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New Member - 1995 XJ6 and 1996 Vanden Plas 4.0 liters, Santa Fe NM
New Member Area - Intro a MUSTNew to Jaguar Forums? Drop in and tell us about you, your ride and location. This is your chance to introduce yourself to the forum.
New Member - 1995 XJ6 and 1996 Vanden Plas 4.0 liters, Santa Fe NM
A few months ago my father-in-law trailered in his non-working XJ6 from Las Cruces to my home here in Santa Fe. It was a gift to his two grandsons both in their late teens/early twenties, and I was a bemused observer... "won't start, but battery is strong; makes a rattling sound when it does run, may have had an accident in the past". Let the energy of youth work on it, I thought. Then I started reading about the car on the interwebs, and in particular the x300 threads on this forum. Having had a few inline six BMWs in the past, the beautiful 4.0L appealed to me, and I kept an open mind. My sons worked through some very difficult repairs in the cold unheated windswept workshop, replacing the clattering harmonic balancer, removing and replacing a fuel pump (can you say "siphon"?), replacing all of the shock dampers (my goodness, the rear dampers are not easy!), swapping out a rear wishbone and bent retaining bolt, fixing a driver door handle, swapping parts on the seatbelts for safety reasons, etc etc. They turned a critical corner and we started thinking about parts cars. Which led to searches on various websites that sell cars.... which led me to Ruby, a 1996 Vanden Plas with 115k miles and gorgeous paint and shiny wheels. I was in love, and we drove to Las Vegas NV, bought the car, and then drove home, all in about 20 hours.
Since then, I have read many many many posts on this forum, one of my favorite being "What have you done to your X300 today?" When I can get my keyfob programmed with fresh batteries, I might consider myself competent, but in the meantime I have learned much from these threads and watching and helping the boys, and my to-do list is mighty long right now for Ruby... but well-informed by the wise folks on the forum My wife is happy that we have a date car that is like a limousine, my sons are delighted that I am laying in the dirt with them wrestling cranky bolts or super-gluing random ABS bits instead of waxing my truck (2015 F-150 Crew Cab King Ranch w Eco boost, just in case it matters) or washing my wife's car (a dignified white BMW 328i, also 2015). So, I start down the journey of honest, self-maintained jag ownership with realism and joy and some money set aside when I have to buy parts from SNG Barratt (thank you for helping us keep our cars going!).
My five year plan, in no particular order:
Recondition the leather
New wiper blade
Get the clock rebuilt
New poly bushings all the way around
Bilstein B6 dampers
Reinforce all the breaky ABS bits with metal backing and JB weld
Get my older son to 3d print the horizontal clips that make the center vents move in unison
New plugs, new air filter, new oil and filter, new ATF fluid, replace diff oil, flush and replace coolant, refresh the power steering fluid w Lucas additive
Grease u-joints
New brake pads
New A/C filter (the long one on top of radiator)
Get the clock repaired
Get a new key fob to see if I can follow instructions and make the car chirp after hitting the Valet button five times...
And continue to wax Ruby and use invisible glass on those amazing chrome wheels!
So, at some point in the future, I will post something on "What did you do to your X300 today?" with something more specific than what I did yesterday, which was cruise the mountain foothills on a sunny day with my wonderful wife and feel like a million bucks.
The XJ6 that started me down this path... The shiny wheels that grabbed me and would not let go Ruby from the rear Ruby from the front, getting some energetic attention to detail
Good to have you with us and thanks for the excellent Intro.
I can see you've already found your way to the X300 forum so there's no need for a link to it from me. The 'HOW TO' thread at the top is a good place to start for information on regular issues. You can also use the US Southwest Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/us-southwest-37/ to find other members in your region.
If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help
Hello,
So the whole family has been well and truly Bitten, eh? That does Not surprise me in the least.
Congratulations on a Fine pair of Jaguars, and all your successful repairs to this point.
You will find that all that work and effort to be the very best of Bonding exercises.
Many thanks LnrB you got it just right - it is the work we put in that pulls us together, and to be able to do work on beautiful cars with my adult children and have it bring us closer together... I am a lucky man!
03-01-2021, 05:22 PM
New Member - 1995 XJ6 and 1996 Vanden Plas 4.0 liters, Santa Fe NM
My wife is happy that we have a date car that is like a limousine, my sons are delighted that I am laying in the dirt with them wrestling cranky bolts or super-gluing random ABS bits instead of waxing my truck (2015 F-150 Crew Cab King Ranch w Eco boost, just in case it matters) or washing my wife's car (a dignified white BMW 328i, also 2015). So, I start down the journey of honest, self-maintained jag ownership with realism and joy and some money set aside when I have to buy parts from SNG Barratt (thank you for helping us keep our cars going!).
