Hi,

Hi,
I am new to Jaguar. I have the opportunity to buy the a used 2004 Jaguar 3.0 X-TYPE AWD. I fell in love with the car after the first drive. Here’s what I know about the car.

1) Dealer maintained since day 1.
2) Fully loaded
2) No Rust
3) 85,000 KM
4) Pulls a little to the right (perhaps an alignment can fix this)
5) Motor oil leak. **** this might be scary

I had the local garage inspect the vehicle. All is well with the exception of the oil leak. He can't really pin point where the leak. What he did tell me is the problem seems to be above the oil pan.

I heard rumors that to fix certain oil leak can be very pricy. Seeing that the leak is minimal, I can live with it. Is there anything that I can put in the oil to help seal the leak that would not harm the engine.

Also the asking price for the vehicle is $7500. That's another reason that I attracted me to the car. In my opinion, that is cheap for this type of car.

I would like your comments

Thanks for reading

 

Ummm, I'd be leery to buy any Jaguar with a recognized mechanical issue.

But that just might be me...
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Jaguar - not an automobile, it's a Motorcar

 

I think most folks on this forum would advise against buying without, at the very least, finding out what the deal is with regard to the leak. Yes, potentially very expensive. Please do some due diligence. If it were me, I'd just walk. There's another car out there with your name on it.

 

average price. low mileage...but leaking oil.
run a history check and keep a eye on that mileage...try to get the oil change interval history.
havent heard many people saying they have oil leaks on the 3.0

 

Keep in mind X-Types tend to be labor intensive vehicles when resolving some seemingly simple issues. For example, to replace a headlight, you have to take off the front bumper. To replace an alternator, I am told you have to drain all freon and remove the compressor first.

So the oil leak could be something simple, but may require a lot of labor hours to get to the problem and fix the issue, and labor hours = BIG $ (plus the price tag of Jaguar parts in some cases).

I love my X-type, but if I bought one that was leaking oil at low miles, it would give me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

You should be able to find another X-Type with roughly the same miles, year, etc. for around the same price.

 

I'll echo 03X, I would shy away from a known issue and an oil leak is an issue. If it's something like the pan gasket you are looking at some big $$$ to repair it because the gasket it VERY labour intensive to replace. If it's something else like a blown main seal still more $$$. Pulling you say, I'd bet it's something bent and a wheel alignment will do nothing to fix it.

 

There's no need to check the milage. I'm very sure of the milage. As the person selling is a friend/neighbor. In the last 4 years the car did only around 2000 km per year. The car would sometimes spend weeks without being driven. I was thinking, maybe beacause of the low usage some seals could have dried up.
Also...in doing some research. I thought the oil leak was a known problem with the jags.

 

not a known issue, more of a known huge expense if there is a issue.

 

I have never heard of Jag's having prevalent "oil leak issue." I mean if it had 200K+ miles, I might expect some sort of slight leak with any vehicle; but at low miles, something doesn't smell right.

 

Let me explain what I mean by oil leak on this car . Between oil changes (usually every 6 months) no oil needs to be added. The leak is very small.

It has been like that for the past year and half.

Sine of the low Km in the last couple years (roughly 2000 km per year). I suspect some seals couple have dried a little.

 

I guess I don't necessarily share the opinion that you should walk away. There doesn't seem to be any inherent issues with oil leaks in the X other than the pan gasket. If that is what is causing the leak and it's only a couple drops on the driveway that won't hurt anything if you can live with that. To fix it is close to $1000 from the dealer because of all teh work involved (search on here for the details). If the leak is somewhere else then that may or may not be a concern depnding on where it is. From your description it sounds like the leak is really minor, but I am far from being one of the most mecahnically savvy members here.

The way I look at it is you have a known car that you have first hand knowledge about, that sounds like it has been generally well taken care of, that has this one issue. To me that gives you a big leg up than others that ask the same question here about buying a used X. If you can determine where the leak is from an if it's the pan gasket and you can live with it I would think your risk is low that you are buying something that is about to cost you huge money in the near future.

Hope it all works out for you no matter what you end up doing.

 

Thanks for the post Alphadude. Knowing the car and it's history makes it hard to walk away. As I may regret missing a good chance. I know the full history of this jag.

 

pmastro123, it sounds like you are talking yourself in to buying the car...

 

I dont know yet. I'm definitly going to get a 2nd mechanic to look at the leak and give me his opinion. Then I will make my descision.

 

If it's just a drop or 2 you're fine, but the oil pan is a huge expensive deal to replace.

 

I would say IF you don't have to add any oil between changes then go for it - BUT I would also set aside some money every month - just in case you do have to fix the oil pan, etc... Just keep in mind if you do buy the car - oil leaks never get better, they only get worse.

You might want to look into an extended warranty over the drive train. If nothing else for a little piece of mind.

Best of luck to you - whatever you decide.

 

The question is, if the previous owner has always used Jag service, then why hasn't the leak been fixed? Too expensive or new development? Now the car is up for sale. Any chance of actually looking at the service reports? If they show you a recent one, you have to ask yourself why it wasn't fixed.

If they chose not to fix a known issue, then you can completely throw out the "plus" you're giving it for being "dealer maintained". If all the work needed isn't completed, who cares who worked on it? I'd rather know an independant shop fixed ALL the problems than a dealer fixed SOME of the problems.

 

The reason why the leak was not fixed by the owner as he knew that in the following year he would be replacing this jag. His intentions were to trade in the car. I was the one who ask to let me know when he was planning to get rid of the car. The owner couldn't be bothered selling the car privately. He is doing my a favor.

 

But you didn't answer the question... Has he had the car in for ANY service since he discovered the leak? If so, then you have to assume he asked how much the leak repair would cost and he decided it was too expensive to fix.

His excuse is fine... for HIM. He figured, "Why spend the money when it'll be someone else's headache in a year?"

YOU are that "someone else". I hope you don't plan on parking in others driveways for the next few years.

You mentioned his selling to you is a "favor". Is the $7500 his trade-in offer from the dealer? If so, then you can at least know you're saving a few grand to help pay for repairs. If he's selling it to you for more than his actual trade-in offer it's not about being a favor, it's about getting more for his car.

Personally, I'd have to be VERY confident about selling any car to someone I know. I'd rather take a loss and never hear about a problem down the road (no pun intended). I hope he's the same way.

 

7500 is what the dealer offered. The seller will be getting the short end of the stick because it can be a trade in. Hence he could save taxes on 7500.

I am planning to bring the car to jag mechanic to give me an estimate on the repaiir. Also I would like his opinion ifthe repair is a necessity.