September seems to be the month for servicing, cleaning, and getting cars ready for their MOTs :-(

My school run car (the C1) has made it through the MOT with just a couple of bits needed and I have just done the oil, filters, and spark plug changes so she is ready for the resumption of the school run on Wednesday.

The S-Type has had the front disks and pads replaced, to solve steering wheel shake on braking, with the engine intake filter & cabin filter replaced.

After sorting the front brakes out I noted the rear disks are quite heavily worn so have replacement disks and pads ready to fit next weekend subject to the weather..

also on one of our roadtrips we had a blocked fuel injector for a day or two so have added fuel injector cleaner to this tank of fuel, noting fuel economy was around 28-30mpg prior to the blockage, and since the blockage cleared has been nearer 38mpg so am hoping the injector cleaner will gain a last few more mpg.

The engine intake filter was the worse I have seen to-date on any car, definitely the previous sevices were incomplete, possibly they couldn't be bothered to find a way into the air filter box sigh. I don't have any ramps and I know the engine has a bottom cover which can be a pig to remove without them so will take the engine oil to the garage when she is MOTd next month and ask them to do the oil and filter change for me.

Am I right in saying that the S-Type rear brakes aren't that different to the X-Type 2.5 I had previously, in that the disks are easy to remove and the rear calipers just wind in, rather than push in, to make space for thicker disks and pads?

 

Yes, the piston need to be wound in to retract them. Don't forget to first apply the foot brake to set the new pads in position before calibrating the EPB!

 

Hadn't thought about the order of resetting everything after fitting -Thanks for that Mikey.. this is the first MOT since purchasing her, so it's been the usual challenge to find out what the previous owner didn't sort, ideally before the MOT inspector gets to be let loose on her.

 

OK, as always with me things seldom go quite as planned lol - but the MOT is this weekend and have my fingers crossed :-)

Have replaced the battery, as the 10 year old one failed

Have replaced three discs and associated pads (garage will be fitting the one that I could not do, as original rusted on solid)

After getting really stressed out with the brakes I managed to misplace the wheel locknut tool so have another one on order from Harwoods Crawley for tomorrow (yep 100% my fault) thankfully only £8.96

Two tyres are on order by the garage to swap out one with a nick on the front and the spare having cracks on the side nearest the bottom of the boot.

The garage will be adjusting the tracking as she came with a 30 degree tilt on the steering wheel and I am soo looking forward to getting it straight lol

I don't have ramps, so have done cabin and air filter, but am passing the oil to the garage to do an oil & filter change for me as cannot get the to the undercover...

I have put some injector cleaner through to help reduce emissions and improve mpg to help as well :-)

And I think (subject to nothing else cropping up) she will go through the MOT OK.. in her history has only failed one MOT and that was for a windscreen chip so am hoping she will continue the trend of going through.., for once I have taken the gamble of getting as much done as I can before the MOT where usually I would pop the car in and see what comes up and get those specifics sorted.

The plan (yep always have a plan, that never works out) is to hang onto her until 2020 at least so if this all pans out then will be looking at trying to rustproof her next summer..

 

Hi Steve, the only thing I can add at this late time is to put a bottle of the injector cleaner or "pre-mot" as some of it is called in the tank.
Give the car a good run at 60 or 70mph for half an hour before dropping it off for the test. Make sure you arrive exactly when the test is due so it goes straight in for test.
I referring to the emissions test of course.
I'll keep my digits crossed for you.

 

No over the counter bottle of fluid will have any immediate or long term curative effect, so you're wasting your time and money.

I understood that the UK MOT emission test used OBD II reading only anyway, no more tailpipe silliness.

 

Ok I have a problem... Jaguar has just said they cannot cross reference my VIN and reg to the locking nuts fitted - and my garage has said they will not be able to remove the conical locking nuts.. does anyone have a master kit I could borrow or makew use of to remove the locking nuts, or a suggestion as to cross referencing from my VIN to the locking nuts fitted?

