Due to illness and the lockdown my 2006 xk has been standing idle in storage in France since October 2019. I hope to be able to retrieve it late July.I have been told that the battery is now flat.
Are there any precautions I should take before charging the battery & attempting to restart.Any advice much appreciated.
Pat.

 

If in storage the flat battery was exposed to sub zero temps for any length of time replace it.

 

All the fluids should be checked, particularly the brake fluid as i absorbs moisture pretty readily. Was the gas tank full when it was parked? If not you may have a problem with contamination.

 

Mine sits out the winter here in Germany in a plain, unheated garage, sometimes with a full tank of petrol, sometimes not. All I do is keep the battery charged. Come good weather, I open the doors and drive out. Your only real problem should probably be that the battery is too deeply discharged to save. I would spend the 100€ on a new battery to be on the safe side. Varta Silver H3 or Exide EA1000 are good choices.

 

On our 5.0 engines...
I squirt a generous dose of oil on the timing chain which is right there under the oil cap.
Wouldn't that the be same as a pre-oiler on other engines?

Incidentally Jaguar is the chosen poster-child at places where they sell pre-oilers
Engine Pre Lube System Insta-Lube Kit

 

For us, I guess it does no harm.

For the OP, I don't think adding the stress of unnecessary work like brake fluid change, etc. is helpful. If the car was OK 6 months ago, it should be OK now as long as nothing has suddenly given way, the battery being the obvious exception. A once over should be enough to know if it is ok to start the car.

We enthusiasts take these things more seriously than they really are because we like to do things absolutely right. The rest usually get by just fine too

 

+1

1. a new fully charged battery is the primary requirement. A six month old "flat" one isn't going to be any good. There will almost inevitably be a "Christmas Tree" warning light display at first
2. cooling system - leaks or failed hoses as overheating is a more frequent Jaguar engine killer than mechanical failures
3. brakes could have seized - check parking brake releases and pedal feels right before going on the road

We don't have the fuel quality problems in Europe that seem to plague our US members. I garaged my Bentley on a CTEK at the end of September with quarter tank of E10 when I brought it back from Spain and had no problems starting or running it almost seven months later. My XK was also garaged on a CTEK for over three months last year and had no problems on the re-start.

Graham

 

Thanks to all for advice, car is in France hoping to be able to collect it sometime soon if the current restrictions get lifted.

 

Good luck Pat,

I was scheduled to cross to France via Eurotunnel next Friday en route to Spain for a month but that isn't going to happen.

Graham