I'm very close to buying a 2003 STR. I've been looking at it for several weeks now. The first time I drove it, a dash warning light came on and the message Performance Restricted stayed on. I told the owner this and they took it to a shop to have it looked at. The shop said it was a leaky valve cover gasket and the oil was leaking onto the plug and coil causing a misfire. Both valve cover gaskets were replaced along with the all the plugs. I told them to call me when it was fixed. So I received the call that all was fixed.

Today, took it for a test drive, no engine lights. However, when I was in Sport mode and going about 30mph and then floored the accelerator, there was a "bucking" as if it was looking to downshift or hunting for the right gear. Once it figured that out, it took off like a bat out of hell. No engine warning lights or anything ever came on.

To me, the price seems very reasonable, but am I looking at a major issue here?

It's a 2003 STR with 160,000 miles on it. The body and interior is very clean.

Thanks!

 

As an avid owner of an 03 STR if you can get it for a good price go for it! All of the STRs have some sort of gear box issue. Alot of these can be resolved with a fluid and filter and sleeve change.

In your case that may be the issue I would ask the current owner when the last time the gear box was serviced. I just had a complete gear box rebuild on mine (I'm at 140K) it was right at $5K for everything but she will climb a tree now!

There are alot of threads on the subject if you do some searching but bottom line they are great cars extremely well engineered and realiable. This site will provide some great advice and alot of great tutorials as well most with step by step instructions and photos.

Bottom line, these were expensive cars new and they are expensive to repair when they need it. 160K is alot of miles but if you are comfortable wrenching on it yourself you can save alot of $$ and keep your Cat rolling for another 160 easy!!

Go for it!

 

Thanks, that's what I was thinking. I've also been looking at TSB S307-14. I just don't know how to tell if this has already been done or not. I had a previous Jaguar and fell in love with them. That one was totaled on the interstate by someone rubber necking an accident and rear ending me!

I'm pretty handy, just have a basic set of tools though, so hopefully nothing special will be needed.

 

any chance the "bucking" was the traction control trying to limit the wheel spin?

Anyway....
Can I ask what they want for the car? Only because I have an '03 STR that I would like to sell, and this may be of benefit for both of us. I'm in an area where we've got snow (or something like it) for 6 months of the year, and this is just NOT a snow car. Mine has 125k miles on it, and is a proven runner. No issues.

you don't say where you're located. I'm in Utah.

 

Good point, I never thought of the traction control kicking in. I'll have to figure out if that's it or not.

 

I'm in Iowa, if you can Private Message me, I'd be more than happy to share that information.

 

As always see if there are any codes. It could be many things.
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Maybe a good way to talk the price down...

 

There are currently no warning lights. So I believe all the code issues have been resolved.

 

Hey bstopek..I'm in lacrosse wi....also have an str...should get together

 

I did purchase it, have done a couple things for it so far. I was getting the P0171 and P0174 codes. Found a vacuum hose not on, put that back on as well as changd the air and fuel filters. They both look very bad. The codes have stayed clear for a couple of days now, so think I’m good there. However, I do have the surging between 30-50 when cold, very noticeable. And also 1-2 seems to be a very short shift. I've contacted the local dealer about flashing the TCM and they want $130 if there are no issues found. From what I've read it also looks like they should flash the PCM, not sure what they will charge for that. Does anyone know if these are good prices? I'm leery to take it to the dealer for fear of them wanting a ton of money for every little thing they find. I did get a pretty good price on it, and I know it's not perfect, but I'm willing to put some elbow grease into it!
Thanks!

 

As soon as it gets running a little better and if the weather holds out, I'd love to get together to learn more about this car. My last Jaguar was a 1995 XJR, loved it, but got rear-ended on the interstate a number of years ago and it was totaled. So it's great to be back in a Jaguar again!

 

Got a pic?....send to brad.parins@gmail.com

 

Keep learning! But the lack of dash lights does not mean there are no problems. I would get the codes scanned to see if anything is there.

As for flashing the TCM. That involves a good bit of transmission knowledge. I would not get it re flashed yet. Look into the sleeve, pan/filter change and fluid change first or at the same time.

At that mileage be ready for some maintenance and repairs. But this list has them pretty well figured out. We are very lucky to have several factory Jaguar techs on here to keep us straight!!

Yes I am talking about you Brutal!!
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