 

You would be surprised how well they work.
My previous car when I didn't use any goop came very close to failing the emissions test. Next time I used one bottle of goop 2 weeks before the MOT test and another bottle of goop 2 days before and then ran it as described before the actual test. It worked like a dream, passed the emissions test with a wide margin. A seasoned mechanic put me onto this methodology.

 

Busa,

I know such things were in use in the '70s-'90's when both the engine and smog measuring technology were crude by today's standards. I'll concede that that the goop might have been a panacea then.

Today? Colour me doubtful.

Sounds like Steve's attention is elsewhere anyway.

 

Hi Mikey,

Yes - well, panic more like if honest at this moment in time LOL - After the issues with Harwoods Jaguar this morning I made contact with Tony at Harwoods Brighton (my contact for Jaguar event support) and his parts manager should be in touch shortly to see if he can help.

As I said it's my fault for not checking exact details with my usual garage more in advance (and losing it in the first place due to completely stressing out at my rear brakes :-( ) ..

As for the injector cleaner I have put through two batches as a response to lower than expected mpg, and the symptoms of a blocked injector for a few days of my roadtrip (would cruise fine but very little acceleration available even with foot flat down - embarassing trying to pull away at junctions - it cleared just as it started - no stutters or codes just when I put my foot down she accelerated very slowly and just cleared itself after a couple of days).

The mpg does seem to have improved and become more stable, and haven't had the issue since so am assuming it has worked.. :-)

 

How did you get the wheels off for your recent pad/rotor change?

 

Haha.. that is it.. I had the adapter at the time - two days of stress with one piston that refused to wind in, and a disc that refused to come off. I believed at the time everything had been packed away at the end when I finally concluded the disc was a garage job, but I had got three discs replaced now. However checking since it is not there I am guessing because when fitted it looks like a normal lug when glanced at that it went for a drive and vanished - kicking myself is not a word that covers this, adding to that that I just checked with my garage they can remove locking nuts unspecifically, only double checking this week when they said ahhh no they cant do these.. sigh
Incredible huh.. I can organise events with trade stands, sponsorshp etc etc but cannot keep tabs on one locking nut tool - kicking myself just doesn't cover it

 

Then there was VW

Works for me and hacks are useful to know.

 

Sounds like you are all sorted steve?
Hope it goes well.

 

Hopefully all OK, once the nuts are sorted I can sort the tyres this weekend, and get her in for the MOT, oil change and disc fitment next weekend - still really kicking myself though for getting stressed to the point that I obviously did, after two days battling with the brakes, and ending up with a further cost because of it, but I am happy that I have at least found a fair price for the work.. absolutely huge dealership prices difference - amazed me I have to admit

 

I know very well how you feel Steve and that's why I used to do all of my own work on cars subject to having the time.
I did on occasions have to put work out to a workshop because I hadn't got time to do the work myself.
Main dealers are a non starter for work on cars unless its under a factory service contract.

 

The problem is that I am mechanically challenged lol as everyone on here knows, but I am addicted to Jags :-) With help from everyone here I have managed changing 3 disc and pad sets, calibrated my electronic handbrake, updated the firmware on the sat nav and more so I should be happy I have managed as much as I have but it's doing something daft like this and it costing me that really sticks :-) This year is worse than usual as the 'other' car is the C1 and that is what my better half compares costings to albeit in a completely different class sigh.. So not just battling mechanics this year but my better halfs costings too so a surprisingly stressful time for me lol

 

Just dropped in on this thead, I think the trick with the injector cleaner is to use it on a low tank level so that the fluid is not diluted too much. I used to run a workshop and I had a Wynns Injector cleaning machine that we would hook up to the fuel rail. This isolated the fuel tank completely and ran on the cleaning fluid via compressed air to simulate the FP.

 

Not as such. Still use exhaust gas measurement. (CO, HC, lambda, couple of speeds.)

 

Someday then.....

Funny that in the states/provinces here in the colonies that previously had tailpipe measurement vs. OBDII , the practice of dumping additives in the tank to prepare for a test was unheard of.

Sort of the opposite of the common practice rotor skimming here vs nowhere else civilized.