My 2006 Jaguar X-Type has been perfection since I bought it in 2009. It's got 120k miles and has had zero major problems.

Until now! Bum bum bummmmmm…

I was surprised while driving to see the temperature was very hot. It's never gone above just a sliver below halfway (so consistently I wondered if the temp gauge was even working) but this was pegged on H. I realized I had no coolant in the radiator. Replaced. Solved. Fine.

Took a road trip to Seaside a week later - fine while driving, but checked the oil when I got there and hey, low oil. Replaced. Also, why not refill the coolant? Took it all. Must have been low. Drove home. Fine.

Next day, out of coolant. Decided to drive it right to my local mechanic, Doyle's in West Seattle. They had helped with a lighting malfunction before and were very cool.

They ran a diagnostic and told me:
1. Coolant hoses bad
2. Slow drip in oil pan
3. 2 out of the 4 catalytic converters were bad

Their diagnosis: more expensive to repair than the value of the car, especially since it will just keep needing things to repair.
Their verdict: buy another car, donate this one.

I'm inclined to believe them because they're not making money on this and they've always been cool.
I'm not inclined to believe them because this car is awesome. How could it all of a sudden not be worth anything?
Also, they kept saying Jags are notorious money wasters and I was lucky I hadn't had worse problems since day one. Sounds like they're biased against Jags, right?
Also, I really want to keep this car longer.

Are they right? Second opinion?
If I part with the car, what's best to do with it? It's in great shape.

I actually went back to them to ask if they were super sure. They said they could fix the coolant hose part since that was the immediate problem but everything else would need fixing eventually and it's just not worth it.

Lastly, if I get a second opinion, how do I get the car there? I canceled auto insurance because I am slow to deal with this kind of thing (this happened in September), and even if I were to put more coolant in it to drive it on a one day insurance trip to the new mechanic, if it is indeed in tough shape it could be not drivable home.

I emailed that Jaguar John (Jim?) dude but no response.

Thanks in advance.

 

Luis, based on what you have described, I would say to pay the money to have the new hose put on and I would say that you should have the thermostat and water pump changed too. This will get the coolant system up to 100%. As for the oil leak, I would not worry about it. Keep a closer eye on the oil level (check it every time you refill the gas tank). The X-Type is notorious for having a slow leak there. You should always be a under a quart every 1,000 miles.

As for the cats, I would say that if you are not getting error codes (ie, check engine light), keep driving the car. IT is meeting the minimum requirements. Call it good. These are what is making the work so expensive as the new OEM cats are like $800 each. Then you have install costs.

 

You might also want to check the coolant reservoir to see if it may be leaking. Another known problem and not always obvious. Cheap to buy (ebay) and easy to change.

 

Thanks so much for the reply - The engine light does occasionally flicker on at times. Since they said the diagnostics (error codes you mentioned) were indicating 2 of 4 bad (they quoted the same price as you - $800 each) does that change everything or…?

 

Luis, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I would try doing a few good, hard pulls with your car. Find some country road, get the car to a stop, accelerate as fast as the car will go up to 60+ MPH then bring the car back to a stop. Zoom back up to 60+, bring to a stop ,,,,, Do this say 4-6 times. What you are doing is getting the exhaust system nice and warm/hot and this will tend to burn out the carbon in the cats. That will tend to free them up and make the codes go away. The other thing you can try is getting yourself a can of "Seafoam". This can be bought at any auto parts store. You will then also want some 1/4" tygon tubing. Take the car out for a drive and let the engine get up to temp. Turn off the car and then pull the vacuum line coming off the top of the intake (goes to the brake booster). Put one end of the line in the hole in the intake (want to get the tubing so it fits snug, I want to say it requires 1/4", but that is a guess). and the other end will go into the can of seafoam. You wlll then want to get a pair of vice grips or other suitable device that will pinch the tube shut. Pinch the tube shut and start the car. release the pinch device and get on the gas to keep the car running. Let just over 1/3 of the can get sucked up and then let the engine die. Reapply the clamp. Let the car sit for 10 minutes or so. With the tube clamped closed, start the car up again and reopen the pinch device and suck down the rest of the can of seafoam. ONce the can is empty, pinch the tube shut and turn off the engine. Some people even watch the can and as it gets near the end, just lets the motor die on its own (if you do this, wait another 10 minutes to let the seafoam do its magic). reconnect the vacuum line and take the car out for a drive for say 20 minutes or so.

