I have just bought a new to me XJ6 and know it has a few items needing looked at and changed. What I classify as general wear and tear for the amount of mileage the car has done.
First off I had to find a Jaguar dealership near me so I can let them help me get this car back to mint mechanical condition.


First off I have bought 4 new brake discs and pick them up when they are finished having their Easter holiday. I forgot brake pads and now I see so many different types but somehow I don't think I need to be too bothered as to what they contain or do not contain.

I am asking do I need to pay head to all these types of green pads or are standard types just fine to use?
I also bought two new tyres for the rear and will get them fitted and balanced, again after the Easter holiday. Pirelli p6000 powergy 235/50/zr 18 97w.

I will do some of the mechanics myself and use my jaguar dealer when I need parts, or codes and computers to work through electrical problems when they crop up.
It will take me a day per side to change instead of 20mins per, as I am disabled this end but not totally and time is what I have at present.
As I go through replacing certain parts or fixing certain electrical gremlins please all jump in as most of what I know of the Jaguar has come directly from this site.

I was a BMW trained mech from the north in the 80's and kept my hand in amoung other things over the years so no stranger too the workings and engineering of mechanics and electrical wiring, panel beating and body filling, through to complete rebuilds or restorations.

I do now have a body so damaged it is very limited and slow to what I can actually manage now and some memory problems but I will do my best before I have to hand it over to my local jag dealer to finish if I cannot.

I will also inspect every single brake line, hose, etc., and flush with new fluid.
Does anyone have any tips that I am about to encounter as at present I'm looking at this as just a simple brake replacement.
Lastly does anyone want images of the process as I do the changing of the discs and pads or are there enough threads with this info already?

 

As trained mech you shuld find replacing discs and pads a breeze.

You may want to buy a tool to screw in the pistons on the rears to allow new pads

to be fitted.

I bought the laser tool when I was in the UK.

When you remove the key from the ignition, that switches the electric hand brake on so

if you leave the key in that will keep the brake off for pad replacement.

Personally I do not worry much about which pads to fit either-bog standard are fine

for me.

My advice would be to stay away from Jag main dealers as much as possible and

find a good indepenent for things you can't do yourself.

I will not pay for Jaguar parts if I can avoid it and fit used or pattern parts.

You may want to consider buying an Obd scanner to scan for codes yourself in future,

and there is lots of info on this forum about what is available.

You are unlikely to have a major problem with your Jag but depending where you live in Lincolnshire

you are near a highly regarded Jaguar specialist in Doncaster. http://www.thejagspecialist.com/

Cheers

 

Agree with Meirion. I changed pads and fluid on mine when I first got it with no problems. The flexy brake pipes are peculiar to this car and I noticed that mine had had a couple of advisories for corrosion. They have a square banjo type fitting made of steel but the braiding seems to be stainless. I cleaned the ends up with a wire brush and emery then put some rust inhibitor on and no advisories at the next MOT. The price of new hoses seems to be through the roof so it's worth saving the old ones if they are still sound.
Your car is same as mine even the colour. Hope you enjoy it and great to hear that you are still managing to do much of your own maintenance.
Best wishes

 

As with any brake job, the most needed and overlooked items are the calipers themselves. A caliper rebuild kit replaces the square-cut seal that retracts the piston on brake release, and left untouched, can lead to brake noise, premature wear, and poor anti-lock performance. The Jaguar's TEVES/Bosch system requires DOT4 LV that meets ISO 4925 Class 6. Don't compress the piston without opening the bleeder, as this will drive fluid back into the anti-lock pump, as well as with it's debris.

I suggest you flush the system first, until fluid runs clear from brake bleeder, depress and hold the brake pedal more than 1 1/2 inch down with a brake pedal hold tool, so that fluid from the reservoir does not escape, and remove the brake hose from the caliper, and leaving the fluid in the caliper, use compressed air to remove the pistons. Once your seals have been replaced, complete, reattach the caliper, and finish the bleed job. The rear caliper will require a 14mm pentagon (5 sided) socket to disassemble the emergency brake components from the inside of the caliper to replace seals. The rear pistons will need to be rotated as you compress the piston back into the caliper. This type of system has been used for decades on various manufacturers. Subaru for example has used this type of one way clutch for emergency brake apply since the early 80's.

Concerning bodywork, aluminum rework is not like working steel panels, and you cannot use the same practices or tools you use on steel bodied cars.

 

Just hold the parking brake switch in the console down (brake off) while you turn the key and remove it. The parking brake will stay off.

 

Thank-you meirion, this is exactly what I need to know.
You would laugh at how I do mechanics now.
I use my carers to do all lifting, jacking and turning so it is worth videoing for youtube as my carers are a mixed bunch of girls with small babies right up to retirement age.
They are here to help me and a couple of the young ones love getting in about spanners. I feel lucky as this takes a lot of pain away from me doing it and they really are eager to help. The best bit was the first time I got her to put a gun on the end of the compressor hose to remove wheel nuts. After she got used to the air-gun she was off. She would have unbolted and stripped everything on my van that day if I left her to it.


My local Jaguar dealer, about 10 miles away, have told me to harasses them over any part I can get cheaper and they will try to match it.
I don't know if they are doing this only for me because they saw how severe my disablement is or are they genuinely trying to compete?


I all my life have used various motor factors for parts if needs must.
This car has come to me untouched and unmolested since new so I'm going to replace quite a few bits underneath over the winter.
Bushes and linkage arms. The car came from London so plenty of pot-holes have said hello over the years to these bits underneath.
I'll just make the car feel like brand-new again as my body will say thank-you for the attention to detail.

 

Thank-you so much, I feel like I'm standing next to the jag mechanics in a workshop and been taken through the trade secrets all in one hit.


