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I brought this baby home two weeks ago. I paid $4,700.00 and expecting some major maintenance and bring it to new conditions. Beside issues listed below,it has perfect paint, no rust, 80% interior, new brake, good tires, and super clean and smooth engine.
These are the issues and remedies that I found and fixed so far.
1. Exhaust noise leak somewhere and not at the exhaust headers. Resolved. I found a weld crack at the mid section of the exhaust pipe. I wrapped with galvanizing sheet metal and campled with stainless steel clamps.
2. Small oil stain at one right corner of cam cover. Will order new cam cover seal, easy job.
3. Squeaky noise from belts when started. Resolved. Replaced both belts. Simple job.
4. Slight free play at water pump. I order new water pump. However, free play was minaue. I will wait and keep checking free play and will replace if needed. Simple job.
5. Front wheel bearings had free play. Resolved. I ordered new bearings but the old one was perfectly fine. I repacked front wheels bearing with high temperature grease and adjusted. Smple to medium job
6. Front shocks were replace but they were not tighten down. Resolve. Simply tighten nuts down. Simple
7. Left rear brake lens has a crack. Replaced. Simple.
8. Light warning on dash due to front left signal light, rear left brake light, fog lamps not working, and front left running light. Resolved. Harness under front bumper was loose. Replaced rear brake lens from Ebay. simple
9. Rear differential only have 1.4 quart of oil. Oil was dark but there was no metal fragments or noise. Resolved. drained and added two quarts of synthetic 0-90w. Simple.
10. Hairline cracks on exhaust header but only surface crack for now. Nothing to be done for now.
11. Interior light does not turn on when open driver front door. I still not figure out how to fix this.
12. Headliner drooping. Summer project. Medium on labor. Simple job.
13. Wood panels clear coat on front doors cracked. Summer project. Medium
14. Front center AC vent shutter needs repair. Summer project.
15. Club compartment opened but does not close. Need to grease spring load rod.Simple
16. Spark plugs' gap incorrectly. Resolved. Replace with OEM spark plug with corrected gap. I notice oil in two of the six plug wells. Cam cover seal will need to be replace soon. Simple.
17. Need alignment. done
18. Fan stays on at all time. I read somewhere on this forum how to fix this. This is my next task.
18. Replaced transmission filter and oil. Done. Simple
19. Change oil to 10w30 synthetic 8 quarts. Simple
20. Brake fluid flush. Not yet.
21. Power steering fluid flush. Not yet.
22. Rear shock bottom bushing is bad. This is going to be a heachache to remedy. I do have a spare rear shock on my basement somewhere.
23 I could not identify where to grease all moving joints???
24. Did I miss anything?
Last edited by annamiata; 02-05-2018 at 11:35 AM.
Reason: SPELLING
Keep in mind that bottom bushing can weld itself to the bolt and sometimes you need to cut or mechanically pull that bolt out. That can be a pain. It was on one side of my 95 and other was no issue.
These will fix up your headliner enough that you may not even worry about it.
.....
3. Squeaky noise from belts when started. Resolved. Replaced both belts. Simple job.
4. Slight free play at water pump. .....
You have been busy.
Squeaking belts are often the result of coolant getting on them and the only solution is to change them.
If the pump has play on the bearing and even the slightest amount of coolant is leaking, it would be a good plan to bring forward fitting the replacement rather than risk your new belts.
Regarding the wood panels on your front doors needing attention, what sort of finish are they? The reason I ask is because I have a parts car going to the crusher in the near future and I have all the interior trim in great shape. It's the dark Burr Walnut finish and you're welcome to any of it that might be of use to you. And good luck with the rest of your tweaking.
Lacquer wood finish . Supposedly easy to come off with a heat gun and super careful with some fine sandpaper as the wood is a thin laminate . The art is in applying the spray lacquer and lots of resources on how to do it . You have practice pieces to try . If not you can try a window control unit piece or something from the junk yard .
I'm toying with a Polyurethane aerosol spray can and am wondering the final results differences .
I have some woodworking finishing experience with the lacquer and a high end woodworking store in town to get advice from . Matter of when I get to it .
Last edited by Lady Penelope; 02-06-2018 at 07:49 AM.
Regarding the wood panels on your front doors needing attention, what sort of finish are they? The reason I ask is because I have a parts car going to the crusher in the near future and I have all the interior trim in great shape. It's the dark Burr Walnut finish and you're welcome to any of it that might be of use to you. And good luck with the rest of your tweaking.
Thank you the the offering. The burl wood panel in my Jaguar has light tone instead of dark tone.
The lighter tone of the finish is the degradation or sun lightening of the lacquer . The lighter the worst . Saw somewhere a marine grade of lacquer that is more resistant to this but not cheap .
Several years ago I refinished the wood in our '93 XJ40 and can offer a few thoughts:
Based on my research at the time, I believe that during the mid-'90s Ford/Jaguar were using water-based acrylic lacquers to finish the wood. In the pre-Ford era, Jaguar probably continued to use hand-polished nitrocellulose lacquer longer than most automakers, but nitro is prone to cracking when exposed to temperature extremes.
By the mid-2000s, most automakers were using UV-curable finishes, which dramatically accelerated production because the finishes can be cured in a matter of minutes.
When I first refinished the wood in our '93, I used a marine spar varnish, which claimed to be flexible and to contain UV inhibitors/absorbers. There were several problems with the product, beginning with the fact that it was too soft to rub out to a high gloss. It also tended to lift the veneer off of trim pieces with metal substrates when it fully cured.
