Battery coding

[Pilot Pete]

Hi all

Battery has a duff cell and I’m getting ‘battery low, start engine’ upon shutdown, so a replacement is required. Tayna seems to be a well respected online seller and I can get the appropriate Varta battery (which my Indy says are the OEM brand) for just under £200, with a 5yr guarantee.

Now, my Indy is quoting £346.57 incl VAT to fit and code the same Varta battery, but it only comes with a 2yr warranty. If I want a 5yr warranty they are quoting £403.52 incl VAT for an Excide battery.

I’ve now called a couple of places and none of them are willing to fit a customer supplied battery. That isn’t a problem as I can fit it myself, but as I understand it the battery needs coding using the appropriate software and I can’t find a garage that is capable (and willing) to do that with a battery that they haven’t supplied.

So, anyone any contacts in Cheshire/ South Manchester/ North Staffs/ Derbyshire who would be willing to code a battery if I were to fit it myself?

Cheers all.

[davidls]

I haven’t replaced a battery in mine, however I was aware from JLR that when I had my Discovery battery replaced that they had to tell the car. From what I have seen on this forum, I believe you can just change the battery and the BMS eventually learns there’s a new battery over time.

[MajorTom]

I'm quite sure you can just change it yourself. I've changed the batteries in two Jags before the F-Type, both with a BMS and more or less the same electrics as the F-Type. No coding needed there, just plug and play.

[Madlil]

I believe the icarsoft LR V2.0 has the functionality for a BMS reset - they can be picked up for about £90-£100 on eBay, and then you have a diagnostic tool and new battery for less than your indie is charging. You could even see if someone has one locally that can do the quick reset for you. Alternatively as others have posted there is a view that the BMS learns the new battery over time.

[elugelab]

If you search hard enough you'll find that the battery coding isn't really necessary. The car basically every so often resets itself.

It's a straightforward exercise to change the battery yourself, and you can find online the right battery for around £180 - even a Varta one.

Changed mine around 5 months ago and all good with no coding.

[Lunar]

Mine didn’t, so I got my Indy to code it when it was in for a service.

[relaxitscool]

Halfords price match if you ask and will code your battery. But like the previous replies I have read it's not required. You may just need to reset the window position.
On my previous car it was a matter of turning the steering wheel left lock, center, right lock, center, and body control module did the rest.

[scm]

If the Varta you're looking at is the one I've seen it has a 5 year warranty anyway. If you follow the number 27 YouTube channel he's offering a 5% discount at Tayna, too! My cunning plan is to fully charge the old battery before swapping the new one in - that might persuade the BMS that all is well. Yet to be a proven technique, of course.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/varta/a5/

[Pilot Pete]

Cheers all, Varta battery ordered, along with an icarsoft LR V3.0! I’ve bought a second set of wheels for my winter tyres and new TPMS valves which I should be able to code with the V3.0 too.

[Pilot Pete]

Well, diagnostic tool turned up in the post before lunch so I replaced the battery a few moments ago. Simplicity itself!

Little bit of galvanic corrosion on the negative terminal, so once I’d disconnected it I cleaned up the mating surface with some 180 grit wet and dry rolled into a cigar shape. Applied a little grease before fitting to the new battery terminal.

Once fitted I tried starting the car, which it did first spin of the starter. Reset the windows as per the owner’s manual. Shut down and plugged in the iCarsoft V3.0 Once again, simplicity itself to use. First off ran the VIN auto identify module which picked up my VIN straight away, then looked for stored fault codes. There were quite a few, which I’m guessing is down to the battery being removed. So I cleared all of those and then did the BMS reset, which took just a few seconds. Started the car again, with no issues. I shall run the car for a while before reading the fault codes again to see if anything has latched. Off to Barbados in the morning, so it will only get a 20 mile run to the airport and then sit in the staff car park for 4 days until I return! I shall leave my jump start battery pack in the boot ‘just in case’, but I can’t see there being an issue.

I did take a voltage reading before disconnecting and with the engine off it was reading 12.4V, which I think is a little on the low side? But it is a new battery that may have been sat on a shelf for a number of months, so I’ve just plugged in my CTEK charger and will leave it overnight so it should be all hunky dory by morning.

So at £172.83 delivered for the Varta battery and £169.00 delivered for the iCarsoft V3.0 I’m pretty pleased. I would have got the V3.0 that allowed up to 10 different car makes to be utilised for another £50 or so but it was sold out - would have been useful for my 3 sons BMW, MX5 and Mini, but hey ho - it will work on the missus XF Sportbrake so we are alright Jack!!!