Battery Gage Broken

My battery gage is broken. When I bought the car, the guy told me that it was broken because he tried to put costom backgrounds for the gages and he broke the little arrow thing off. Anyway, I don't know how old my battery is and I'm not that familiar with the car yet. So, does it really matter that much? At least all my other gages work. Do you think it would be a pain to replace though, if I could?

Look on e-bay, you often see people selling used instrument panels fairly cheap. The guage is a VOLTMETER not a battery gauge. But you can usually infer things about your battery if you have a basic understanding of electricity, you'd be surprised how many people don't have a basic understanding of electricity.

Rick Anderson said:

Look on e-bay, you often see people selling used instrument panels fairly cheap. The guage is a VOLTMETER not a battery gauge. But you can usually infer things about your battery if you have a basic understanding of electricity, you'd be surprised how many people don't have a basic understanding of electricity.

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Thanks for clearing that up.

After your post about the rear wiper you may not want to go there, you still have a light if somethings wrong.

If there is a little picture of a battery over the gauge, thats because its the universal symbol for electric systems on cars. Same with the Idiot light, you get a light that looks like a battery when your:
*System Voltage is too low
*System Volatge is too high
*Fault Detected in Alternator/Generator Field Control

There are a lot of people uneducauted enough that they would only recognize a battery symbol as associated with the electric system, thats why it was choosen as a symbol. As well, most people will never bother to learn enough to know what can result from electrical problems. SO, a battery symbol is just as well, at least they'll understand something is probably going to happen bad to the battery.

Yeah, it's not a high priority of mine. I'm just nit picky and like to get all the little details sorted out. But thanks!

XJJG -

The voltmeter is available as an individual gauge, to replace the one in your instrument cluster, but the cost of a replacement is too high to be reasonable. Your best bet would be either a voltmeter or a complete cluster from a wrecked XJ. Caution -- not all years are compatible. I know for certain that the 1990 and older are reverse in polarity from the 1991 and newer. But 1996 (which I believe is the year of your XJ?) was sort of a transitional year, being the first year for OBD-II but the last year of the old body style and old dashboard. So I don't know if a voltmeter from a 1991 - 1995 will work in yours. I think probably yes, but I don't know for certain.

You can buy LED battery monitors that plug into the cigar lighter socket. One of those would keep you somewhat informed until you get the voltmeter replaced. Also, you can check the battery periodically with a hand-held multimeter under the hood. With the engine not running, the voltage should be about 12.4 to 12.6 volts. Anything over 12 is okay. With the engine running, the voltage should be about 14 volts. If it's less than 13.5 or more than 14.5 after the engine has been running long enough to recharge the battery after starting, the alternator or the voltage regulator may be defective and should be checked.

I replaced the voltmeter in my 96 with one from a 93. JIM.