On my second attempt I used an acrylic lacquer clear coat from AutomotiveTouchup.com. This product worked fairly well, but required lots of coats on the wood before a solid surface began to build up:
In retrospect I should have begun with a good water-based sanding sealer to fill the grain with fewer coats, and wet-sanded the sealer flat before applying top coats of the acrylic laquer. The good news was that the acrylic lacquer cured faster than nitro, and rubbed out to a high gloss using the same process I use with nitro on guitars: using a small sanding block, flatten the finish by wet-sanding from about 800 grit to 2000 or 3000 grit, then hand rub to a mirror gloss with a polish like Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0, 3M Scratch Remover Polish, etc.
One thing I discovered was that chemical stripper (methylene chloride, illegal in some areas) worked fairly well on the trim pieces with wooden substrates (door & some dash trim), though it took repeated applications to remove all of the old lacquer. However, on the trim pieces with a metal substrate (ski slope, ash tray, outer dash HVAC vents), it wanted to lift the veneer. The next time I do an interior I will hand-sand the metal-substrate pieces.
In the process of stripping, I lost some veneer from metal-backed pieces. I found Carpathian elm burl veneer at our local Woodcraft store that I was able to tone with water-based aniline dyes to achieve a very good match with the pieces that retained their original veneers. If your wood has faded, water-based aniline dyes are a great choice for restoring color because they are more light-fast than oil- or alcohol-based stains. I buy aniline dyes from woodworking suppliers like Woodcraft (woodcraft.com) and luthier suppliers like Stewart-McDonald (stewmac.com).
AutomotiveTouchup.com now offers a 2K Urethane clearcoat that I intend to try on my next project, whether refinishing interior wood or painted wheels. Note the requirement to wear a respirator mask:
If you have a good spray gun and appropriate air compressor, at least one professional auto interior restorer told me that he uses a high-solids clear lacquer with UV absorbers to build a thick finish with fewer coats. A quick search turns up this product that might be worth testing:
With a product like this, it might be possible to simply fill cracks in the old finish with cyanoacrylate (Super Glue), allow the glue to cure, sand the old lacquer flat but not down to bare wood, then apply the DiamondFinish. I haven't tested this theory and if I ever do, I'll try it on some spare practice pieces as Lady Penelope suggested.
On the fan subject, I agree with the posters who say it should run continuously when ignition and AC on. It should stop if you turn your AC off, which is a good way to test that there isnt a malfunction somewhere else.
I believe 1997 would be after Jaguar gave up on using an A/C pressure transducer to actuate the cooling fans to "Low" speed, due to a myriad of failures. So yes, your cooling fans should run on "Low" speed any time the key is on. They are actuated to "High" speed by either A/C head pressure or Radiator tank temp, whichever calls for it...but normally that is the A/C head pressure.
There are only 4 grease fittings on the car: Inboard and outboard universal joints on the rear axle. I grease them with every tire-rotation; 5,000 - 7,500 miles.
To test the fan control module you can run your engine coolant up to temp and remove the 2 A/C pressure switches and watch the fans continue to run , or the left only according to the coolant temp . The fans are not commanded on by the A/C switch in the cabin but the consequence of the switch producing freon pressure on the pressure switches .
As the coolant temp is low the fans will be off ( or left one on according to the Mod status ) and then you can run the temp up and watch them turn on the left being the first one and the right you won't see until coolant temp is very high .
The 2 A/C pressure switches fail and was subject to a TSB wiring Mod .
The coolant temp switch is on the lower left side on the radiator with the 3 wires because it is a off , low ( left fan ) , and high ( right fan ) temp switch and the 2 temp sensors on top of the thermostat housing is not used for fans on the X300
Last edited by Lady Penelope; 02-06-2018 at 12:33 PM.
I believe 1997 would be after Jaguar gave up on using an A/C pressure transducer to actuate the cooling fans to "Low" speed, due to a myriad of failures. So yes, your cooling fans should run on "Low" speed any time the key is on. They are actuated to "High" speed by either A/C head pressure or Radiator tank temp, whichever calls for it...but normally that is the A/C head pressure.
There are only 4 grease fittings on the car: Inboard and outboard universal joints on the rear axle. I grease them with every tire-rotation; 5,000 - 7,500 miles.
I did not see any nipples to inject grease at joints. Do i just clean and hand pack grease?
I did not see any nipples to inject grease at joints. Do i just clean and hand pack grease?
They should be there, I think the proper name for them is a zerk fitting. They are the pillar sort with the small rounded top .It's possible they're covered in crud or the half shafts are turned so that they're out of view. Maybe move the car forward or back an inch or two. They're right in the actual "flexible joint".
Here's the halfshaft diagram from jaguarclassicparts.com. You can just make out the Zerk fittings/grease nipples on the universal joints, or X-shaped components that mount in the yokes of the axles, differential flange and hub spindle. The tip of a standard automotive grease gun will fit onto these fittings. Fill the joints with a good high-temperature grease until the old grease is expelled past the seals and the only stuff coming out is clean and new.
Here's the halfshaft diagram from jaguarclassicparts.com. You can just make out the Zerk fittings/grease nipples on the universal joints, or X-shaped components that mount in the yokes of the axles, differential flange and hub spindle. The tip of a standard automotive grease gun will fit onto these fittings. Fill the joints with a good high-temperature grease until the old grease is expelled past the seals and the only stuff coming out is clean and new.
Cheers,
Don
thank you,
It probably was covered with gunk and I couldn't find it
Last edited by annamiata; 02-06-2018 at 10:11 PM.
Reason: spell
Just like M'Lady P . I took paint stripper to the clear coat on the same wheels as no amount of buffing compound would clean up the 20 year old clear coat . The difference is amazing . One quart 15 bucks auto parts store . Try the spare to see . The centers can be replaced or repainted on the inside . Mine will have the British flag .
Last edited by Lady Penelope; 02-07-2018 at 08:02 AM.
02-05-2018, 11:30 AM
1997 Jaguar XJ6 with 53,000 miles
