Jumpstarting LV XR5

mrbaxr6t · 24-09-2010, 04:43 PM

well if this experience is anything to go by DONT DO IT heres why :

Lady whom frequents my wifes work (petrol station) has an XR5T as a fleet car, it is hers for full use and has company signage enblazoned on it - anyway she got stuck at night as the XR5 wouldn't crank (flat battery) so she had a good Samaritan jump start the car, this is where the story gets a little sketchy but the car spent 4 weeks at the Ford dealership with them trying to fix the car, I suspect it has blown the brains out of the ECU the dealer did get it going again but by her own admission the cars just not the same anymore and she is gutted, but takes heart in the fact she only has it for another 5,000 before it gets swapped for a new car again, I am posting this here to make other owners aware of the possible consequences of jump starting an XR5

20focus05 · 25-09-2010, 10:19 AM

it has always been that you have to be careful jump starting any efi/computerized car.
one thing that can help is to turn on lights, fan etc of going car while connecting to minimize voltage spikes.
Or use anti spike jumperleads.

bseos · 25-09-2010, 01:38 PM

could the same thing happen if the situation was reversed? Say the xr5 giving the other car a jump start?

Last time i told someone this, they just laughed it off.. But what i found funny was those douchs were trying to jump start a manual car.

ptwhite2003 · 25-09-2010, 03:44 PM

Nothing wrong with jumpstarting a manual. Sometimes you're in the wrong place, like at the bottom of a hill instead of the top, or you're surrounded by pensioners who can't help you push start it.

**DJM83** · 25-09-2010, 06:10 PM

IIRC coerrectly if starting an EFI car one of the leads should be on an earth point ie engine block, sounds like it had both leads on both terminals of battery. That said i wont be using leads to start my XR5.

Was it an LV? If yes sure it wasnt the passive key gone flat?

mrbaxr6t · 26-09-2010, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJM83

IIRC coerrectly if starting an EFI car one of the leads should be on an earth point ie engine block, sounds like it had both leads on both terminals of battery. That said i wont be using leads to start my XR5.

Was it an LV? If yes sure it wasnt the passive key gone flat?

YES it was an LV and YES they jumped it as it for some reason just didn't want to start, they somehow got it to go and in the process poleaxed the car, I have been meaning to talk to the owner personally to see if i can reveal more details as what was wrong what they did and what was the result (in terms of damage done) I posted initially to highlight there is a risk involved in jumpstarting an LV XR5 there is so few of them already around, why kill them off through ignorance?

**DJM83** · 26-09-2010, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrbaxr6t

YES it was an LV and YES they jumped it as it for some reason just didn't want to start, they somehow got it to go and in the process poleaxed the car, I have been meaning to talk to the owner personally to see if i can reveal more details as what was wrong what they did and what was the result (in terms of damage done) I posted initially to highlight there is a risk involved in jumpstarting an LV XR5 there is so few of them already around, why kill them off through ignorance?

I wasnt having a go i was merely asking some questions so settle down.
I havnt read my manual re the topic so dont know if you can actually use leads to start these. Ive seen numrous late model cars started with leads i used my old TE50 to start other EFI cars so i dont know what may have happened in this case

mrbaxr6t · 26-09-2010, 06:13 PM

I didn't think you were having a go

I was just trying to answer your questions the best way I could but at this time I don't know what exactly happened apart from the fact it was jumpstarted and in doing so it was heavily damaged and even though it is going again is still not right, is a shame is all and I would hate to see more nice cars ruined because of simple things like this

entheos · 27-09-2010, 12:12 PM

There are special Jumper leads on the market with filters/capacitors/something in-line to avoid the surging that can cause ECU overload. I personally would walk home (irrespective of how far it was) before i jump started any car these days without a set of these leads...Or there are those special jump start things you can buy for similar price to the good jumper leads

Regardless, I would always jump a car positive terminal to positive terminal and negative terminal of the donor car to the chassis of the car receiving the jump start....

I think what DJM might've been getting at is that if the battery in the keyfob, or even the receiver is having issues 'connecting' with the key, then you can hold the fob up close to where the ignition barrel would normally be. There is a cap over a small slot there which you can place the little mini key in to start the car if this is the case. If it truely was a flat battery that sucks, but these are the things that you learn over time about the little quirks of keyless start.

mrbaxr6t · 03-10-2010, 10:35 AM

I had a very brief conversation with the owner she tells me the car had its headlights/foglights left on all night, I tried this and apart from it beeping its head off it drops the headlights down to parkers when the engines off, not sure of the foglights remain on with the parkers when they auto drop down, when she tried to start it the interior lights went out when the starter motor attempted to crank (I am assuming here womans not really a gearhead) given that the car had its lights left on all night the assumption was flat underbonnet battery so she got it jumpstarted I don't know how the leads were connected as "some guy" did it for her the leads were connected the XR5 cranked and started at which time the guy removed the leads and it "stopped" she then cranked it unassisted and it started but was extremely unhappy ***** idle no power screen indash gone haywire

so thats when she took it to Ford, sadly this is where the conversation ended as she was in a hurry, I thanked her for her time and let her on her way.