N6 JMX

Hi Paul, good for you. The life span of a battery in a Modern XK is around 5 years with a good proactive maintenance call to change the battery when it gets to that 5 year mark. It's amazing just how many faults the Modern XK can throw up simply because the battery is on the wane. In these cars, the ability to start the car is not a good indicator that the battery is fit for further service as the electronics that make this car work are simply very sensitive to low voltage. The takeaway lesson should be to have the car on a Smart Charger - Ring Automotive or C-Tek - when leaving the car idle for longer periods. In my own case, if my car is going to be standing for more than a couple of days, I connect up my Ring Automotive RSC612 Smart Charger to the remote charging posts in the boot. The RSC612 will also work on vehicles with an AGM battery for Stop/Start technology. Happy motoring. N6 JMX

Opening any door by a straight pull should be a given, but I understand what you are thinking about the handle arrangements on the XK. It is possible to use a suitable lubricant on the door mechanisms, not just the handle itself, but to do the task properly you would need to access behind the door card and the moisture seal, which is a huge task. For now, try a spay lubricant - not WD40 - up into the handle hinge area. Pull the handle to the open position and spray upwards into the forward hinge. Obviously you are going to get overspray onto the paintwork, but simply wipe / wash that off immediately afterwards. Typically the passenger door on a two seater is used less frequently, so it will always appear to need a bigger tug. Also, lubricate the door latch mechanism(s) and the striker plate on the "B" pillar / door jamb. Don't use grease as it will harden in the cooler temperatures, but you could try one of the copper grease sprays - no silicon on the paintwork areas though. Hope this guides. N6 JMX

Hi Steve, as Mark has said above, it really does come down to a personal "feel" for all things considered. The 5 litre engine is VERY robust and reliable, but a gap of 3 years in the servicing (at least twice now, would make me think long and hard. Ideally, the oil should be changed annually, irrespective of the mileage between service intervals, but nothing much else in the service regime is such an issue. My mind would think that if the previous owner(s) had skimped on getting the servicing completed - which is not at all a cheap item at a main dealer (circa £600 each visit), what else has been skimped on, so look extremely carefully at all other aspects of the vehicle before committing hard cash into the deal. With the car at coming on 10 years old, the tyres could be needing changed - 5 years is about it on these cars, irrespective of the tread remaining. The tyres should also be premium branded such as Dunlop Sport Maxx in J, for Jaguar, specification. Check the tyres carefully and if they are mismatched, or not premium, have a rethink. Also check the tyre dates on the sidewall's - refer to the Kwik Fit website for information on that if you are not sure. Also at 10 years old, the battery could well be due for replacing, again a 5 year interval between battery replacement is a good proactive / preventative maintenance option. Uncover the battery - it's in the boot behind a trim panel depending on coupe or convertible - and if it is still an original Jaguar stickered battery, once again think about the skimping that may have taken place. These cars have large / expensive brake discs and callipers and with missed servicing regime, the pads could well be seized in the callipers and the discs scored or warped - check on the test drive for any braking issues such as vibration or long pedal. Often, low mileage cars can be more trouble than a well maintained and cherished high miler - such as Mark has. If you do go ahead with the purchase, I hope you have years of trouble free motoring. They are fantastic machines with Supercar performance at Mondeo money. N6 JMX

You need to find if there are any stored codes, have the car read with a suitable OBD II code reader - local garage or friendly mechanic, but needs to be able to read Jaguar versions. N6 JMX

Have you set it for your seat and saved it as a memory position? Make the adjustments to seat and steering wheel (in manual mode) , switch over to auto mode and then save your settings on the seat memory. N6 JMX

