Help with Jag XJS

Bawnmore

Hey Guys,

If anyone can help me here it'd be great (for selfish reasons* )

The OH's uncle has an automatic 4ltr Jag XJS sitting in the drive. He's been using his daily driver a lot over the last few months and the Jag has been left sitting. He knew it wouldn't be used so took the battery out of the boot for storage.

Last week I was visiting, and he was looking to get the Jag back on the road. When he tried opening the boot with the key, the lock seems to be jammed. Now hes not a Jag enthusiast by any stretch of the imagination, moreso bought it as an interest, so has no idea if there is a seperate latch to open the boot from inside the car.

Does anyone know if theres another way of popping the boot?



(*Obviously I'll get to take it for a spin when it's back on the road)

smash

by removing the battery he may have screwed up the immobiliser, and central locking certainly wont be working now anyway.

R.O.R

Re-install the battery and central locking should work.

Just don't leave the keys in the car and the door shut when you re-connect the battery - just in case the whole car locks. Happened to my dad a few years ago with an XJ6, blocking half a road, in Park with the handbrake on.

Only took the AA man about 5 seconds to get in though!

neilthefunkeone

Well yeah if the battery is disconnected then possibly the boot release wont work??

Similar enough issue on my ol lads '05 xtype last week.. Boot just stopped opening.. Had to remove the back seats, drill out the bulkhead behind the seats and climb into the boot.. an hour of cursing and hammering stuff we released the boot.. Turned out to be a frayed wire..

Pain in the ass..

smash

R.O.R wrote: »

Re-install the battery and central locking should work.

neilthefunkeone wrote: »

Well yeah if the battery is disconnected then possibly the boot release wont work??

Lads... the battery goes in the boot!

Fey!

Try connecting his jag to his daily driver using jumpleads to the terminal points in the engine bay. The try the central locking.

Alternatively, given the weather over the last week, the lock may have been frozen. Try again in milder weather!!

mickdw

The boot keyhole should work without power im sure.
If that has gottn stuck, are there any jump starting terminals under the bonnet? There often are even when the battery is in the boot. They may not be of use though as the actual battery has been removed in this case.
Im sure if you can access the boot from the car, you will be able to release it.

Bawnmore

mickdw wrote: »

The boot keyhole should work without power im sure.
If that has gottn stuck, are there any jump starting terminals under the bonnet?

Seems to be jammed, may have been because of the cold, but seems to just be jammed.

Does anybody know where the jump start terminals would be on the xjs? It's a 96 by the way.

Try connecting his jag to his daily driver using jumpleads to the terminal points in the engine bay. The try the central locking.

I tried to get the central locking working using a booster pack. That said, I didnt know where the terminal points were and wasn't going to take a guess at the positive on the alternator so just tried to boost from the cigarette lighter.

Similar enough issue on my ol lads '05 xtype last week.. Boot just stopped opening.. Had to remove the back seats, drill out the bulkhead behind the seats and climb into the boot.. an hour of cursing and hammering stuff we released the boot.. Turned out to be a frayed wire..

I can imagine his face if I arrived along, drill in hand Thanks though!

If I do happen to find the terminals points in teh engine bay though, how am I meant to open the boot when theres power going to the car. He was unaware of any other latch to pop the boot as he'd always just use the key.

Thanks for the help so far!

zilog_jones

Is there any access to the boot from behind the rear seats? In normal cars you can usually just remove the back seats to get to the boot, but I dunno it there could be a bulkhead like with the X Type above. Some fancy cars have a small door behind the centre armrest in the back (for skis I think), does this have anything like that?

Fey!

Have you tried ringing the dealer and asking for advice over the phone?

testicle

Can you open the doors?

Esel

Might be worth your while asking on the Classic Cars forum?

Bawnmore

zilog_jones wrote: »

Is there any access to the boot from behind the rear seats? In normal cars you can usually just remove the back seats to get to the boot, but I dunno it there could be a bulkhead like with the X Type above. Some fancy cars have a small door behind the centre armrest in the back (for skis I think), does this have anything like that?

No access from behind seats. Tried it in a flash of inspiration last week and soon found that out.

Have you tried ringing the dealer and asking for advice over the phone?

No, but may be the way to go. Thanks.

Can you open the doors?

Doors are opening fine.

Might be worth your while asking on the Classic Cars forum?

Might do this. Would I be better off starting a new thread or would a mod be able to move this???

Thanks guys!

bud1970

did you try spraying the lock with wd-40?? first thing i'd try....

Theta

bud1970 wrote: »

did you try spraying the lock with wd-40?? first thing i'd try....

I was just going to say this. It might just have siezed slightly in the damp and freezing weather.

Esel

Bawnmore wrote: »

Would I be better off starting a new thread or would a mod be able to move this???

I'd say start a new thread there, but just say something like 'Can anyone advise me how to open the boot on an XJS', and give a link to this thread.

Bawnmore

esel wrote: »

I'd say start a new thread there, but just say something like 'Can anyone advise me how to open the boot on an XJS', and give a link to this thread.

Will do. Cheers guys!