Leaderboard

I think that it can't be too long before an S-Type owner switches on the ignition and gets the horrific shock of seeing multiple failures all being reported at once. The problem is that the electronics in our cars is susceptible to firmware corruption at low voltages and as a result the car will try to "fail safe" by shutting down various systems when it detects a low voltage state. In days gone by, you'd get a warning of impending battery failure because the lights would go dim and the starter motor would make the instantly recognizable churning noise. Not so with our cars though. The first indication is when you get the heart-stopping song and dance routine on the instrument panel. Following advice, I adopted the following solution and offer it here as food for thought. I tend to put my car's battery on trickle charge once a week overnight. Since I started doing so, I've never suffered the failure routine again. Being of a generally lazy disposition though, it had to be easy I wanted a trickle charger that would condition the battery and could remain connected without any possibility of damaging the battery or associated electronics in the car. I chose a CTEK trickle charger following advice and a fair bit of research (I HATE to spend money and not get the best value). CTEK's web site Further, I wasn't keen on lifting the boot floor and messing with crocodile clips so I went for their panel socket which is a small panel fitted in the boot lining. It has a three colour flashing LED system to indicate battery condition. I've found this to be somewhat pessimistic but, rather that than the other way round. Here is a Link showing what I did with my setup. I have the luck to be able to use this in a nice warm dry garage but I know of several who just plug the output lead of the CTEK in and close the boot lid outside their house and there seems to be no problem with water getting in to the boot. No. I don't work for CTEK I'm sure there are some equally good trickle chargers made by other manufacturers but this works for me.

its always good for new viewers to follow up on though. theres multiple different grades of clay. Clay clothes and "3M Clay" from ebay are to be avoided as they Mar the paint finish.

Hey Damon Welcome to what I believe is probably the best Jag owners club there is. Well done on your purchase as well I have just recently bought my first Jaguar which I also a s type 2001 best car I've ever owned. You will find a whole wealth of knowledge amongst the members who are really friendly and helpful. Enjoy both the club and the car mate Karl

Paul, Thank you for the photo of the space saver / Tool kit in the Sportbrake. The Space saver I've ordered is 19" ( jaguar claim the 18" won't fit over the bigger calipers fitted to my R S model, so I'm told ) and all the necessary ( don't really know what the necessary consists of until I collect it, Saturday now ) re torn between an A6 and an RS ? Drive an RS, I've come from a 5.0 supercharged Range Rover ( too many problems with it ) I'm loving every minute so far, You won't be disappointed i guarantee it !!! regds Frank.

As Robin says, Global opening would leave all your windows and sunroof (if fitted) open Tim. On other marques, I have heard of problems of this nature but on the S-Type, such events that I am aware of have eventually been traced to inadvertent operation of the key fob buttons. That's not to guarantee that such problems couldn't occur though. On one occasion that I can recall, it was down to the erm, lack of space in an individual's trouser pocket. There is very little recess around the key fob buttons so this is a distinct possibility in your case as well. The thing with global opening (and closing) is that once the button has been pressed for long enough to initiate the operation, the button no longer needs to be pressed for the operation to complete ie. fully open (or closed) so the button only needs to have been pressed for a couple of seconds.

If you unlock the car with the key fob a quick touch of the button will just unlock the doors, but if you hold the button for a bit longer then all the windows and sunroof will open. This is most likely what you did when you found the car with windows and sunroof open. They had probably only just opened, not as you feared that they had been open for a long time.

Hydrophobic means Fear of Water -- O Level Greek in 1951! It is water resistance. I am using a Supernatural Car care product because I won it, and being from Lancashire I don't waste anything! Miles at Redguard will give you good advice as to the best product, and I believe good detailing products can be bought online from their site at a good price. Elbow grease is not supplied, though. Regards, Peter.

I replaced all 6 plugs and coil packs, and put in new inlet manifold gaskets, as this had to come off. Tell them your model and he'll send you the right ones. I did a full service at the same time with all filters, which is where I originally found Berkshire Jag, through their service kits which use genuine parts and are surprisingly cheap

Hi Andrew, I concur with you about the 2.5 AWD petrol X type. A real gem of an engine and very good handling -- like running on rails. Regards, Peter.