I was at a Concours event last Saturday with my 2007 XK and I had the doors, trunk and hood open all day long. When I went to start the car to leave the battery sounded weak. On Sunday I was driving home and got a "tire pressure system inactive" fault warning plus the cruise control was inactive. All I can think is that the electrical system was managing itself to activate essential systems first and deactivate non-essential systems. Everything was back to normal today so I guess the system is fully charged. This is the second time this has happened. The battery is the original battery from '07 so it's probably time for a replacement. Before I do that, though, has enybody experienced this before?

 

Yeah, its time for a new battery ! You've done well: my 2008 OEM battery gave-up the ghost about 4 months ago.
In my case, the symptoms were the touch-screen 'freezing', but there doesn't seem to be a consistent symptom on this model - just 'strange stuff' happening...

If you want to be sure, get the battery load-tested at a shop (or buy one of these):

Since you have a nice stable of vehicles (meaning intermittent usage) maybe a trickle-charge with multiple leads might be a wise investment ? On my 93 XJ-S the symptom of a low battery was one or both door unlock solenoids not functioning.

 

MY original '07 battery gave up about three months ago. Luckily I was at my brothers when it shorted out. If this had happened far from the city......tough. It's time to buy the new on now is my advice to you. Interstate batterys can be had from Firestone dealers or NTB sites. It's an easy install.

 

As others have said does sound like you need to change the battery. I had to with mine. The issues I had were mainly failure to start in the morning. I would go to start it and just get a clunk then nothing. I did have the screen stick on the emblem too. Funny thing was if I left the system on for about a minute let the car do its checks...or what ever it does first thing. Then start it, it would fire up. Anyway I bought a AGM battery and its been great ever since. I believe all the latest stop start cars out now have AGM batteries. They hold a charge longer and don't need as long to get to full charge. Hope that helps.

 

The battery has been a constant topic here on the forum.... Many last less than a few years...
Several of us simply jumped over to an AGM battery (Interstate MT5-49/H8) and have yet to report problems since the move. AGM will Store its charge much longer, and accept a charge 5 times faster than a standard lead acid.... Picked mine up for about $210 +tax

Food for thought...
Vince

 

Thanks for the input. I will look for a new AGM unit this weekend. Are there any special procedures I need to know about to swap out the old battery for a new one?

 

I found it a simple R&R....

 

By "simple," is this just a standard battery swap (undo the old one and install the new one) or is there a certain sequence or other specifics involved? The standard Interstate battery for my '07 XK is not the AGM model. So, did you have to specifically request the AGM battery from your Interstate supplier?

 

$165 at a local Firestone. Had it done recently.

 

The answer to all is "yes".
Simple R&R with nothing more than a socket set and wrench. Any who have done it are amazed with how easy the swap was to do.

As for the AGM part, you will have to request the specific battery, as the local distributes (I got mine through Firestone as well) may not show it in their books for an XK. I spoke directly with Interstate to get the part number.

Be careful....We have found that two part numbers are out there representing the same battery. The old number MTP-49/H8A and the new, MT5-49/H8. The old number may still be in some warehouses, and if you were to accidentally miss-order it without the A suffix (example "MTP-49/H8") then that would get you the none-AGM version.

Best to just request it by the new part number and avoid any conflict MT5-49/H8.

Hope that helps

Vince

 

Is the 2010 and newer XKs the same easy install with the same battery discussed above? I'm a firm believer that any car that is not used regularly or only on short trips should get a fresh battery more frequently in order to play it safe. Here is Florida, we get no warning when batteries are going to fail. Up North I would at least get a few slow cranks.

 

I would rather hear it from a 2010 and newer owner, but I don't believe any of the equipment has changed in the battery mounting area.

BOL
Vince

 

Easy install of a battery...

Located in trunk
Remove carpeted area along back with the 4 plastic twist thumb screws located in the 4 corners
Disconnect battery terminals
Install new battery
Connect battery terminals
Replace carpeted area along back with the 4 plastic thumb screws located in the 4 corners
Close the trunk lid
Step on brake
Press the start button

The car should start.

You won't have a dead battery if you hook up a CTEK 3300 to the battery.

CTEK is one of the best trickle chargers on the market.

You can spend under $67.00 at Amazon or spend $130.00 at the Jaguar dealer if you want the Jaguar Logo on the charger. I use 2 of these CTEK3300's one for the Jaguar XKR and one for the Porsche 981.

Problem solved in a few easy steps. Order the CTEK today get it delivered by Friday, and start charging. No more dead or weak, low voltage batteries. Yes it will work on AGM batteries also.

This is one of the best tips you will find on these forums.

 

Duplicate post deleted..

 

Oh, you mean that simple! The last time the car was in for service my mechanic went through a multi-step process to get the car to start after performing some diagnostics and disconnecting then reconnecting the battery. I'm glad the battery replacement process is as simple as it was on my other half dozen Jaguars or any of the other cars I've owned over the past forty years. In any event it's DONE and I appreciate the fine advice I received from all of you.

 

I have a 09xk convertible, the luggage separator seems to be in the way of just simply removing the 4 twist thumb screws to expose the battery. what do you do to get the separator apparatus out of the way. seems to be a big deal.

 

The luggage separator lifts out. See your owners manual.

 

Yes the luggage separator does just lift out. Use a flashlight and you will see the luggage separator is on a track. Just pull the luggage off the track. It lifts out, and takes about 10 seconds at most. Once the luggage piece is off one side is comes out easily.

 

There are a few extra steps no-one's mentioned yet:

- On the convertible, the top needs to be Up (it blocks access otherwise)

- As Rich says, the luggage separator is on a track like a blind. Its more of a pain to put back than to remove however, and be sure the left hand side is located properly. There's a microswitch there that disables the top open/close circuits if the separator is not in place. As recommended, you'll want to read the Owners Manual.

- The stereo memory retains the stations if you take less than an hour or so to switch the battery !

- The Window positioning/ anti-trap memory, however, will be lost right away (Thats the thing that drops the window a fraction when the door is opened on the conv). Its also tied into the top open/close sequence as well. Reset procedure is in the Owners manual (around p82).

That should do it !

 

Good sound points, although the OP has a coupe, so we were on the same page there... As a side note I didnt have issues with my side windows, but it may have been because they were down when I did the job?

Vince