Don't compress the piston without opening the bleeder, as this will drive fluid back into the anti-lock pump, as well as with it's debris.
Thanks for above.


I noticed this jag has had an after-care scrape and paint job from a dealer where they blast and paint the calliper's, backing plates, etc., as you can see this easily through the wheels so I am hoping to find the pistons in perfect order but as I am not in any hurry I will strip them down for peace of mind.
The actual brake fluid is pristine and very clean from what I've seen under the hood and all hoses and joins are near mint with no rust or wear. I suspect the pads have been changed once since the car was new so now time for new discs as well as pads. The pedal travel tells me discs needed, not just pads and quick eye inspection confirms this. vented steel discs as people know have a habit of warping over time and automatic cars rely heavily on their brakes.


I have no intension of touching the alloy body at any time as this would have to be a body shop. I'm to damaged to learn to do this these days as I can barely lift a hammer and certainly not a full toolbox. My days of hydraulic presses and dollies are over for good.
I can still mix and spray but no point now.
I cannot weld anymore. My limit will be wheels and brakes and linkage and suspension arms and bushes.


The little faults I spotted when checking out the car gave me a serious counter bid on the asking price. The faulty parts are simply, bolt off and on with new, even a fitter can do some of what I am about to do.
I am also doing maybe more than need be to the car as I am trying to learn to do things to keep me busy and active through the day. I have pain levels that I'll suffer which even get through the meds i'm on, but at times I have to stop and say no or get help to finish.
I'll post images as I'm doing it

 

This is my second attempt at repairing since my accident.
I bought a Renault Master 2008 to kit out for travelling in.
After replacing entire running gear, from steering rack to wishbones and brakes I gave up as it was getting out of my reach and even the new ride feeling was still too much on my body over any distance.


I have a collection of motorbikes which I have started to part company with as my riding days are over on the doctors orders.


I have different carers to help with variety or something to do with my brain injury so they all help me with my bikes and transport.
One of my younger girl carers is so eager to get here so she can drive the Jag it sort of helps me forget about what my body is doing to me.
I don't think she has any clue as to what it cost me to insure her in it but she's happy. The only drawback, she could get 100 miles per gallon!!!!
It is a big car and I have little farm roads everywhere so I think it's great she is managing slowly to drive me around.
I may go off topic so forgive me for this, but I don't type, I speak into a headset which types for me so I can fill a page with rubbish in seconds this end.

 

Photos of girls working on a Jag would be a first for this forum! LOL

 

I'm sorry to hear this. I'm hopeful you find the ability to make it exactly as you want. My first Jag exposure was with a mentor in the 70's with a yellow 64 XKE, where we did a ground up rebuild. I've been enamored with the brand ever since. My hat's off to you..

 

I don't see a problem with your ask. Over the years I have had a few ladies through the mechanical side of engineering and found no problem and no real difference. Brute-force was lacking, but this was a plus sometimes as they apply pressure gradually and build up to it, whereas males start with full force and come back-wards when the force is found. I am going to leave this open ended statement before I get into trouble.


I'll ask the two girls who help me if they mind being in images, but I don't think they will care.
I wonder if they can use it in a CV, showing how they can go beyond to help their clients who have limited force to do things themselves.

 

Hi all,
Thanks for all the help and tips on this braking system.
I never got any help from the young girls as I kept getting my main carer Debbie so I went ahead and did the brakes myself as I want to drive around. Took me three days but I don't mind.


I have done back and front discs and pads and only had a little problem with one of the abs sensors as the light would not go out on the dash meaning a fault.
I got a new ABS sensor from Jag dealer, Peterborough, fitted it and light has gone out. XR8 22753. £96.45


If anyone wants to know how I knew which sensor to check for the fault, I never knew and couldn't be bothered to find out straight away so I simply bought only 1 unit as all 4 wheels use the same sensor.
If swapping the unit over on each wheel one at a time never fixed it then the Vmeter would have had to come out. I swapped out the rear L/S, (passenger) sensor and cable and got lucky first time.
I also did the rear first because the rear underside looks a lot dirtier on the suspension sub-frame than front owing to the rear doing the driving of the wheels.


This was also why I opted to buy the X350 over the X-type as all X350 are rear wheel drive. Only one model of the X-type was AWD and at the time of choosing none where in a colour I would drive. The S-type ticked a lot of boxes but once I saw the XJ I was hooked on the big comfy couch size and rear legroom as I am tall and thin so seats are always way back with me, crushing the rear passenger. There was NO going back to the X or S types.
My hands are not at there best so front driving wheels strain my arms and wrists in no time whereas I can drive for hours without sore hands on rear wheel drive as the steering is way lighter and easier. (No power steering means I will NOT drive the vehicle). Not worth the pain.


I ended up buying PAGID brake pads as these over the years have proven to me to be as good as others.
I have a Lucas braking system on this car so I presume most of them are Lucas for the X350 models.
C2C 40194 £93.62 RRP - rear, C2C 23786 £51.95 RRP - Front.


Euro Car Parts have a sale on some pads so I was laughing at this as they have PAGID on offer on the phone for the X350 back and front.
Rear - £29.39. Rear - £33.31


Brake discs are direct from Peterborough Jaguar Dealer, (Marshalls).
XR8 58224 x2 @108.53
C2C 8354 x2 @159.10


The three basic types of pads are:
Ceramic
Low Metallic NAO
NAO
(I may be out of date on this)


I opted for the Low Metallic NAO simply based on price this time round.
There are other brands cheaper but anyone reading this PLEASE do not do this to a Jaguar, BMW or Merc. I already feel bad for not buying the Ceramic pads.


I have now found a few other jobs I will do over the next few months.
I need to replace bushes on some control arms and new linkages but i'll do a new post for this soon.