My 2016 F-Type started showing the “Low Battery - Start Engine” light. Took it to dealer and they replaced the battery, (as well as fuel tank cap (unrelated) due to check engine light.)
The low battery light has come on again. If I drive it for 30 minutes or so, it is good until next morning. Drive it for a few minutes - comes on when I get back in car.
Anyone have similar problems?
2 things here, either you have a drain on the battery or you are simply not driving the car enough.
Fully charge the battery overnight if possible and then see how long it takes for the warning to come back.
Two good thoughts. The dealer installed a new battery two weeks ago. I am inclined to believe there is a drain on the battery. I drive it daily, but only about 15 miles. Drove it today about 80 miles, mostly interstate, keeping fingers crossed for morning.
I have an appointment at the dealer for an “evap" check engine light and added this to the request. I read on a forum (can’t remember which) that there is a secondary Lithium-Ion battery that is used for starting. Perhaps it is bad? I will ask about that.
Preston Garner
317 Woodberry Dr.
Chesapeake, VA 23322-5739
757-650-9832 ©
757-547-2801 (H)
“Still plays with cars, especially little British ones!”
Most F-Types have a pretty weak charging cycle. If you don’t drive long distances, the battery fades and will eventually die from chronic operation in a low voltage state. The answer at that point is a new battery. But… many new batteries sit on the shelf for a while, so they too may be in a pretty low charge state when installed. In most cars, that would get remedied upon the first solid drive, but in the F-Type, a partially charged new battery can fall into the same low voltage rut.
The problem is exacerbated by Jag’s selection of a high quality AGM style battery, which operates at a little higher voltage than Lead Acid. AGM’s are notoriously very finicky to slow-charge once significantly depleted, and even if new condition, they may fail to accept a low amperage charge.
Obviously this isn’t a great dynamic for the Jag’s low amp charging circuitry. So it is important to fully charge a new AGM battery upon Jag installation–your dealer probably did not do that because, sadly, they really don’t know much about F-Types.
Recommendation: disconnect your new battery from the car and charge it manually to 100%. After that it will likely function just fine. The owners manual recommends physically removing the battery from the car before charging it out of an abundance of caution.
You will need an AGM capable charger that outputs at least 5A to get your new battery back up to 100%. You will probably find that 3A or less “hangs” during charging and the terminals may get a bit hot. The solution is to apply 5A to10A to an AGM in the 1000 CCA range, like ours. It is worth investing in a decent charger with a percent-charge readout, so you can verify and monitor AGM progress to 100%.
Good luck! I think your F-Type + AGM is displaying normal behavior.
Interesting! A little disconcerting to get in every morning with that warning staring at me!
I figured it was time to upgrade my 40 year old battery charger!
(Removing the battery will be fun)
I had the same problem when my car was about a year old. The dealer replaced the battery and I never saw the light again. Knock on wood.
Gunnar
Well, it has been awhile now. I took the car into the dealership for an unrelated problem. (Even after I charged the battery, the light still came on.) Discussed with service rep and he said that it was due to the insurance company monitor I had in. (That is one of those 90 day devices that plug into the OBD port.) Well, I was skeptical, especially after discussing with the insurance company. (Still received a 12% discount) I unplugged it and returned to the insurance company. It has been three weeks and no light. My take away is the device was at fault. Sounds crazy, but everything has worked perfectly since then.
That’s interesting. I had a problem where my transmission would refuse to shift out of Park if I turned the car off and then immediately turned it back on again. I’d get a “Transmission Fault” yellow triangle on the dashboard display. The fix would be to turn the car off, wait at least 1 minute, then turn it back on again.
I had the dealership look at it multiple times, but they couldn’t find anything. They upgraded the software in the engine and transmission control modules, but it didn’t help. Finally they suggested I unplug my ODBII device* and leave it unplugged. Lo and behold, that seems to have done it. No problems since.
*) Not for insurance, but one of those gadgets that’ll help you record each trip you drive, and which also supplies diagnostic data via BlueTooth for apps on your smartphone. Very cool.
Gunnar
Would it be impertinent of me to ask, WTH is that???
It’s an electrical connector, usually near the driver’s left knee. It’s a bit like the old Centronics connectors for printers, just fewer contacts.
( 
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Right, ya smartass.