You may have to reset it within the settings back to Auto. N6 JMX

Hi Graham, get yourself a Smart Charger such as a Ring Automotive or Ctek and use the remote connections in the boot. Negative terminal is under the boot floor, in the spare wheel well and the positive is under a rubber boot in the wing space, behind the vent grill on the left side of the boot compartment. These can safely be left connected long term over idle periods, but suggest you place a large note on the driver's seat to remind you not to drive off as the battery is on charge. Ensure you get the version that caters fro 5.0 litre engines - typically less than £100. Depending on your circumstances, you can have the Smart Charger in the boot or outside, with the appropriate leads going inside and the boot lid closed - plenty of "give" in the seal to make this okay. Simple to connect up and if leaving for anything more than a few days, suggest you connect the Smart Charger. If you are unsure of the age of the current battery, change it! Anything over 5 years old and the battery can give issues on these cars - lots of spurious faults. The Ring version is my preferred choice, but Ctek works well also. You should try not to jump start the car as this can cause all sorts of issues, especially from another vehicle. If it gets that dead, you will have more issues than can be catered for by a home enthusiast. N6 JMX

Hi Dom, welcome to the wonderful world of XKR motoring. The supercharger only works as hard as you press the throttle, so enjoy and use it for what it was designed for. N6 JMX

Hi Lloyd, most folks are looking for a full size spare, so you are definitely in the minority. The short answer to your initial question is yes, a 19-inch space saver will work with your car. The reason being is that the 19-inch wheel and tyre combination has a very similar rolling circumference / diameter to your 20-inch wheel + tyre that will have a lower profile sidewall. The original Jaguar sourced 19-inch space saver was painted black as opposed to the 18-inch version which was red / orange. I don't believe Jaguar still offer the space saver wheel, but there are several aftermarket options available. Once such version is Road Hero, who have Kwik Fit as their sales agent. The link below should take you to the correct place on the Kwik Fit website. Of course you don't need to purchase the parts from Kwik Fit, but the site will advise you what you are needing. https://www.kwik-fit.com/tyres/road-hero-spare-wheels Hope this helps. N6 JMX

The car with that registration, a black F-Pace with 57,482 miles on the clock passed its latest MoT on Aug.01.24. Without access to the V5, you cannot get additional information such as location of the test station, so unable to pinpoint a town / city. N6 JMX

Reading in conjunction with your other post regarding the radiator fan running continuously, it sounds as though you have a sensor problem somewhere in the cooling circuit. Start by checking the level sensor in the expansion tank. Other possibilities are there is air in the cooling system, or the cooling galleries are restricted due to incorrect antifreeze mixture or sludge. Has there been any work carried out on the cooling system in the recent past? N6 JMX

Hi Simon, as part of the seat mechanism is operational, there is obviously power to the module and therefore the fault would seem to lie within the circuit of the non functioning parts. So check the switch and the motor mechanisms. You can do this with a multi meter and a 12 volt supply. Before checking the circuitry though, see if you can locate the multi plug that connects the seat's wiring loom to the module and disconnect and reconnect it a few times to "wipe" the contact surfaces. N6 JMX

Hi John, a good battery is essential to the electronic well-being of these cars, so a changing of the battery for what may turn out to be spurious indications on the dash is a good first step, especially when you are unsure of the age of the battery. The Yuasa is a great battery, just be sure to get the version that fits and suits your car. By that I mean ensure the dimensions are correct to fit in the battery tray / box, and that the power (Ah) is of the correct rating. Once you have the new battery in place, you may find the fault has cleared, but if not, then reading any stored codes should be the next step. A friendly local workshop with the correct tools should be able to help. This may through light on the follow-up steps, perhaps a faulty ABS sensor, but get any codes before changing other parts. N6 JMX

Hi Dave, yes the 17 character combination you have located is the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), and as Mike highlights above, the final 5 digits are the important ones for your quest as these 5 digits are in effect the "serial number". They are important in the search for correct spare parts as Jaguar (and other manufacturers) made update changes to the vehicles at a recorded VIN - i.e. before 45594, one version pf part number will apply and from XXXXX a new part number may apply to the same part due to minor changes. Hence the VIN helps you secure the correct parts. Hope this helps your understanding. N6 JMX

Have you tried any of the specialist Breakers such as Eurojag? Perhaps it is time to get creative and think outside the box. I find it hard to believe that the S-type header tank is unique to the S-type, especially when Land Rover was under the same roof and both were part of the Ford empire at the same time. Parts Bin engineering is renowned within the Ford Group. N6 JMX

