Hello,

It's almost the end of the season to be taking my car out up here in NJ. I've been away for the past many months in India due to my dad not feeling well. I'm going to get back home tomorrow and having completely neglected my cars for 5 months was wondering if there was specific advice on restarting them.

Things I've noted already

* Check all fluids (check floor for any leaks)
* Check gas in tank make sure it hasn't turned bad
* Check batteries
* Check all hoses

Anything specific to XK8's that I should be on the look out for. Also anything generally that I should look for.

Thanks
-Bhaskar

 

Just hope the fuel pump still works?

 

I wouldn't worry about it tooooo much, but that's just me. Me, just because (yes I might check the things you mentioned), I would get in and turn the key. If it started right up I would head to the filling station and top up the gas - old gas sucks. At the same time dump a bottle of Techron concentrate FI cleaner in... And see how it goes... I'm sure alls fine.

Gummy fuel pump? Could be a thing as MCM suggests. Was it in the heat and sun all these weeks?

 

It's been in a garage all this time. No sun at all probably got a little hot in the garage during peak summer. It had almost a full tank of gas at the time because i expected to drive it before I left unexpectedly.

 

I hope you either disconnected the battery or had it on a float charger for these several months. Otherwise it almost certainly won't start until the battery is recharged.

Bob Frisby
Boise, Idaho

 

Yep. I left pretty unexpectedly. Just had this [1] delivered at home.

[1]

 

And the first thing to do after you get it STARTED is to make sure it STOPS. Check the BRAKES are working before you take it out on the highway.

Graham

 

To be honest this isnt really a 'long time' in car sleeping terms.

lf it where mine i would buy a new battery, yours will be sub par at the very best if you manage to charge it.

l would dump an elixir of choice or three in the gas.

Check fluids, once round the block, new oil and filter. Road test, then drive as normal.

 

Five months isn't that long. I had my Xkr on jack stands for almost two years until recently. Fired it up a few weeks ago with no issues, as far as I could tell.

It had been sitting in a dry storage all the time, and I kept the battery in good condition. But the gasoline was two years old and I have to admit I was nervous when I turned the key around. But it fired up instantly and I let it run 10-15 minutes to warm up completely. No leaks could be seen, so I deem it good

 

Chillyp,

Welcome back! Hey don't forget that the +12volt access point by the shock tower / fuse box under the hood is fused (IOW its not a direct connection to battery).

Great place to charging the battery. But I wouldn't bet the fuse can survive the current needed to start the car though. You don't need the headache of replacing that fuse mate.

John

 

Hello,

Thanks all for your responses.

Got my camry started with the car battery jump starter I got on amazon. Charged the camry battery completely. Used jumper cables from the camry to try to charge the battery on the xk8. left the camry running for about 30m and then tried starting the xk8. It seems to drain the battery instantly, does this mean that the battery is not charging at all?. I'm not sure. I charged the jump starter to 17V overnight and tried this morning, jump starter started draining as soon as I hooked it up to the jaguar - is that a potential parasitic battery draw?

I do some of the basic maintenance on my car myself but electrical might be out of my wheel house.

I'm thinking of doing the following

• disconnect the batter from the xk8
• charge with the camry for 30m
• check if the battery is holding charge with a multimeter.

I could not find the date of the battery stamped on it, and can't say for certain if it is too old.

Thanks

 

I know it's easy for me to be an armchair critic helping you to spend your hard-earned $$$, but I'd recommend you just replace the battery.

5 months isn't a long time for the car to sit, but I agree with Markel, it's enough time for a flat battery to die in its sleep. It sounds like it's not taking a charge anyway.

 

agreed,,,,
I've learned that recharging and working with agm batteries on a car that demands so much electricity for proper function is not so straightforward... agm batteries need to be tricked into being charged after a complete drain. Basically, on a charger, its needed to place a fully charged battery in parallel with the dead battery (with use of jumper cables - and charger) until the agm comes up to about 10v... it's a deep cycle type charge that is needed. From there, usually, you can leave a/the charger on the battery for several charging cycles to recover the battery, of possible. I have dont this with good success...

A plain ol jump will leave ya frustrated with a agm type battery... needs a little more than a standard battery OR a new battery all together. At 160$ a pop, I do everything I can to save a agm battery before giving up... Michael might just be right in recommending to start from NEW...

 

Dont worry. My Xkr sits for 6 months every winter, as my 60 Cadillac and 86 Nissan. I have never on any of them had issues with restarting. Just recharge battery and turn the key!

 

Ok. I did try everything to try to get the car started with the current battery took itx to advance auto parts and got it charged an hour later by the time I got home I was down to 4V. Going to pick up a new battery tomorrow.

 

I get it if you got the 160$, sure enough... get new.

but, like I was saying, there is a TRICK to charging an agm battery (if yours is) and if you dont do it, results will be just like that. It can take many many hours to get them properly charged. Sometimes they can ne saved.

 

Wanted to swing by and give an update. I purchased a harbor freight viking charger and battery reconditioner. Reconditioned the batter for about 18 hours, charged it, installed the batter back in and started the car with a boost from the camry. Drove the car around for about 30m pulled it back into the garage, shut the car down and tried restarting and it battery was dead.

I didn't want to give up on the batter just yet, tried the recoditioning option this time for a total of about 40 hours. Checked the battery with a volt meter - 12.4v. Put it on the car and checked it with the car running to make sure the alternator was charging the batter - 14v.

Took the car out for about 30m, pulled into the garage. Shut the car down and tried restarting it, and bingo it started. I waited a day and tried a day later and the car started. I check the voltage before starting and it had dropped to 11.6v - seemed like a significant drop for just a day and I was surprised the car started.



End result, I might recondition the battery for another 24 hrs because I'm not convinced it is well restored. But at this point the battery seems to be ok and have enough life to keep going for a bit longer. Autozone quoted me 330 USD for an Odessey AGM battery with 900 CCA (which is what i had), getting by with this 60$ battery reconditioner for now.

Once again thanks everyone.

 

Those Odyssey batteries are very pricey and some say they are not built to the same quality as they were years ago. You can find better battery deals out there if you spend some time looking....

 

I hate to say this but,,, a drop to 11.6 is kinda low. Getting stuck with a dead battery sucks.. RockAuto has a couple AGM Batteries for well under the AutoZone price. They'll deliver it right to your door... $160 I've seen.

 

The end of this saga - a new exide battery from Rock Auto, car is running well. Drove down to philadelphia over the last weekend (2hrs each way) with a entire day halt, no issues. Thank you everyone for your suggestions/tips/comments.

I don't know what I'm going to do with the starter battery back, trickle charger and battery re-conditioner I purchased probably ended up spending a whole lot more than if I'd just gone for the battery but still a good detour into knowing more about this stuff.

-bhaskar