If you do the seafoam, do it in the middle of no where. i say this as the car may smoke A LOT!!!!!!!!! Some cars do, some don't. On your drive, use the J-Gate and get the engine RPMs up. Get them into the 3,000 to 4000 range and keep them there. Again, you are getting the exhaust hot and with the higher RPMs, you are pushing more air through the engine to help flush out any remaining seafoam. After a few miles of driving with raised RPMs, you can go back to normal driving. The seafoam will help clean out the cats and will hopefully give you a few more years with what you have.

The car may be hard to start, but it will. You may find depressing the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor may be needed to clear out the intake. But, don't hold it there as this is the car's way of clearing itself and with the gas pedal fully depressed, it actually turns off the fuel injectors. So, you will need to be on the gas to get it started, but don't take it all the way to the floor.

 

2 out of the four cats dud??????

there are only two cats on it but 4 lambda sensors 1 in front and one after each cat.

 

Luis:

Listen to your gut, not to the haters.
Of course Jags are an expensive waste of money, but we all knew that when we bought them.

I had the "weeping" oil pan gasket - and was able to ignore that - for years.
Cooling hoses and the overflow tank are pretty minor repairs, and not very expensive.
And unless the catalytic converters are spitting codes or failing inspection, I'd leave them alone.

Switching vehicles is a big hassle too - and if you're buying used its always a gamble.

 

Thanks for all the detail. I can see myself doing the first part of 60+ mph, but to be honest I don't know how I could do the seafoam part accurately, much less without freaking out if it's really smoking. Like how do I know if it's working or if I did it wrong and it's about to blow up, lol? I also don't know what a J-gate is, but it sounds like the manual-ish shifter.

Thanks for giving me some hope there are more years in this baby!

 

Apologies if what I wrote is inaccurate. I'm doing it from memory, but that's what I really thought he said. Maybe it was that two of four sensors had errors. I wish a shop would offer a printed diagnosis vs doing it over the phone verbally. I have no idea what they're saying and my memory is ****, so it's not that helpful.

 

Donate it to them?

You purchased the X-Type at 3 years old and have then had troublefree motoring for the next 11 years. I must assume you have also had it serviced on schedule during that time. This is a very different situation from someone buying a 14 year old Jaguar that's passed through several owners and has little reliable provenance. Such a vehicle could easily be a money pit but yours shouldn't have any nasty surprises.

1. cooling hose deterioration or failure a lot sooner is NOT unusual. They are not hugely expensive to replace.
2. oil pan drip - this doesn't appear to worry other members too much. It may be annoying but isn't going to kill the engine
3. bad cats. Could be BUT there are other less expensive possible causes and cats is the worst-case scenario.

Given you know the history of the vehicle over a lengthy period, none of these are reasons to get rid of it.

Throwing parts at a Jaguar is an expensive way of troubleshooting:
Item (1) is unavoidable
Item (2) can be postponed
Item (3) needs further investigation. From the shop diagnosis, I would expect a permanent MIL (engine light) and not the occasional flicker. Have the error codes read and post them back here for advice on ALL possible causes.

Thermo's recommendation (often called "an Italian tune-up" in European countries) is an excellent idea. Getting the engine, exhaust and transmission up to temperature often clears odd errors and the seafoam treatment will clean the system from fuel injection through to exhaust. It may sound (and look) spectacular to you but isn't going to do any damage.

Running an older Jaguar really does need either a willingness to get "hands on" or being prepared to pay for expertise. If you are going to pay, the important thing is only to pay for the right things.

Graham

 

Your first post looks like you replaced the radiator or had it replaced.The bad hoses would be visible a shop could charge more. After the radiator would be topped off, losing that amount of coolant would leave a large puddle when parked. High probability of head gasket failure when a motor gets hot with little coolant, STEAM KILLS. Oil pan gasket leak sucks smell in A/C and puddle on the garage floor