Finally got my battery back and all charged - don't think she needs a new one (whew!) - and as soon as the rain stops I'll put it back in and see if my girl starts. But...is that metal frame with the odd hook-end-screws really DOING anything on there, or can I leave it off for a bit while I test to see how she's doing after her winter break? I guess it might serve to keep the battery in its corner but I'm thinking for mild test driving I don't have to try to hook those *&(^% ends in?


Also, the small rubber "exhaust" battery hose just pulled up when I went to gently move it aside to set the battery down?! Not sure where the bottom goes, and it seems a bit large to slot into the small vent hole on the battery itself. Could it be that it's not quite correct? I believe it was disconnected from the battery before I removed it, actually, so I'm thinking it may not be the right fit. Any thoughts/tips appreciated!

 

Over here an unsecured battery can be an MOT fail.
The bracket is there to keep the battery in place should you inadvertently find yourself and the car upside down at the side of the road/in a hedge.
If you roll the car then the battery can swing and bash around at the end of the cables and if the positive terminal contacts bits of metal in the boot/trunk there will be big sparks: right next to the fuel tank/pump/filters/pipework etc.
Not recommended.

 

The pipe is there to take outside the corrosive fumes from the battery....

 

All righty then - I'll be hooking up the cables and the tubing (any tips on that?) then. THANK YOU!

 

cant say I have ever seen an aftermarket battery with a vent system in the uk,

 

They sure did when l bought my last battery from Halfords........

 

Here in Amurica there's no problem getting batteries that'll accept the vent tube....but you have to go by the actual correct catalog listings for the vehicle in question. If it's supposed to have a vent tube the replacement battery will have one.

If you just walk up to the battery rack and grab a battery that "looks like it'll fit" you may end up without a vent tube.

Cheers
DD

 

my correct vented battery was pretty expensive, but I like to keep those fumes out of my trunk.

My hose has a large hose on the end of it to adapt it to the battery if that is helpful at all

 

I'm thinking there may need to be an adaptor, actually. Does the hose connect inside the hole/vent in the battery, or outside? It's a smidge too big for inside, and a smidge too small for outside :-). And on closer inspection it seems the battery (came with the car when I bought it, but is not original) has vent outlets on both sides - does it need two tiny hoses, then, because that could get tight in the space? Thanks!

 

My car has a hose with about a 4 inch length of larger hose on the end to get onto the one vent on my battery. This hose runs down and through the floor to vent to the ground outside.

My larger hose definitely has a shape to it from being the on the battery so long, so it may be a tiny stretch.

It goes over the outside of the battery, the hose doesn't go inside it.

 

I think that you only need the vent hose if you have a vented battery and I think they tend to be the ones that you unscrew the caps to top up with distilled water.
Modern sealed batteries don't have the vent pipes as far as I can recall (I haven't seen one for years).

 

Halfords orlando?? well I didnt

 

ha ha ......I've lived between Orlando and Cambridge for years. I have 2 Stags there and my XJS is now back in Fl. had to get a new battery so went to Hafords. As said above, if the battery is for the XJS it will have the vent. Go to Halfords and look.

 

Vented batteries are still very common, even with the maintenance-free type where you never have to add water. I buy and replace all the time!

However, Optima (and I suppose other gell batteries) are not vented.

Cheers
DD

 

I have replaced my battery with a Bosch, I would call it semi-sealed. I can pry open the long caps to add water for each cell. It came with a vent connector on both sides which you would cap off the unused vent stub out. Same goes for the battery in my wife's 99, XJ8L except it is 3 times the size of my XJS battery. It too is a Bosch which replaced a 10 year old Interstate Battery. Glad I had used the vent because after letting the XJS sit idle for 3 weeks the battery was in need of a charge. I connected my automatic charger over night and it was good to go. When I backed my car out of the garage I spotted a large white circle on my concrete floor right where the vent pipe exited the car. The battery was cooked and bleed out acid on my floor and etched the concrete floor and not my Jag... I have since purchased a new automatic battery charger.