June started off with the wife noticing that the passenger rear quarter in her vert was stuck half way.... If you haven't done one yet it's a real friggen chore.... about 8 hours for disassembly and reassembly, had it rebuilt at window motor world in Florida. If you find yourself in this predicament, window stuck down with a rats nest about the spool, cut the cable and manually pull the glass up.

Ok so that got fixed but wait.... no juice, car is dead as a door nail, there's plenty of posts about XK batteries so I won't go into that but here's the twist, my top was in the boot, I've got no access... research manual top operations.... what a PiTA!!!!

Got it out of the boot, propped open the tonneau, yanked the batt will not have are a charge... ok so I bought this 07 used last winter... PO was an older gentleman, nice guy, completely clueless.... battery that I found in the car was a group 48 lead acid, physically smaller and completely inadequate. the brackets were all messed up and backwards to half-*** secure this calamity in the battery tray.... off to interstate, H8 AGM is now installed.... correctly... quick question, what's the electronic module on the battery foot bracket?

Ok got juice and I also got warning lights out the wazoo including "top not latched"... research manual reset... what a PiTA!!!!

Ok so I've reset I've folded I've unfolded I've locked I've unlocked I've futzed with this thing for hours and hours and hours.... still "top not latched"... more research, found somewhere that a guy had to reset the micro switch up by the front latches, pop the cover thing the manual latch screw and start turnin... and turnin... carpel tunnel was setting in then finally I got to the end... but wait the hooks are In the locked position.... turn the other way stupid... more..... more.... keep going and then WTF the screw just popped out! Research latch motor...

removed the drive motor from the top and opened the gearbox... plastic drive gear on the worm screw is stripped and the cast aluminum housing is cracked open...WTF.... used the outer worm screws to reset the switches.

Start the car, error message is gone, raise the top without incident but no latchy latchy... left off the fwd valence so that the worm screws are exposed and I was able to engage those directly to secure the top... so evidently this jobs not done yet...

Original problem rear quarter window $180 + battery $350 + top motor $900... knuckles that look like hamburger and a throbbing lower back = priceless....

 

Man, I'd say you have every right to your frustration! When it rains it pours, for sure.

 

Just another reason to buy a coupe

It's probably good advice to get some trickle charger wires ran to the battery for next time. There will be one...

 

There are factory installed direct to battery charger wires on the outside of the car already. If he would have known it would have made the battery/top issue easier.

Sounds like a right tough go of it on his car, hope it gets better!

 

started there but car went nuckin futs, my charger only does 6 or 12A rates, so after I read a few horror stories about damaging the car electronics this way and opted out. Trickle charger at that location and some patience maybe butbinterstate tested the battery and it was about shot so say la vie...

thanks for letting me rant... after reading that quasi-illiterate babble it's clear sir Arthur was flowing a bit too well...

 

Understood on the battery (and the rant) - and you may know this already ROCKINNM but, our cars really need a battery tender, not a trickle charger. For the sake of those who might read this and not know the difference, a trickle charger never stops charging, even if the battery is fully charged. A battery tender will turn itself on and off based on minimum and maximum criteria built within the tender.

So even with the new battery, a tender is still recommended.

 

Understood, the recommendation for when a car is programmed using the dealer software is that you attach a 22 amp or greater power supply. I was thinking that you attach a robust power supply to provide immediate power to close the top.

 

FYI

 

Even for a DD? This is my wife's primary, my impression from what I had read in the forum is the tender is highly recommended for the weekender or once in awhile car. That said I'm getting one for the down times. But if the wife's gotta deal with a tender everyday, this car is gonna go up for sale...

 

Fair enough question and you'll get varying opinions. There are some who DD and don't use one, have no issues. Others use them even though they're DD.
Mine isn't a DD so I can't advise with certainty but if I did use mine daily, I wouldn't connect it to a tender and I'd let time determine if I made the right choice.
Factor for me would be how much tooting around town vs. highway driving.

My overall point was Tender, not trickle charger but it appears you know the difference.

 

Thanks, that is great info, the Jaguar power supply is 55 amps, so it is OK to use a high amp power source to get the top up if battery is dead!

My Jag is the Wife's DD but only short trips and not on the highway. I will put it on a maintainer once every week or two. There have been a couple of times that I forgot and after 3 or 4 weeks it seems sluggish on startup. I try to make it a habit to charge at least once a week overnight.

 

Mine is a DD and I generally hook it up to the CTek every night. It takes about 30 seconds to hook it up or to unhook it, including placing a home made sign on the steering wheel not to forget about it when it is hooked up.

 

My 2007 XK is only used on the weekends and I never needed to hook it up to a tender and my battery is perfect. I have also let it sit for over a month without driving it during the winter and still it started up with no issue. I believe that if you do need a tender for a weekend driven car, then you have a problem that needs to be fixed. With that said I hope you get the top sorted out. I only buy convertibles where the top goes up and down manually (like my old Z3), because I really hate dealing with crap like that.

 

DD and I hook up about every other week for an evening. Doesn't take long to top off so I think the charging circuit is doing it's thing correctly.

 

Coupe will eventually be seen as another old car, convertible is always going to be desirable for as long as it runs.

Anything running with a drop top will sell for at least $5K in US. There is no such floor for a coupe.

 

Price a split window Corvette lately?

 

Considering it was a 1 year car that's where the high value is. A better comparison is the XKE coupe vs the XKE convert.