I got my Arnott coil conversion struts in today. There were a lot of little things that extended the time, but they're in with no fault messages.


The lower shock mount bolts (the ones that take a T60) were about rusted in. It took a heft breaker to push them loose. It was a nightmare trying to get the rear seat back rotated forward to get at the electrical connections. I finally discovered that one of the rotating pins at the bottom was out of place, not allowing the pull strap to spring the catch behind the seat. I was almost ready to give up and try just pulling the fuses. But persistence and a manual I'd downloaded saw me through.


So the ride seems a little rougher. I notice more bumps. But it's a great feeling to know I won't be looking at an air suspension fault or bottomed out car on really cold mornings. I'd recommend doing it.


BTW, I did the jump on jack stands with no problems because of how little it was up off the floor.

 

I getting ready to replace the right front air shock today. I figure the price of the rebuilt Arnott shocks are just a little higher than the coil conversion, and with a lifetime warranty on the rebuild I don;t have to worry about the expense if it happens again. Plus, this lets me replace them as they fail instead of all at once. This makes both the right side shocks.

 

Was it the Arnot coil spring conversion that u did? Was it their product C- 2290?

 

I finished the right front shock in about 45 minutes. I did find one tricky thing when using the Arnott shock. They include a new air fitting on the shock. You unscrew the nut, slide the air line through it and retighten. I didn't have a problem with the rear shock I replaced last spring, but when I went to unscrew the nut this time the whole fitting started to unscrew. If the shock was out of the car you could just grab the fitting with pliers and unscrew the nut, but you can't really do that with the shock in the car, and Arnott says removing the fitting will void the warranty. You need to make sure you can remove the nut before you put the shock in the car unless you want to take it out again.

The fitting does have two notches at the base and I managed to hold it with circlip pliers and loosen the nut.


Car before new shock -


Car after new shock -

 

Yes, Parnelli, it was the Arnott not coil spring conversion, C- 2290.

 

I am getting the C-2290 installed in my '06 Super V8 Port this week. You say the ride is a bit rougher.....how much rougher exactly?

 

Parnelli, I might weigh in here also. I did mine last weekend. One of the members said his roughness was barely perceptible. I would say it's definitely noticeable, but tolerable. It's not as smooth as the originals, for sure. But it's worth it to me. Please note one of my posts regarding my headlights seem to be pointing too low now. I'll have to take care of that when I get time.

 

If I mention the headlight issue to my mechanic who is installing the Arnott product do you think they can fix the headlight issue at the same time?

 

Hard to say. The headlights may actually have an adjuster screw; I honestly haven't had time to look at it. As I mentioned, the owners manual says that headlight adjustment is unnecessary due to the electronic leveling.

 

If the air suspension were a smoothness of 1, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being an extremely rough ride, I'd give my coil conversion struts a 2. I just feel bumps a little more. I wouldn't say it's imperceptible, but if I hadn't experienced the air ride already I would think the coil ride to be smooth. On the way to work I also go over a railroad track on a sharp rise. With the coils the car doesn't glide and settle quite as smoothly. But again, it's just a slight difference that sometimes I wonder whether I'm just imagining because I know about the coil replacements. I am definitely happy with my choice, knowing that I can drive with confidence in the extremely cold weather now.

 

They do have adjuster screws on top of the housing.

 

I am still confused....so sorry (I am not very mechanical). Is this screw something the mechanic will need to "adjust" when I get the Arnott's installed?

 

I have adjusted my headlights recently and it made a huge difference when driving at night.

I looked at JTIS which was useless and just went ahead and adjusted them manually.

There is a white plastic (acetyl?) adjuster on the top of the headlight with an allen key socket.

I positioned the Jag in my garage with the roller door down and the lights on and the car about

5 feet from the door.

The door has horizontal sections so that you can see the comparative height of each light

and as you adjust you can see the light moving up and down.

I adjusted both upwards maybe 3-4 inches and left the drivers side a bit lower than t'other

which I believe is how it is supposed to be.

As I have said it made a huge difference and the acid test was how many people would flash if the lights were too

high on dip.

I drive on day running lights and have found that my lights now pick up the reflective signs in daylight!!

 

pls ignore

 

At some point, I think it was 2006, Jaguar stopped using self-leveling headlights because it was redundant in a car with self-leveling suspension. As long as the lights were adjusted correctly changing the springs shouldn't change the headlight aim. There is an adjustment screw on top if needed.

 

Do you mean the adjuster mentioned by meirion would exist only for XJs from 2003 to 2005? That would be a plus if you decide to switch to spring coils, which btw seem more necessary with the weaker compressor of early XJs...

 

Arrow indicates location of the adjustment screw:

 

Freakin awesome dude !!!! Glad you got everything sorted out. I had one of my struts replaced and haven't had any issues since, and we have had much colder temps than the ones that initially caused the strut to fail. Hope you are enjoying your car. I have a new problem. Alternator has gone out !!!! I even mentioned that to the service manager, and they assured me the alternator was fine. Could of had it replaced under the extended warranty while it was there for the strut replacement....now I have to either pay another deductible or do it myself. The latter is the most cost efficient and fun, so looks like I'm getting my hands dirty this weekend.

 

Andy,


I have a 2004 XJ8 with 92K miles. Love the car but am getting intermittent Air Suspension Faults. I bought your kit and installed it but the symptoms remain the same. When you first start the car the suspension is fine. But within a few blocks or a mile (time varies) you'll get the ASF. When the fault appears the car rides like a rock but doesn't change level. After turning the car off then restarting, the problem clears and suspension is fine until it happens again within the first mile. Any suggestions? I was planning on checking for leaks this weekend but it's interesting that the level remains normal when this happens.

 

Sounds similar to mine, but mine's more variable. On some trips, the error message doesn't come on and when it does come on,it can be anywhere in the trip. Mine doesn't reset immediately upon switching of and restarting but needs to stand for a few hours.

I don't think I have any leaks as the car was left standing for almost 3 weeks when I went overseas with no sagging of the suspension noted after three weeks. I haven't put in Andy's pump rebuild kit yet as I just returned a week ago from my trip (but I already have it on hand). I'll be interested to find out what else you can do to resolve this message issue.