I was just going to put my XKR into storage tonight but it wouldn't start. I followed the manual for jump starting: booster vehicle turned off, negative cable connects to ground on spare tire mount... I get a connection for lights and dash to come alive but when I try to start I just hear a pop in the engine compartment area and no cranking. I'm concerned about the "pop". The battery is only about 1 year old or so but I may go buy another one just to get it into storage. Any ideas on what I may be doing wrong on jump starting? I'm wondering if the spare tire mount (more like a hook) isn't a good enough ground. Also I drove the car 2 weeks ago. I'm not aware of anything I left on to drain the battery.

Thanks,
Gary

 

Use a voltmeter to check available battery voltage across the terminals with the ignition in the OFF position. If there's less than 12.6 volts indicated on the voltmeter, charge the battery for five hours at 2 to 5 amps and retest.

For all the modules to function correctly, there needs to be a minimum of 12.6 volts available.

 

You can try a different ground to see of it makes any difference. If it were me, I would use the battery positive and negative terminals but we've debated that on forums before and that's just me. As NBCat says, check all the voltages of the batteries involved and recharge before trying again. Also use good quality jump cables (if there is any sparking or heat being generated they aren't good enough) and make sure that the clamps are tight onto clean metal.

Richard

 

I don't know what the popping sound is - you might want to record it and post it on here.

Personally I wouldn't try and jump start it, I would make sure I have a fully charged battery before trying again.

You might well now be suffering from bore wash and of course fuel pumps have been known to be working one weekend and not the following, so check for fuel at the Schrader valve under the bonnet. Even though you have two pumps, you might have been running on one for a while without realising it.
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I believe that the engine would crank even if the fuel pumps had both failed. Of course, it wouldn't start.

Richard

 

Thank you to all that replied! This is a very helpful forum. I didn't want to mess with jump starting again so just bought another battery and it fired right up. The old battery was still under warranty since less than two years old so didn't lose out there. My XKR convertible is now happily in storage before the Wisconsin winter hits. I think I'm going to invest in a good battery charger for when it's time to put the battery back in the car. Any advice there would be appreciated.

Gary

 

only for the future. i thibk the pop sound you heard was the starter trying to kick in but not enough power to turn.
like the posts before state: not good connection or not enough power source.

if the power source is the problem you can let the „source“ car running for a while so it charges the nearly dead battery until a start becomes possible.

btw: disconnect the negative from the battery as you put your car for a longer sleep (winter for example).

you will have to set back the memory function of your driver seat and the front windows (push and hold up until window closed and wait untill you hear a click, then press down until you hear a click while the window is in its end positions)

PS: Ctek is a good brand for battery charges with a quick connector option.

 

Thanks robak for your reply. Since the car is in storage during Wisconsin winters I always bring the battery into my house. I've never had a problem just putting the battery back in the car, come spring, and just starting it up but decided to invest in a battery charger; it'll come in handy for other vehicles and battery issues.

Thanks,
Gary

 

No Problem. Keeping it in the house us a good choice.

Im not sure hoe they call that kind of charger you should usw. In German we call it „Erhaltungsladegeraet“ xD
That charger loads the battery to a certain state - after that it unloads and loads it in small cycles. Its like a storage function. Do you know what i mean? How do you call that on english?

 

Battery tender or battery maintainer.

 

In English, one needs to look for words like "Smart", "Intelligent", "Automatic" or "Multi-Stage". Anything else can be misleading.