New Battery Or Am I Draining It Listening To The Radio?
 

So I drove my car a week ago and the battery light appeared on the dash and it went off a couple seconds later never appeared again. So I left my car for 7 days no driving at all when I get back it took me 3-4 tries before turning over after I went to my trunk and lift my mat to give battery air. Today I was driving listening to the radio for 45mins to an hour stop and go driving and when I parked the car again it took me 2-3 tries before turning over and I had to lift my mat in the trunk to give the battery air again. My car has 53k miles I believe it still has original battery. Do I need a new battery please help and give me some advice. Thanks

Listening to the radio in stop and go traffic will not hurt your battery.

If your have an '04 with the original battery, go get it replaced. It is probably starting to go on you now, and even if it isn't it will be stranding you soon.

Also, airing out your battery:icon_shrug: is not doing anything. I suspect in the time it takes for you to walk around and remove the cover in the trunk, the little bit of heat generated internally from the attempted starts spreads through the battery, and gives you a slight current boost when you go back to try and restart.

Instead of giving your battery "air" why not buy a charger and give it an occasional charge--especially if you are going for long periods without driving? Over the years I have gotten into the habit of hooking up a trickle charger every so often to all of my cars. I figure this couldn't hurt as long as I am not over doing it.


Doug

Just start up your car and let it run until it's fully warmed up every 3 weeks to a month. That's all you really need to do.

There's also no real time-frame that a battery will last. I've had a few last well over a decade and others that lost a cell or two after a few years... I've even revived batteries that were dead for many years with my charger... even on batteries I had to force/trickle charge for a day or two before it would even accept a regular charge.

But... if a battery is going bad while you're using/driving the car, it generally means there is a problem... alternator, battery or sometimes wiring shorting out.

Just a note of interest about batteries from an old guy. When I was young and we had cars with 6 volts batteries, in the winter we would often pour a bucket of hot water over the battery to get more cranking power. It helped a lot.

A quick trip to an auto parts store for a free battery/charging system test will tell the tale but I suspect you need a new battery. Be sure to get one with a vent, a requirement for a battery in an enclosed space such as the trunk of a Jaguar.

04 Battery Replacement
 

I just recently replaced the original 04 battery in my XKR. While it seemed to run strong, I did experience occasional "window drop" which seems to be indicative of an older batter. Based on the build date of my 04, this battery seems to have lasted over 8.5 years (04 XKR built in SEP 03). Another sign seemed to be something along the lines of "DSC fault/ error" message reading on the dash display during the actual cranking of the engine with the key. I am guessing both of these are due to the battery getting older and putting out slightly less voltage than it would otherwise.
Anyways, the local Autozone had multiple batteries. I got the more expensive one (100 month-ish warranty). Approximately $100 after core turn in. I generally buy my car batteries from Autozone out of convenience (close and items in stock), and once when I had one go bad 5 months later they switched it for free - without me needing to show receipts of anything). Make sure to plug one side with the plastic tabs that rip off the red plastic "+" protector, and hook up the existing vent tube (and small 90 degree plastic adapter that has a 50% chance of staying in the old battery and 50% change of staying attached to the vent tube when unplugging it from the old battery). This battery has a vent outlet on both sides, so you use one side and plug the other. The battery and vent tube fit in the trunk just as well as the original stock battery did.
After switching out the battery about 4 months ago I no longer have any occasional window drop or DSC messages while starting up. Given the age of your battery, I would definitely replace it before it strands you. You will most likely notice poorer battery performance on an older battery when the temperature drops.

Had a Scare... Just bought the car and drove it home across the state 184 miles.. Pulled into the driveway turned it off and I noticed something didn't seem right on shutdown,,, Opened the door and then could not shut it... (Now I expected to just go inside and get the wife to give her,,, her NEW CAR)... So I jumped back in and tried to start it... NO LUCK,,, Lights in the dash started to flicker and chatter... After a couple clicks it starts but now the windows are off sequence... (This forum helped me with resetting them). Happened a couple more times,,, Thought it was the battery but the previous owner just put a new one in... AutoStore Quality BLAH,,,, So I switched it with the New Interstate I just put in my XJ6. Now it runs No Problem...

Make sure the terminals are Clean and Tight when you replace your battery,,, Last Interstate Lasted 9 YEARS in the trunk of the Jag. Another one Lasted 7.5 years in the trunk on my BMW... Have one in the Lexus,,, Avalon,,, and Porsche as well...

Just sold the XJ6 with the EverStart (not) battery I switched ,,, So we are Offically an ALL Interstate family again... Never a Problem with them...

