Great info, thanks.

If you do still have the Jag representatives ear more clarification on what 'sometimes' is would be useful.

I took a detour down a quiet road on the way home tonight and had a play and regardless of how light I use the throttle, my '07 XKR pulls away in 1st every time in D. I even tried just rolling using the tickover revs.

Maybe there is a difference in the way the 6HP26 and 6HP28 are controlled and he is talking about those or my TCM sees me as an 'enthusiastic' driver so always uses 1st?

 

Thought this might be useful for those setting up a battery tender as described in post 1...

Under the LEFT side trunk lining there is a ground post on the car body. Removing the lining is easy, remove the floor insert, gently work out 2 push fasteners that hold the side liner in place (one is under the floor insert back left corner, the other top side near the trunk light), as you pull the liner back pull the light connection out by sliding it backwards. Now you can fully pull the liner out and away from the weather stripping (its just wedged in). On the back side of the rear wheel arch you'll see a ground prong.

Hope this helps

 

DONT leave the key/fob in the car when not in use,as you may get locked out,
I have had this,wife has been in town,key in car engine running got out shut door open gate back to car and locked out with engine running.
56/07 xk,4.2.

 

I asked; this is the answer:

Maybe that's why we seem to have have different experiences among the community.

 

The OP does it when he leaves his car in his garage, so the car won't be running - in any case, presumably he has a spare key in the house.

 

Thanks for the feedback. It is a shame they can't give more specific information.

I had my Mongoose out today, checking to see if my car has any errors logged as I haven't looked for 6 months or so.

Whilst I had it plugged in, it occurred to me to have a play with the datalogger. I have only used it a couple of times but found a metric that displays the current gear the car is in so went for a drive. Regardless of what I did my car definitely drops in to 1st gear as soon as it comes to a halt.

To take my driving style out of the equation, I also reset the TSM adaptations, went through the learning cycle and tried again. No difference, mine starts in 1st 100% of the time.

I also tried Sports mode and that not unsurprisingly starts in 1st as well.

Finally, as we know, in manual mode the car stops in 2nd but it you flick the lever back to D it also immediately drops in to 1st.

As it takes away any guesswork, I would be interested to hear what the 5.0L shows with the SDD datalogger in case that is indeed different.

It would be interesting to see what the newer 8 speed boxes do as well as they are more likely to start in 2nd, especially in the saloons.

 

I think the situation is more "can't be arsed" than "can't" when it comes to getting more detail. There must be a cadre of ZF gnomes somewhere in JLR that could give us chapter & verse.

Maybe it's a difference between the 6HP26 and 6HP28 'boxes. Unfortunately, I don't have a Mongoose (or a ferret, for that matter), so I can't do the same test. But I plan to count the changes under varying acceleration the next time I'm somewhere where I can get a bit of speed up.

 

So does the ecu reset with a dead battery? I was going to get a tune and pulley. But with battery issues with the xk.... I might have to remap often if it loses the ecu tune

 

Short answer: no.

Long answer: the ECM will reset to its configuration map if you disconnect the battery, i.e. it will lose the adaptations it has learned (fine adjustments based on fuel quality, temperature, humidity, probably altitude as well). But, if you've had a tune done, the map file will be the tuned file, not the original. You'll only lose the tune if a mechanic re-flashes the ECM with the standard XKR-S GT map, i.e. overwrites the tuned map.

Re the battery issues: should be no problem if you drive the car regularly and for a reasonable duration (>30 min, I'd guess). Most of the time, I drive mine once or twice a week, and usually for 20-25 minutes each way, and my battery is not giving me problems. Other people seem to have issues if they leave the car for more than couple of days; maybe they need a new battery, or maybe there's something faulty that is draining it. Your mileage may vary, objects in mirror may be further away, yada yada...

If the car does spend a reasonable amount of time parked up, or if you do see odd electrical symptoms that vanish after the car has been driven, a battery maintainer is a pretty good (and cheap) investment.

 

Are they saying that the original hookup directly to the battery with the CTEK 3300 (red loop to red post and black loop to black post) that was explained in detail by Richzak's comprehensive thread is not the way to go? Is it absolutely necessary to have the negative lead go to the car's ground?

 

The explanation I've seen is that the 5.0 cars have a battery monitoring module, and it is apparently important that this module 'sees' the current being fed into the battery, which it can't if the charger is connected directly across the terminals. I'm not entirely convinced, but, well, you've seen the Jaguar 'official' advice.

 

The User manual for my MXS 5.0 states: "For batteries mounted inside a vehicle:
1) Connect the red clamp to the batterys positive pole.
2) Connect the black clamp to the vehicle chassis remote from the fuel pipe and the battery.

 

My 2010 does have the battery monitoring module which I believe was part of a campaign or a TSB. My car was brought in by the original owner to address the battery monitoring module. I have a work order showing it being done. I'm wondering what effect if any not connecting the CTEK to the body ground has on the charging of the battery or anything else. So far it has been working like a charm. Maybe I'll ask the local Jaguar service manager to see if he even is aware of this recommendation.

 

How do you connect the eyelet of the CTEK to the ground prong?