2008 XKR , ran perfectly a few weeks back when last started. I've turned off and left on trickle charge. Once battery is charged is this going to be rectified or am I going to have to be raped by a main dealer?

 

Rape is an "against your will" action. Bringing your car to the dealer to have him fix it for you is not against your will. If you want to take the time to learn about cars so you can diagnose and repair at least minor problems can save you a lot of money and the grief of not knowing if you are being taken advantage of or not.

That being said, there is not enough information your post to give much of an answer. If the car ran fine a few weeks ago and needed a jump start today, you probably have an electrical problem with the car. The car should be able to sit for a few weeks without needing a jump. It could be the battery is not holding a charge or something is draining the battery.

You need to resolve the electrical problem first. Fully charge the battery, with a real charger, not just a trickle charger. Then measure the voltage on the battery half an hour or so after disconnecting the charger. It should be at least 12.6 volts. If not you need a new battery.

Is the MIL lit? If so, what are the codes? Clear them, start the car and see if the problem persists.

 

Welcome to the forum Tony,

If you plan on leaving any modern Jaguar parked up for several weeks then you need to keep it on a battery tender to avoid this kind of problem. One of the CTEK range is the preference of many members.

Failure to follow the recommended procedure for jump starting can fry some of the many sensitive electronic modules on the vehicle.

The RP could simply have resulted from starting the engine before the vehicle battery was properly charged. If it persists, you will need a code reader to determine the cause.

Please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST forum and post some information about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

 

Old tired batteries are notorious for popping up all sorts of oddball codes. Pull the battery leads and let it sit overnight after a full charge. If the voltage drops below 12.5 vdc, expect to replace it. Don't have a meter, shame on you and yes, you will get raped by pretty much any dealer.

 

+1 on checking the battery voltage and connections.

Also, be sure you are 'jump starting' the vehicle correctly. Use the positive terminal behind the nearside rear wheel and an earthing point on the chassis.

Refer to the Owner's Manual for the correct procedure.

 

Thanks for the advice, car has been laid for a few months over the winter but has been started and run up to temperature every few weeks. Think it just dropped off rapidly because we have had a proper cold snap here the last couple of weeks. Followed the proper procedure to jump start , but didn't want to rev with the flat battery so I turned off and charged it over night. Battery came back up to 13.2 volts fine, it's quite new, car started as normal but idles lumpy. May just be where the plugs haven't been properly extended for a while, my Skyline always needs a good clear out after its had a few months off the road. I'll take it out as soon as the weather improves and see if it clears the problem. Can anyone recommend a good, reasonably priced fault code reader that will let me clear the faults. Appreciate the help guys :0)

 

Couple of things.

It's not a good idea to start it and just run the engine for a while.

A ctek would be much better.

Lumpy because it's lost power and so also lost all the learned values. It's trying to relearn.

13.2V means it still has the surface charge so you've got in effect a false voltage.

Don't blame the plugs.

Codes will normally self-clear in cases like this but an elm327 is cheap if not.

Oh, that was 6.

 

I had that when I started it for the first time this year. I let it idle for a few minutes, shut it off, and restarted. Idled a bit more, and it evened itself out.

When in doubt, code readers are cheap, you can save yourself a trip to the dealer by buying a $50 reader and googling the codes that come up.

 

You don't even need to spend $50 on a reader, those Bluetooth OBD2 readers can be had WITH full versions of Torque for under $10 in most cases. I paid $8 with free shipping, but that was a couple years ago. It looks cheap and cheesy but it works perfectly well.

 

Used to day and was fine lights all out and runs perfectly. Lesson learnt - keep battery trickle charged :0)

 

ansd don't start the engine unless you can take the car out for a good long drive.

 

For the sake of clarity and FYI, the recommendation was to put a battery maintainer on her, not a trickle charger.

A trickle charger applies small voltage but never stops. You can cook your battery.

A maintainer, applies voltage but shuts of when battery is charged and restarts if voltage falls below a predetermined threshold.

They are different and the two terms are often wrongly interchanged:-)

 

That's what I have :0)