First time forum user, first time Jaguar owner. Just to have a taste of European cars, I bought a 2004 Jaguar Vanden Plas. Now only after 9 months I am experiencing my first problem; Air suspension fault! I have been reading various threads and have accumulated enough info and bought the replacement part to replace my leaking front air shock but before I start, I have 2 questions:


1__ The lower shock mount is a star shaped bolt which I assumed require a torx bit socket but a torx T55 was too small and loose and and it did not work. A T60 is too large to fit in (there don’t seem to be any other sizes in between). Someone suggested to use hex drive. What is the right tool and tool size to open the lower shock mount?


2__ Only the passenger side shock is leaking air but both sides are sitting low. If I am replacing only one of the front shocks, do I need to jack up both front wheels and maintain a height balance during replacement process in order to satisfy the height sensors?

Anyone's help and comment is greatly appreciated.

 

It is a T60, I just removed my old air shock and will install the replacement tomorrow.

 

Thank you Reyes. I did not buy the T60 because it just appeared too large. I guess I was wrong. I will give the T60 a try and post the results.

 

Got the replacement on, you must follow the directions (Arnott) or it will be really difficult to remove and replace the shocks. If you have an air impact rachet, use it! With it, it will be much, much, easier to remove the upper ball-joint nut. If you use a hand rachet/breaker bar, the ball-joint will start to turn and will not loosen.

As a Precaution, I removed the Height Sensor to prevent damage. It was easy, just undo the metal spring clip/bracket and move the sensor link arm out of the way.

Added 9 Jan: I noticed that I have a black Relay and "MK 82" has a brown Relay. They have different P/Ns and internals. Did the previous owner/dealer replace it?

 

Every thing was easy and smooth until I got to the lower mount bolt. It refuses to budge! I used liquid wrench and tried every possible tool/ways including my muscleman neighbor. The bolt does not want to move even a hair. The next step is to get my hands on an impact wrench.

 

The key is leverage. My 1/2 impact would not break it loose. Had to use my two foot breakover bar and my foot.

 

Eddie (MK 82), I gave the 1/2 impact driver a try and it did not help. Don’t say I told you so! I just had to give it a try. Probably need a heavy duty air compressor impact wrench. It is straight forward steps but disappointingly difficult. I am thinking about putting it back together and somehow taking it to a mechanic. I am puzzled a bit though. I have the JTIS maintenance & repair CD and it also shows a figure the same as the first attached pic from Reyes but I can not find anything resembling that to unclip! Due to being new, unfortunately it appears that I do not have sufficient privileges to post photo to see how my suspension assembly looks like.

 

I am not positive on this; I think at some point during 2004, Jaguar did away with the Right Front Height Sensor. Several other members have mentioned that they do not have the Right Front Height Sensors,You might have one of those vehicles.
You mentioned that "Only the passenger side shock is leaking air but both sides are sitting low". On my 04 VDP, only the right side would lower.

As for your photo, try to email it to one of us?

 

When the problem initially started, I checked under the hood and I could feel the air shooting out from the top of the right shock only and nothing from the left side. Somewhere I read that if one side leaks the system adjusts the height on the opposite side to keep the height balanced. The depth of the star on top of the bolt is so low that the Torx socket does not remain in there firm and horizontally straight when trying to turn using crossover bar. Attempting this way over and over could damage the bolt. I believe these bolts are designed to be drived using impact wrench only. If I can not find the right tool to borrow soon, I’ll have to put it back together and drive it to a mechanics. I have to figure out how to access other members email addresses to provide a photo. This may also be one of the privileges I don’t have yet.
As far as the relays go, all my relays have different colors than yours. I guess, if the voltage and current are correct rating the color does not matter. It could mean different vendor.

 

Yup, it was removed from VIN G26872.

 

Any progress on the shock?

 

Unfortunately no. The darn thing feels like it is welded! I just put it back together. I plan to drive it tomorrow to see if I can find a mechanic who is willing to loosen the bolt for me for a $ charge or perhaps have them install my new part on if the cost is reasonable.

 

Good luck and keep us posted! Man a hard bolt really ticks you off. Hopefully the mechanic only charge a nominal fee to loosen it.

 

There has to be at least one "Forum Member" in CA that may be willing to assist?

 

Currently 19 degrees F, my suspension is doing fine.

 

Today, I took the car to a local Auto Repair shop. They lifted the car up, and they too could not open the bolt with the their shop compressor impact tool. At least I know it is not me! I now have to look for an auto shop specialized in European cars. They may have their own tricks.

 

Bet I could get it off. About a 3 ft cheater pipe and a rosebud torch.

 

Used a rosebud many times on large pins.

 

It may have been put together with red loctite which can be a bitch to get apart sometimes. Judicious application of heat to the captive nut can work wonders. Propane will not work. Must be oxy/acetylene. It expands the nut and loosens the loctite.

 

MK 82, you are correct and here is how we found out;
I took it to a European car repair shop and watched them personally for over 4 hours. They lifted the car up, first used impact wrench unsuccessfully and then used a long pipe. The Torx socket broke in half. Tried again, the wrench broke. They decided to cut the welded nut off the shock and they did. At this point, the bolt finally started to turn but that is all it did. It would turn but not move out. Then, the removed the entire suspension mechanism off and for an hour tried many ways to remove the bolt but it would not come out. Next, they decided to scarify the bushing and cut the nut from in between the shock and the arm. Now the shock was free and a section of the bolt still sitting inside the arm and bushing. Here we noticed the red loctite that you are talking about. I think they used too much of it and also have applied it inside the bushing. In addition, we could see corrosion on the threads. Tried a metal bar and sledge hammer to pop the piece of the bolt out of the bushing but it wouldn’t.
At this point, we have ordered for a new bushing that will arrive on Tuesday. Buy cutting the bolt from the shock, I’ve probably lost my core deposit and how much the bill would be? I try not to think about it!
At the beginning of this thread I said that I bought this car to have a taste of European cars. Well……this is leaving a bitter taste!