Hi again Charlie, I found this response to the same issue on another Forum site, albeit on an X-350 model this time, but sounds like the same issue. "I'm not sure exactly what's happening, but the inching is typical of a short press on the button. You may not have noticed that the button has two depths of press - a short press that runs the motor only while you keep the button in that position, and a deeper press that should cause the window to travel to its furthest extent even if you now take your finger off while the window is still moving. That doesn't help much. Resetting the windows is what you need to do after disconnecting the battery. For each window, press each button fully to first lower the window to its lowest point, and then back to the highest, keeping your finger on the appropriate button until each movement stops, and you should hear a slight click about 1/2 second after it stops moving. (If you don't get the click, repeat the up-down cycle.) That click is the motor turning off having stalled, and I think that's what tells the ECU what the maximum travel is (which is what you are resetting). That said, counting up to 8 seems weird, and suggests something deeper - wiring issues, switch issues or ECU issues. As it's all windows, likely the ECU. If I remember correctly, the window gubbins are controlled by the driver's side ECU behind a panel in the trim between the accelerator pedal and the door opening. The first port of call is to try disconnecting the battery, getting behind that cover, and unplugging and replugging everything (to "wipe" the contacts), reconnect the battery and reset." N6 JMX

Hi Charlie, have you checked for any stored codes on the vehicle? N6 JMX

Hi Phil, the stop - start function will only work if the car's brain knows it has sufficient charge. Even the fitting of a new battery may not be sufficient yet for the brain to accept stop - start functionality. Are you primarily doing short journeys? If you don't already have one, I suggest you procure a suitable Battery Conditioner such as a Ring Automotive RSC612 Smart Charger or the CTEK MXS5 Battery Conditioner - my preference is the Ring Automotive unit, but both will work. The Ring version has a LCD screen which gives a lot of information during use, plus it has multiple functions to condition and test the battery. N6 JMX

Hi Sheela, With an 8 year old battery it is simply waiting to fail. These modern cars have so many electronics going on in the background that the quiescent battery drain can be quite high and a car like yours left to sit around for a week or so will have a low battery - even when the battery is relatively new. The recommendation is typically to replace the battery in a Modern Jaguar at 5 years. If I were in your position, I would be looking for a new battery replacement and ensure you get a premium battery for a premium car, AND from a reliable supplier. There have been a number of reports of batteries failing after only a few months, so you want the back-up of a premium supplier for a no quibble exchange. Note that if you plan to change the battery yourself, then the car's ECU needs to be "informed" via a Jaguar diagnostics system that a new battery is in place in order that it can reset the charging rates, N6 JMX

Hi Malcolm, so your road wheels / tyres are 18" and NOT run flat versions, so good so far. It sounds as though you have definitely purchased the 18-inch space saver spare wheel, which should be correct for your car. Presumably if it is a Jaguar version, based on your earlier note, so it should be painted red in colour? So far that all sounds correct, so can't understand why it will not fit into the spare wheel well of your car. Under normal circumstances, the space saver spare should sit on the outer bottom shell of the well - probably on a couple of sound deadening pads glued to the bottom of the well. There should also be a bridge piece on the bottom in the centre, which takes the clamp to secure the space saver into place. It should be placed into the well so that the outer face of the wheel / tyre is downwards. It is then the case that the additional elements of jack, wheel brace, chock, etc. are arranged into a foam container that sits into the dish created by the downward facing space saver spare. I am pretty certain that Jaguar only offered two sizes of space saver wheel, a 19-inch in black, which is needed to fit over the large callipers on the sports versions with the "big brakes" and generally with 20-inch road wheels. The other was the 18-inch version, painted red, for cars without the big brakes - like yours. I think you will find that if you do hang on to the purchased space saver spare wheel, it is good only for 50 MPH AND a maximum of 50 miles range - after that it is effectively finished (the tyre obviously not the wheel). Another check you may wish to carry out is to confirm whether or not your current road wheel / tyre fits into the spare wheel well. If it does, then you could consider sourcing another road wheel as all of your wheels will be identical - some cars have wider rear section wheels than is fitted to the front axle. If your current wheel will not fit into the well, then you will have another choice to make as if you did suffer a puncture, you would not have anywhere to carry the offending wheel whilst the space saver is fitted. This is a problem for cars that are outfitted with a factory suppled space saver and the solution is that a suitably sized bag / container needs to be carried into which the removed road wheel is placed so it can be carried somewhere on the car - typically the back seat. In the XK models, a road wheel will not even fit in the boot of the convertible, so the space saver supplied is actually of little use in reality. Let us know how you are getting on, but not sure what else to suggest at the moment. N6 JMX

