I am looking to buy an XJ8 2004-2009 model and I am concerned about the air suspension reliability. Is it a matter of when these units will need replacing with the "Arnotts" or is it that 10%+of the cars will suffer from this problem?

Do the latter models 2008/9 have the same suspension units and the same reliability issues?

Should I only be looking for the cars that have had all 4 units replaced?

Am I better to look for a good 2001/3 model?

Is this problem greatly overrated?

Any help and advice you can give me will be greatly appreciated...in advance!

 

Air suspension (on any make/model) will generally start having issues around 8-10 years. Colder weather & high humidity seems to speed up the aging process. On X350/8 the air suspension has the following components:
Front shocks
Air compressor
Rear shocks
Hoses
Height sensor

My car has 89k mi and previous owner replaced both front shocks at 70k miles at dealer for around $2600. Arnott make cheaper shocks at $500. The OEM Blistien are $850(cheaper than Jaguar part price). The air compressor has a rebuild kit (<$100) that should fix most issues. Rear shocks have much longer lifespan for some reason as I can't recall more than few failed units on this forum. Hose and random leaks are easy fixes if you are DIY. Sensors & electronics are readily available in salvage yards.

I plan on keeping the air suspension on my car for few reasons:
1- Ride Quality
2- Load leveling (empty car vs fully loaded one)
3- Price for parts are getting cheaper since most high-end cars use air suspension.
4- Any car's suspension will need a makeover around 10 years. The only difference the car is drive-able in the meanwhile but ride quality gradually worsens. Air suspension ride quality is excellent up to the moment it fails.

 

Pkoko thank you very much for your input.
Is there a big difference between a 2007 model and the newer 2008 like yours. Assuming they both have air suspension, what are the main differences??

 

All vehicles require maintenance. 10 years/100,000 miles is a long time on an air suspension. I just finished having to replace the ones on my '04. I knew it would be coming for some months now, and used new Bilstein B4's over the Arnott to retain eCATS. The ride quality is appreciably better, and the slow degradation of shock performance over time can be felt when you set a new set on the vehicle.

 

I would not go for a 2001 - 2003 model as it has the older style non Aluminum body and is smaller than the 2004 + model especially noticeable on the interior.
The Aluminum body saves a fair amount of weight.

I bought my 2005 XJR 19 months ago with 99,000 on the clock. It now has 105,000. I have driven over very rough roads in Maine and Massachusetts. My air suspension, touch wood, is fine and I love the CATs system.

The previous owner took very good care of the car and probably replaced suspension components with OEM parts. If I had bought a car with say 80,000 on the clock it may well not have had new suspension parts and I would be facing replacement now. Quite a discussion on what mileage to buy one of these cars in this forum.

 

Jackra thank you very much for your input. Do you have a link or url to the forum debate as to what mileage to purchase one of these cars, or where should I be looking? that would be most helpful.

 

Go to the 3rd thread down in this Forum. "What to look out for in buying an X350" or words close to that.

If you read thru this thread you will gain a lot of information.

I studied this forum for about a year before buying my 2005 XJR. One reason it
took so long was finding the right car that was not 100s of miles away.

On Jaguar reliability several articles I have read state that the XJ series from 2006 to 2009 are the most reliable. I have seen this several times
but cannot remember where. My 2005 has been very reliable and the best car I have ever owned. I include a modified Porche 911s in the many cars
that I have owned.

 

My own experience with the air suspension is favourable, except that the air compressor had to be replaced shortly after I bought the car in 2010. At that point it was on about 35k miles. Not being a DIY person, I got a service exchange unit fitted at the local main agent, but it wasn't too expensive, (about £300) plus 30 minutes fit time. Now I'm on 102k miles on that same compressor, so the replacement has done a lot better than the original. No doubt I'll get the dreaded fault message come up soon after I have written this reply !

My car had the Sport springs, so I managed to purchase a set of new-old-stock Comfort ones on eBay for a favourable price and had these fitted about 2 years ago. So I have never had an actual air spring failure. For some reason there seem to be more of these in the US than here in the UK. Maybe it's our dreadful damp and cold weather that keeps them in good condition !

There is no doubt at all that any replacements will cost more than if one had steel coils, you just have to accept that if you want to carry on with the air springs, but there are conversion kits around that enable you to swap to steel coils if you want. However, you have to obviously replace all four spring units. What is a bit of a nuisance with air or steel coils is the rather short life of the suspension bushes. However in the last few years prices for replacements have come down, so replacing worn parts is not too bad nowadays.

As for a comparision with the previous steel-bodied car, the later alloy-bodied X350 series of cars are probably the most reliable of the XJ saloons so far, although the X300 series, (the last of the straight six engined cars) come pretty close, but suffer rusting. Many of the X350 cars have gone well beyond 200k miles.

 

The only issue I've had that I'd consider a nuisance is air spring failures and a trans cooler line leak. While I did convert my car to coils, that was a choice made due to where my car was stranded. That said, if you are adept with tools, this is a simple straightforward vehicle to work on and most parts are relatively inexpensive. Nothing that wasn't a wear item that wasn't somewhat expected. I had a costly start due to the large amount of wear items that failed all at once, but I haven't had to do anything to it other than a broken wheel stud, coolant overflow tank, and the trans line repair and flush in the last 6 months. I was planning the trans fluid change anyway and the leak just forced my hand is all.

All that said, this is a car that will keep your hands dirty more often than your basic grocery getter, but the tradeoff in refinement and driving a prestigious nameplate feels worth it to me.