Recently acquired a 2017 Premium Coupe, 6-speed. Battery low light on when we started, but went off after the 160 mile trip to bring it home. Light back on the next day. Since it’s still under warranty, took it to local Jaguar dealer who thoroughly tested the system. Tech found that the battery was ‘leaking’, not a full-on leak, more like seeping, enough to affect the battery’s ability to hold a charge. Battery replaced, all systems checked, reconnected, no charge. Will continue to watch the battery, but also will be buying the CTek tender. Tech also advised NOT using the underhood connections for dead battery restart, due to attenuation… the distance from that connection point to the battery. He advised connecting the charger directly to the battery, using the appropriate posts
These cars a very voltage sensitive, I keep them all on battery maintainers (Schumacher 1.75 amps) inexpensive at Walmart. Another point on connecting battery cables or chargers. We have all experienced sparks when connecting, you want the spark to occur on the negative connection only. This means connecting the negative last to prevent electrical damage to components. I also had my battery fail after purchase upon driving home. I think the dealers keep a lot of batteries on the shelf because of the high failure rate? I still don’t understand why the battery in my XK8 is so much larger than the one in the F type, especially when having the auto start/stop feature. Earlier Fs had two batteries.
Glenn
Hi and thank you for the corroboration. will be sure to attach negative last for tender. Sure is a lot more to this one as compared to the 69 E.
The technology of these cars is scary to me. To install a new battery the computer has to be notified. Check out the icarsoft lr 2.0 code reader for the f type.
What kind of wood boats are you into? As a teen, I refinished a mahogany Chris Craft. This was a winter project for me. In the spring when we launched the boat into Lake Arrowhead workers at the boatyard were asking my father who did the refinishing?
Glenn
I have a 1947 Chris Craft Deluxe runabout. Got the factory build sheet and it originally came with the 95 HP hercules, but at some point it received the optional 120 HP. That engine came from a 53 Holiday according to engine numbers from the Archives. Did a complete deck and hull strip, sand and fair and 13 coats of varnish. Also had seat reupholstered. About 3 years later did the bottom with an epoxy encapsulated new marine plywood inner hull, planed, encapsulated bottom planks (doug fir, it was a post-war boat) and new SS fasteners. A lot of work, but I had more time than $$ and was able to do it in a local boatworks because I had helped the owner with a couple of his clients’ boats. Then I built a Chesapeake Light Craft 16LT kayak, ‘stitch N glue’. Boat was easier than the redo on the E… no brakes, no suspension and wood is a bit more forgiving than metal, but many, many transferable skills and I am slightly obsessive about doing work that I’m proud to put my name on.
I agree about the level of technology. I had been trying to reset the door locks to a single open, using the fob buttons… wouldn’t take. So tried the instrument panel method and got it done. When I did the garage door opener setup, I had to go to the Homelink site for Chamberlain openers. Programming the F worked, but then none of my openers or the exterior door keypad worked. Had to reprogram those with the Learn button on the opener ‘head’. I washed the car today and the inside of the gas door ‘pocket’ was full of water. The little drain hole was plugged so I used an awl to gently open it up and then rinsed it several times until I saw water out the bottom. I also have a 2018 Corvette and it is interesting to compare and contrast the two and I really can’t say that one is better than the other. And comparing this F to my 69 E just makes me shake my head in amazement. The E was a wonder when it came out and this F is pretty impressive as well.
Valerie
Impressive wood boat experience. All I did was paint and varnish. Chris Craft was a 1963 Holiday 18’ with a 283 Chevy block that I think was also used in the Corvette?
Years later it sunk in the lake because the bilge pump ran battery flat. I wish I could have saved it but had no place to store it at the time. My father had bought the boat about 1966 for $3500.
Glenn
that could be so with the 283. I’m just the resident Car Care Person for the Corvette. I had an 81 that I did work on, and husband had a '67 that we traded in for the new one. He knows how to date them with body cues, the engines… all that stuff… now when it comes to Es, I’m better… and learning all the time, especially good when it came to fitting those new AC louvers. I am SO glad I didn’t have to take the whole thing out 
Just a data point:
Recently, my 2014 had sat for a while, so I hooked it up to a charger the day before I needed to use it. The next day, the charger showed “Full”, but I still got the “Low Battery” message on the dash. The car started without issue, though.
I drove about 20 miles. When I re-started the car, I got the warning again. I drove back home with no problems.
The car sat for exactly one week, until this morning. I did not hook it up to a charger this time. When I got in the car, there was no warning. The car started right away, and when I hit the first red light, the engine stopped (auto stop/start), something it didn’t do when I drove it last week.
No idea what happened in the meantime, but I thought it was interesting.
Gunnar
Hi Frank My16 S coupe. OBD port when accessed for a NYS inspection created a issue that caused the “low battery” to be displayed. This is a ongoing problem when accessed by non JLR dealers. It has to do with the jag not going to “sleep “ and draining. It happened to me and the fix was disconnecting the negative cable bolted to the floor for a minute or two. It reset everything but the windows, also easy fix. I always have the C tech attached when parked. These computers are super sensitive and become wonky with a low battery. A fully charged battery usually cures a lot of technical issues.
Frank Hudson Valley NY