MY husbands XJ sovereign has been sitting on our drive for 4yrs!!! Battery is flat and disconnected and he cant get into the boot to get at the battery to reconnect it!! The key wont open the boot. Anyone help???

 

I would suggest a little spray lubricant in the key hole and a long 'wiggle' of the key. Beyond that on the XJ there is reported to be a slot behind the tag that will allow a tool to trip the lock. I haven't had to do that but you might try a search to find the discussions on that subject.

 

Spray some lube in the trunk key hole, and then insert the key and twist it to the right as hard as you can with your hand, it will be stiff but will turn. You could also try hooking jumper cables up under the hood and trying the trunk button on the dash. There is a battery cable that goes down to the starter on the right side of the car for the positive, and find a good spot to put the ground jumper- I use one of the bolts that attach the shock tower.

 

laketime, that is a very clever solution!

 

I was a bit afraid to answer on this as I was not 100% sure about hooking jumper cables up to the terminals under the hood with the battery disconnected, but that is probably the best hope.

I would not twist too hard on the key in the trunk slot because I have a strong suspicion that the key mechanism may not actually be mechanical for the trunk. I think it is an electrically switched component, so needs the battery to work. If that is the case, it will never open with a disconnected battery.

The hole under the license plate is the next idea, but I think it needs some fishing and does not simply open by inserting a lever.

There are terminals on both sides of the engine compartment, but perhaps the easiest is on the left side (NA drivers side) I have opened mine that way, but it was with a dead battery still hooked up.

 

Hi
Here is the weblink to the locked trunk thread:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...w-fixed-58948/

The posts in the above thread should give you all the information to get the trunk opened.

Jim Lombardi

 

JWT_ the trunk tumbler has a rod that runs to the trunk latch, so it is purely mechanical. The tumblers rust up from lack of use- why bother using the key when there is a button on the remote. I have done this many times or I wouldn't have suggested it.

 

Thanks for the update.
I had the problem once and called my Jag dealer. They had a tech call me back, who told me that it was electrically operated and that I should use the jumpers to open it. The jumper technique worked well for me but I probably would have used a bit more force on the key had I not been told that. Not everyone at the dealer level knows all I guess, or perhaps they prefer the jumpers vs the potential of using too much force... but they did tell me it was electric.