All,

After nearly a year of ownership, it is time to reflect on the good and the bad of my 2008 XK...

The Good:

Stunning machine. I STILL turn around and stare at it each time I have to walk away. I have been known to walk backwards across the parking lot of the grocery store (which of course my wife thinks is hysterical). This is truly one of the most beautiful automobiles ever built. Turns heads everywhere it goes.

That feeling of relaxed luxury one gets from traveling safely in the womb of a truly prestigious premium motorcar. I find myself feeling a bit sorry for the poor folks that must tolerate life with a Mercedes or BMW.

The look, feel, and smell of REAL leather & wood (and lots of it).

That throaty growl that roars from deep within its bowels every time I hit the gas (even just a little).

Fast and I mean FAST AS HELL. Runs like a freshly raped ape. That uncontrollable "Joker" smile that spreads across my face as the car pins me in my seat. Ahh, life is good.

The Bad:

#1. Electrical gremlins. If the battery (and I have been through three) is even the least bit discharged, certain instrument panels won't light up, windows will drop right back down when you try to put them up, relays will fry, etc. I keep my XK on a battery tender whenever I am not driving it and this practice keeps the gremlins at bay and the car operating as promised, but what a pain in the a--.

BTW, I have come to the conclusion the factory alternator is just to small for the demands placed on it by this car. The local dealer can't get more than 100 amps out of it (and they tell me this is "normal"). Well, just as soon as the warranty is out, I am installing a 160 amp unit. Maybe that will help.

#2. I have had to replace almost every inch of weather stripping. Luckily under warranty, but why?

#3. Seat backs feel a bit "loose" and the top comes down with more force than I think it should, but the dealer says these things too are "normal".

#4. The Nav unit is woefully inadequate compared to a decent Garmin.

Having said all these things, I don't ever plan to sell this automobile, for I am still completely in love. At the end of the day, life with an XK is like being with a truly beautiful woman. You accept a few faults for the privilege of running your hands over all those wonderful curves...

 

Glad that you are altogether very happy with the car. Same with me and my '08 coupe. However, sorry and a bit alarmed with all your electrical problems.

I use my car mostly for long distance commute when I work away from home. Sometimes I don't start it for a month. Thus far, no electrical problems due to low battery. If I do approach a month without starting I usually connect my low amperage charger to it for a few hours.

A 100 Amp alternator should be more than enough to charge the battery. Heck, you really do not want the battery charged even with 100 amps for any length of time as it tends to prematurely destroy the lead plates inside. The only issue I could see if your use of the car included frequent starts that will pull 400 Amps+ out of the battery and short enough drives, not allowing enough time for the alternator to recharge at its normal charge rates.

If it is NOT your frequent starts/short distance drives, than what I would recommend for you to do is a battery drain check, which is to place a DC ammeter (many inexpensive multi-meters have this function) in SERIES with one of your battery posts (negative is safer to remove) and measure how many milliamps are being drained when the car is NOT running and the ignition and all accessories are OFF. I'd say that anything over 50-75 milliamp (0.050 amp) would be too much and a reason to figure out where the currents are going.

Also, I have not noticed any problems with my weather stripping either.

Good luck,

Albert

 

Stillwaters, well done - a great read. I agree with Albert... it sounds like you have something draining the battery. As for the weather stripping, you may want to try 'Gummi Pflege Stift.' I bought it to prevent my windows freezing to the tight-seal weatherstrip when it gets below freezing. It's good stuff, cheap, and may help whatever is causing your issue.

 

Thanks for your review , I am sure this will give an idea about these cool rides for buyers .

 

Albert,

Thanks for the help. My dealer has checked the car twice for parasitical draw and claims there is nothing pulling power, but I am going to use your advice and check it for myself.

So, if I understand correctly, I should remove one of my battery clamps, and place the multi-meter between the clamp and the battery, then check for draw? How long should I leave the meter installed?

 

My advice is to place the meter first in the DC Amp or DC Milliamp position. CAUTION: In this position the meter acts as a direct short circuit to VOLTAGE thus you must NOT place the leads of the meter between a POS and NEG source. Which is to say NEVER use the Amp position to measure VOLTAGE.

To measure current you have to remove the Negative lead and place one of the meter's lead to the battery Negative post and the other lead to the cable you just removed. This is considered placing the Ammeter in SERIES with the currents that flow. The meter itself becomes part of the current circuit and thus measures it.

Depending on the meter you may want to start off on a higher scale, such as the 10A scale to be sure not to over stress it with an unexpected larger current flow. Then, move to the lower scales, such as 300 ma (milliamp) etc. to get an accurate fine read.

Generally you can keep it ON as long as you'd like if you think that there is some intermittent device that may automatically start up and stop. In most cases an instantaneous read is sufficient.

I am not certain if there is anything in the Jag that would be disrupted and locked when the battery is removed (radio etc) so, if you want to be extra careful than you can clip one of the meter's lead onto the NEG cable that will be removed and touch and hold the other lead of the meter on the battery post as the cable being removed, thus never interrupting the DC supply to the car and its accessories. That is what I normally do.

If you are using an older analog meter with a pointer (as opposed to a digital meter with digital display) the polarity must be correct for the pointer to deflect upscale. In most instances no big deal if the pointer deflects downscale against its stop, simply reverse the leads for an upscale read. No damage will be done in your case.

Good luck,

Edit: One more CAUTION: while you have your meter connected SERIES all the currents in the car will be flowing through the meter. DO NOT TURN ON any accessories (lights, stereo, starter) that will draw more than what the ammeter scale's limit is because you will pop the ammeter. Which is to say that if you're in the 300 ma scale any light bulb turned on inside the car will exceed that current flow and potentially damage the meter. So do not open the car door while being on a low scale. A 10 A scale can accommodate your inside light bulbs (not headlights) but, not your 1200 Watt super duper stereo blasting away...

Albert