Hello everyone,

I just wanted to say "hi" and introduce myself as a soon to be new owner of a 2005 S Type. I'm actually getting the car for my 17 year old nephew. The price is right (free) but unfortunately I haven't seen it run yet. According to the current owner, it "ran when parked" back in 2017 (long story, the original owner went to jail and gave the car to his niece who never drove it, and wants to get rid of it).

Cosmetically the car is in terrible shape. Broken windshield, torn seats, and the rear driver window somehow came off the track and is sticking out from the car. The battery was dead when my nephew and I checked it out. Jumping it with my car did nothing but let me know only half the headlights worked. I was able to use an engine starter to turn it over a few times but no fire. It eventually fired with some starter fluid sprayed through the air intake, but wouldn't keep running. I'm thinking fuel pump?

Anyway, I've arranged to have the car towed to my place this Saturday where my nephew has decided he wants to tackle the job of getting it running. It's his first car. I don't expect it to last too long, but at least it'll be something he can learn to work on. I'm sure it'll need brakes.

Any other tips or tricks I should look for? I've already read about the fuel pump fuse blowing so that'll be my first place to look. The current owner said she THINKS it might need a water pump, but only because her husband said so (and he doesn't know anything about cars).

I'm sure in the coming months I'll be posting more questions and inquiries.

Cheers!
Steve

 

Hi Steve, welcome to the forum. Those are some scary words quoted above.



Definitely plan on a new battery. As you have already mentioned, there's a good chance the fuel pump is bad, too. Several forum members have had the fuel pump seize after a long period of inactivity.

Hope it all works out well. Keep us posted.

 

Welcome to the forum, Steve. You will find you've come to the best site possible for what (your nephew) is about to undertake. Conscience compels me at this point to apprise you of a saying that can be found frequently on this site, however: "The most expensive Jaguar you'll ever own is the free one."

Good luck in getting it sorted. 3 years with fuel in the tank...that may be gel now instead of liquid itching to attain vapor state, so whilst seeing to the fuel pump, I'd advise a good tank-cleaning and new fuel filter as well as ensuring the lines are clean all the way to injector outlet.

 

Thanks guys... I don't think I've ever heard the saying about a free Jaguar, but I can see how that can happen. Yeah, after getting it home the first thing I'll do is pull the fuel pump. It's under the backseat, correct? Hopefully the gas isn't too bad. I own three MG's so I know a bit about how bad gas can get (there's always something wrong with at least one of them which causes them to sit for long periods of time).

If it is the fuel pump that's the problem, I'm a bit excited about the "cheap" fix to just replace the $25 pump, rather than the entire assembly. Fingers crossed.

The other thing that bothered me in my initial inspection were only half the lights were working. Possibly burned out bulbs I'm hoping. Just a strange coincidence that both the right side front headlamps weren't working (high or low beams).

 

I just replaced the fuel pump on my '05 S type. The fuel pump replacement was not too difficult or costly. The problem I had was sealing the fuel tank. Assuming your tank has the locking ring with a worm gear clamp as mine does I suggest you very carefully replace these when done with the pump. The ring ($100 +) is easy to crack if you apply too much pressure. It is also tough to get a wrench on. I used a 1/4" ratchet and it took about 20 increments to make 1 rotation of the screw due to the limited access. A new clamp has a break away cap that sets the torque (4 nm). If you are reusing the old one you need to have some feel for just how tight this is. Be sure you do this carefully as it is easy to crack the locking ring as I did on the driver's side tank seal. I purchased a new locking ring and screw clamp. Unfortunately I did not tighten it properly initially. No leakage occurred until the tank was 3/4 full. I had a large fuel leak occur because I went straight from 3/4 full to full without monitoring. I suggest you top up in 1 gallon increments after you fill to 3/4 tank and verify no leaking. More tedious than difficult but thought I would throw in my 2 cents worth. There are some excellent pictures of this on this site and instructions in the 2005 MY update document (page 49 on) in the documents section of this forum. Note the '05 tank had a recall (R176 NHTSA #06V-418) and the prior model years tank seals are very different. I have pictures if you need them and if I can figure how to load them.

 

Was it this style?:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...l-band-221643/

 

That's the one! Great pics.

 

I got my '05 nearly a year ago. I wasn't free, but not a lot of money. Evidently some cars loose value by the passage of time at different rates! I had to replace the demister, defroster panel just under the windshield, new headlights, and a few other small fixes, and the car runs like a top, I echo some comments that the battery is important. I did replace mine, and that is not a real expensive proposition as motor vehicles go. But I have something of an advantage that the Jag is not my only vehicle and it is just a fling, so to speak. I guess I have always been entranced by the Jaguar mystique.

 

Well, I got the car on Saturday (yesterday) and so far confirmed a bad fuel pump. Luckily the band holding the pump on wasn't the same design and all it took was some wood and a hammer. Fuel pump arrived today (Sunday-Thanks Amazon!) and after a few minutes of fiddling to get the new one in she started almost immediately! The car ran rough for a while, and there is a check engine light. Since the car hasn't ran in over 2 years, and who know how long the battery was dead I'm not surprised.

I got the headlights working (dropping insides like many others). So now my problems are: radio only works on AM, no apparent A/C, passenger window regulator is busted (I can hear the motor running and the cable moving around, but the window doesn't move).

The other perplexing problem is the turn signals. The left side works fine, but there's nothing on the right side... No flashing fast, no blinking on the dash... nothing.

Oh, and the car is actually a 2001, not 2005. Don't know if that makes a difference.