Da Count

Howdy folks:
I was going to post this in the Rev's "New Battery" thread, but it seems appropriate here on this newer thread. I purchased mine in Oct 2010 with an additional ~50 ma drain in the pass door module circuit which the charge would only last 1-2.5 days. So I immediately installed a battery disconnect. Having an aftremarket warranty good to May 2011, this was addressed at the Jaguar dealer then. They said it was in the key retention circuit and was fixed. Of couse it was not so I started pulling the pass door module fuse to go longer than 2.5 days during the warm weather. Well, in the past couple weeks it seems to have fixed itself (I would give it the daily window drop test and did sercurity and auto-headlights both on and off). It passed this morning and after 16 days I am going for a spin.
My conclusion is that regardless of temperature, culprit switch settings, old battery (mine is an Interstate), it is possible for it to just fix itself.
(I accidentally woke the cat and burnt out my 330ma fuse but on the 10 Amp scale, it has gone from .07 or .08 down to .04)

Bill,

Thanks for mentioning the 'DSC fault' message on starting being related to battery condition. Knew about the window drop but not the DSC connection.

I got this twice last week but no codes were stored. Each time it cleared on a restart. Was expecting something considerably more serious (and expensive) could be on the horizon.

Graham
2005 XK8 4.2S Coupe

Count, your problem sounds slightly familiar to one I had. On my car the short cable that goes from the battery terminal to the big terminal block mounted to the front wall of the trunk was apparently not making a good connection at the crimp where the battery lug is connected. It took me nearly a year to identify the problem. The fix was very simple; I just put the crimp/cable in a vice and recrimped it. It's been working fine ever since.

Rev
 

Rev- I did not want to come across as foolish so I left out part of the story,,,

So as Paul Harvey says- Here's The Rest of the Story,,,

I switched the batteries out and drove to the North Carolina Mountains NO PROBLEM,,, The temp dropped to the mid 20's so I turned on both heated seats, the Heated windshield, the rear heated window, both front and rear fog lights, the defog/heater and blasted the stereo on the way to dinner at night. Get to the restaurant and turned the car off,,,Again the lights started to flicker and chatter the steeering wheel did not lift up and I could not start it... So I pop the boot and there is no light on so I grabbed the positive cable (short one that goes to the box in the front of the trunk),, slightly loose- I moved it and the lights came on. Everything was fine after that. The next morning I tightened it down and drove home... No problem since...

Just to clarify: The DSC fault only appeared on a weak battery while cranking (while starter engaged). Once engine started at its idle RPM, the DSC fault was gone. The car did not have to be restarted as the DSC fault only appeared during cranking until the engine was fully started. While I experienced this with an older battery, I've read other examples from others with the exact same experience. Mine never set a code, but then again, I only have a generic code reader that does not read chassis, body, or manufacturer specific codes. I've never heard an example of it staying on due to a low battery; but that doesn't mean it couldn't.

So as Paul Harvey says- Here's The Rest of the Story
 

"The next morning I tightened it down and drove home... No problem since..."

No problem since...

Yep should have Knocked on Wood...

This is No Joke,,, 10 minutes after I made that post My Palm Beach Trophy Wife calls... She is shopping with a friend leaves the store, goes to the car and IT WON'T START... OMG Same thing...

So I ask her to pop the boot and see if the lights are on,,, They are not. I ask her to pull everything from the trunk and get to the battery,,, she does (such a good wife) Now I ask her to wiggle the positive cable,,, she does (such a good wife) the lights come on and now she can start the car and come home,,, Thankfully it cut her shopping short... (she is killing me)LOL...

So I Private Message Reverend Sam and he walked me through the steps he took to correct what seems to be to same issue.

It actually took only 11 mins. to do and I RECOMMEND THIS to everyone with battery or current fluctuation issues...

Apparently my wife's positive cables' terminal might have not been providing a proper connection.

So I removed the spare tyre. The connect box in the front of the trunk has 2 covers. I removed those and exposed 4 connections with aircraft locking nuts. I removed the positive cable and put it in a vise with a large flat sided screw driver (for a compression point) and towels to prevent marring or tearing of the heat shrink. Tightened the vise and compressed the terminals cable connection approx. 1/16 of an inch also did the otherside of the cable... Re-installed and tightened the nut,,, and fortunately I checked the other 3 nuts and all could be tightened atleast 1/8 to 1/4 turn...WOW they were not tight???

Do not know if this is the Cure-All but I will keep you posted...

My Thanks Again to the Reverend