Hi Malcolm, you don't clarify as to whether you are talking about a full size road wheel as a spare, or a so-called Space Saver wheel. If you are meaning a Space Saver, then these do come in different sizes, typically 18-inch and 19-inch to cater for the bigger brake callipers fitted to the more sporty versions. As to whether you need a spare, then that is up to you and your peace of mind. From 2012, there was a change whereby the manufacturers were no longer required to provide a spare wheel, which meant of course that they didn't - saves weight and more importantly, for the manufacturer, cost. There was an interim period, where cars were provided with a can of spray-in solution (which is sold under a "best use by" date} and / or a compressor to plug in to the cigarette lighter socket. I don't believe that the XF was ever fitted with run flat tyres, but others on here may be able to confirm. Or you could look at your tyres - if they have "RSC" included in the multitude of writing around the sidewall, then someone in the past may have fitted run flat tyres. There is a healthy aftermarket providing space saver spare wheels and Kwik Fit is an agency for one of the better options. You have said the wheel you bought will not fit into the spare wheel well, but have you tried the spare wheel purchase on the car? Does it fit the stud pattern? Also, do you have a jack, wheel brace, chock, etc? What size road wheels are fitted to your car can you advise? N6 JMX

Despite the branding and assertion, these are NOT made and / or sold by Jaguar Cars Ltd, so a bit ingenuous to say "Original". Most of these discs are sold via eBay sellers, with strange sounding names. Many are also sold in "plain packaging" because they don't bother to go to the exercise of creating proper packaging. Fine if it works for your good self, but I personally don't trust them and in all consciousness, cannot recommend them to anyone. N6 JMX

Hi Don, no there are no "official" DVD updates for the Satnav in your 2013 XK, indeed the discs you have are likely older than that - 2010 - 2012. Do not be tempted to scour the internet for DVD that claim to be updates for the Satnav in your car as the use of these supposedly update discs, by others, has caused significant corruption and in some cases failure of the unit, making use of the touchscreen difficult or not accessible at all. The simplest method to achieve up to date Satnav is to purchase a decent / secure phone cradle and use your Smartphone Apps - even Google Maps. You could also purchase a decent Garmin or similar. Or, if you want to go full upgrade, then there are companies, such as Cartronics, who can fit and install Apple CarPlay / Android Auto capability to your model. This upgrade would be circa £1500 and you need to take the car to their workshop in Surrey. You can view the Cartronics website at the link below. https://www.cartronics.co.uk/ N6 JMX

Hi Patrick, the first thing to appreciate is that aluminium does corrode in the right circumstances, but it produces a white powdery residue, which can obviously cause surfaces to become irregular. Aluminium can be treated and repaired similar to steel body panels, but the body / paint shop must know what they are doing and treat the panel correctly before applying the paint and lacquer. Do you have a notion as to the cause of the blistering? Has it spread from a stone chip? In all cases of aluminium corrosion I have come across, the start point has always been where the paint coat has been broken. N6 JMX

Hi Jesamin, welcome to the Forum and hope you find what you need to keep your car looking and driving properly. There are now lot's of parts that Jaguar don't stock and are partly reliant on Jaguar Classic to take up the reins, but they have a mammoth task on their hands. In the meantime, it is often possible to find that elusive part from a specialist Breaker, such as Eurojags. For your current needs, I would suggest talking to Dave Roche at DCR AutoParts who you can find with the following link. https://www.dcrautoparts.com/ Regards N6 JMX