I still have some more trim to remove in the boot (trunk?), but already this pipe doesn't appear right, surely it should go up and connect to something. Does anybody know what it is (highlighted in yellow), sitting in front of battery.

Thanks, Richard.

XJR 1995

 

G'day Richard,

That little rubber hose is a vent hose for some types of battery which have a vent fitting on the side.

It appears that your battery is a fully sealed type and doesn't need to be vented.

The pic below is of my battery and you can see the vent tube connected and also you will notice at the positive battery terminal a large black box, (Part No LNA2850DE)
this contains a couple of hi amperage fuses before the battery feed goes into the car. I'm not sure that your car has these fuses.

Cheers,
Jeff.

 

Hi Jeff,

Many thanks, that solves that.

Cheers, Richard.

 

Hi Richard,

If your battery has a vent, please connect the vent tube to it. If it does not have a vent hole at one or both ends, consider replacing it with a correct battery with vent holes. The vent tube plugs into the hole at the bulkhead end, and the hole on the rearward end of the battery should be plugged. The purpose of the vent tube is to direct the hydrogen, oxygen and hydrogen-sulfide gasses produced by the battery out through the floor of the trunk/boot so they cannot collect and create a very real danger of explosion. There are several potential sources of spark in the trunk, including all the relays in the fuse box with their arcing contacts, the radio antenna motor, etc.

I once disconnected the negative cable from the battery in the trunk of a Mercedes and connected a charger to the battery. The trunk lid support struts were shot, so I just let the lid down while the battery charged on the charger's automatic setting. When I returned hours later, opened the trunk and reconnected the negative battery cable, the resulting spark ignited the gasses that had collected in the trunk and exploded in my face, giving me the equivalent of a good sunburn and singeing my eyebrows and the hair around my face. Thankfully, I wear safety glasses, so my eyes were somewhat protected. But I'll never forget that ball of fire rushing over my face!

Once I confirmed that all my body parts were still present and that the debris on my face was just the burned ends of my hair breaking off, I found that whoever had installed the battery had left the vent tube disconnected.

Battery manufacturers state that not even sealed lead-acid, Valve-Regulated Lead-Acid (VRLA), Gel or AGM batteries should be placed in sealed containers such as the trunk of a Jaguar. Here's a snip from a technical manual from East Penn, one of the three largest manufacturers of automotive batteries in North America:




And here is a snip from Johnson Controls' Safety Data Sheet for its sealed cell Optima AGM automotive batteries:






I am attaching the Exide technical manual for any who are interested.

Cheers,

Don

 

Thanks Don. I will replace the battery at some stage. The battery came with the car when I purchased it. I could see it wasn't the right type and I was fully expecting it to be on it's last legs. However, it actually has been working very well.
When at School many years ago, I had a physics teacher (Mr Gowan), who told the class he had an explosion in the boot of his Nissan Bluebird caused by battery gas. We didn't know whether to believe him at the time.

I think the rust holes in my boot floor also off some form of ventilation. The boot seems to collect water for fun. Another job to add to the rather extensive list. My next issue is my car radio antenna. It goes up a treat, but doesn't retract although the motor makes quite a nasty clicking sound whilst trying. Seems to be a few YouTube videos out there on how to address this.

 

Since your antenna mast will extend all the way, your rope gear is probably broken toward the end farthest from the antenna mast tip, at the last point the motor gear-pulley contacts when the mast is fully extended. The rope gear is a flexible gear rack made of Nylon or similar plastic. The gear teeth along one edge of the rope engage teeth on the motor and uncoil as the antenna mast is pushed upward and coil around the gear-pulley as the mast is pulled back downward. If only a short section of the rope gear is broken off, you can probably just replace the antenna mast. Check eBay for very affordable aftermarket options. I try to purchase masts that come with a new nut if possible because the old nut is usually showing its age. But you can usually re-use the nut.

Pay attention when you remove the old mast and note the direction the teeth on the rope gear face. Usually they face toward the front of the vehicle, but not always.

I have had a problem with some aftermarket masts within the past couple of years with the flange on the lower end of the mast tube formed with too large an outside diameter, so the mast will not fit into the neck of the motor housing. I have had to carefully file or grind the flange to an outside diameter that will fit smoothly into the motor housing neck.

Another problem I have had with aftermarket masts is the brass sleeve being too large to fit into the housing neck. I've run the brass sleeve on a disc sander to reduce its outer diameter until it fits.

One tip before you install the mast is to work white lithium grease up into the mast by squirting it on the rope gear, then extending the mast to distribute the grease internally, and repeat a few times. This way, the mast is internally lubricated and will tend to work smoothly for a longer time.

Before removing the old mast, apply two layers of painter's tape around the base of the mast to protect the paint from your wrench as you turn the nut off. Once you have the nut disconnected, turn the radio on to extend the mast and just keep gently withdrawing it until the entire rope gear is out.

Transfer the old nut over to the new mast. Feed the rope gear down into the motor housing neck until you feel resistance. Turn the radio off and carefully feed the gear down into the housing and then direct the base of the mast into the motor neck. It often takes a few tries before you get the rope gear to engage the motor gear. If the gear feeds all the way in but the mast won't fit, check for the defects mentioned above and correct as necessary.

The nut doesn't have to be too tight, so take care when snugging it up. The motor housing neck is cast metal so the threads can be stripped if too much force is applied.

If your rubber grommet is cracked or torn, you have to remove the motor to replace it. The motor is located behind the carpeted trim panel in the trunk/boot.

If your old rope gear is broken off at too high a point, you may have to remove the motor housing and open the case to remove the broken end of the gear that remains in the housing, which will interfere with the proper operation of the new mast's rope gear. If you find this is the case let us know and we'll try to help with the process.

Cheers,

Don

 

Hi Don, Thanks for the advice. Cheers, Richard.