chrysler Mopar, and just about any other brand you can think of.

Compare the specs of the batteries that will fit your car from major retailers and choose the best specs you can find. I bought an AutoZone Duralast Gold because it was the only one in town in the correct size, and its specs matched the Bosch and Walmart EverStart. Jags need very strong batteries.

Which leads us to the question, why are you having to replace your battery after just 2.5 years? Are you certain the problem is not corrosion on battery power or ground connections in the charging circuit?

Cheers,

Don

 

I believe the deal is called "increased service revenue", which is fairly typical of car makers these days. Granted, if someone was really boneheaded you could do some damage if you reversed terminals. However, it is not advanced or different than any other car.

When I replaced my battery I got a Bosch AGM (absorbent glass mat) and if you are not in a hurry you can get a good deal at Pep Boys who regularly have 25-35% off offers for their website.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...y-deal-137720/

They'll even ship for free to your house.

 

Thanks for your quick response. Mine is a daily drive & only get disturbing issues when I'm on the road long distance but I will take this into consideration. I appreciate your reply.

 

I had a 25% off coupon from Advance Auto and got the correct AGM battery there. A knucklehead can install the battery in a XJ. Seems it is a H8. Big beefy model.
My wife's 335i is a different story. Replaced because it is not driven much and was seven years old. Advance refused to touch it, and I figured out why. It was a three hour job. Next time maybe 90 minutes. But it is a real difficult task to get it out and correctly installed.
The guy at Advance had the battery in my XJR is less than 5 minutes.

 

H8 is the case size; however the Varta short code for the 350's battery H3 ... I know, I bought one three months ago.

 

The AGM version of the H3 Varta model is G14.
If, like me , you don't use your car everyday, I believe AGM is the best option, it can withstand deeper discharges and have increased life.

 

Battery’s seem to be a black art

I never bought as many battery’s as when I drove MB,s till one day I bought one with a 3 year warranty guess what it died around the same time as the cheaper ones this time it was in warranty so no cost to me except the 3 year warranty battery cost me $100 extra so I probably paid for the warranty battery at the time I bought the first one Go Figure

When I bought my X350 4.2 it it had a battery in it that was 7 year old my indie said even though its working get a new battery

I was selling my previous jaguar a XJR6 which had been in the garage under a cover on a trickle charger for a year seems the trickle charger was a waste of money as the battery was dead

I ended up buying two battery’s that day a 700cca for the XJR6 and a 1000cca for the XJ8 that really hurt as I bought brand names this time learning from past mistakes or thinking I had within a week I had to buy battery's for my scooter then the wife’s and my motorbike's then a week after that the wife’s Jeep grand Cherokee as well I thought I was cursed (LOL)

As I hardly use the XJ8 due to living in town I use my scooter (quicker to get where I need to go) XJ8 has been sitting at my storage facility and I have found under sporadic use the battery is still going flat even without the doors locked so no alarm activated

I have since used my 10 amp Ctek conditioning charger on it twice in six months maybe thats how the original owner managed to keep the original battery for so long
I have also since started to use these conditioning chargers regularly on all my vehicles maybe I can extend the life of the battery’s I don’t know time will tell

 

As long as you get a battery that fits and has equal to or better specs all will be ok.

When looking at the specs the C rating is very important
CCA is often quoted but can be very misleading

CCA generally means how many amps you can draw for a max of 30 seconds.
Don't take this for granted as the time factor is often changed to inflate the battery specs.

It also allows for fudging the DOD (depth of discharge)
As most will know if you drain a battery too far it will not recover.
The DOD rating is how much you can drain the battery vs the number of charge cycles.

For a typical Lead Acid or AGM this is 50%, Li-Po is as high as 80%

There is nothing in the CCA to say if the Amps were drawn till it was equal to or below the safe DOD

IE consider two batteries that quote a 500A CCA
If the first one uses the 30 sec standard that is 500A for 30 seconds
If the second is rated at 15 sec than its 500 for 15 seconds or only 250A for 30 seconds

Now take a second example, fudging the DOD for a 500CCA
If the first one uses the 30 sec standard that is 500A for 30 seconds but only goes to the safe DOD of 50%, that's a true 500A CCA

If the second one uses the 30 sec standard that is 500A for 30 seconds but goes to 100% DOD. The real CCA would be at the 50% CCA or only 250A CCA at 50% DOD

If they Fudged the DOD to 100% and time to 15secs it would be half that again at 125 CCA

While the amps / time is not a linear relationship it gives you an idea

This is why the C rating is important. Its a standard that cant be manipulated in this way.

Put simply its how much current you can draw for how long to the max DOD
Most will have multiple C ratings like C1, C5, C10, C20 ect

C1 mans over 1 hours, C10 over 10 and so on

This link explains most of the terms well http://web.mit.edu/evt/summary_batte...ifications.pdf

I have spent a lot time on battery specs over the last year or so in order to go completely off grid with my power.

There is a good chart here that shows how DOD relates to the number of cycles. http://usbattery.com/wp-content/uplo...life-cycle.pdf

While I can control the cycles to one per day on my off grid power. For your car it will be much higher cycles, depending on how many time you crank it per day. The Important thing in terms of lifespan is how low you let the DOD go.

In other words a bigger battery will last longer as the DOD is lower.

One final point. All batteries have resistance and therefore self discharge. So a battery that is not used will slip to a low DOD and radically effect the number of cycles. So a battery that is not used needs to be maintained close to 0% DOD to achieve the max cycles.

Cheers
34by151

 

All of my other cars have a optima in them, anybody on here use them in a jag with success

 

kargola,
My experience with Optima's has been a mixed experience. I purchased my first with the thought that I wanted the quality. My second went out due to an accidental full discharge and was replaced on warranty. It too went south and was still covered under its new warranty. I think they are great batteries, but I'm back to ordinary batteries. I did have luck with an unchargable Optima when I recharged it at a low rate for several months!!

Jag Nut

 

Exide and Amaron are best battery brands in India.

 

HereYaGo:

Best Battery - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

 

Hi Ray,

Your link just returns to this thread... Was there another thread you wanted to link to?

Also, this thread has had no activity since 2016...

Cheers,

Don

 

Sorry Don, stupid of me...Didn't notice it was an old thread!