not to be arguementative Fitz, but many last much much longer than that. I see many everyday with over a 100k and the originals still on. And Arnots are bebuilt used air springs. Used shocks, with new bags. I know, I just shipped a bunch of cores I bought to them. My point was people need to lay blame with a parts manufacturer, not the assembler of the parts(Jaguar). Ive put new ones on and had them leak and had to take them right back off.
Thats like blaming parents for their kids actions. No its the kids behavior, not the parents. Car parts are not the only industry with large markups, Doctors, Air planes, home repair clothing etc.....

 

You seem to be an expert, Brutal, so let me ask:
First, do you suppose there is a weakness or is it just a very minute number of people having trouble that congregate in places like this forum to solve their problems, making it seem more prevelant than it is?
2) IF it is a weakness, do you suppose the weakness is in desgn or parts failure? Maybe poor manufacturing of a seal?
3) IF it is design, are they designed to Jaguar or Bilstein specs?

I am truly curious. I love Jaguar. Have had 4 E-Types and 1 MK9 at various times when I was young (lost my last due to a divorce, which ties me in nicely to your other threads). Back then the poor quality of some systems - like Lucas - was legendary and almost part of the charm. Like raising an Indigo child (a tie-in to your child metaphor. I am on a roll!). It took committment to own a Jag.

I believe that poor quality was one of the biggest reasons that brands like BMW and Mercedes came to dominate. Sooo, after just purchasing this XJR and having the leaky shocks (the other front shock had already been replaced) and ACC module go out, I wonder whether Jag is still plagued by quality issues. Fortunately for me, the ACC module failed before I took delivery so the dealer handled it. $6000? Are you kidding me?

Anyway, I love this kind of discourse, but maybe it belongs in a different thread.

Happy Holidays to you all!

 

no Fitz I just beleive its that component itself. The more moving parts, the more the potential for failure. How many moving parts on a coil? really, none. the air spring bag rides in a upper mount, and along the shock body, and rubber bags that like tires have a life expectancy too and not wear but pliability and dry rot, and is sealed with orings. not even good orings like used by Morton Thiokol for rocket boosters on the shuttle. The orings eventually get harder, wear, and loose their sealing, just like many other orings and seals. I know you probobly remember a time when auto manufactirers didnt even give a warranty, And not that many decades ago the standards was 12/12. Now we go as high as 5/60 so there has been vast improvement is design and engineering. The spring are made by Bilstein and Jaguar gives the weight and equirements theyre looking for and Bilsteins delivers. But as many know, manufacturers use the same parts on differant cars and differant brands all made by one supplier for that type part. Many are even interchangable Ford to Jaguar etc... When your picking up your car from valet, and they pull up in your Jaguar..do you think you get that same response if they pull up in your Ford? of course not. With that the marque demands a higher price and mystique. Parts included. I was introduced to this concept yrs ago when into Chevy and some of the perf parts I needed only came on the Vette. and those parts were in another parts book and commanded a much higher price....why is it that a control arm for the right side of the car cost more than the left? because more right side control arms get damaged due to potholes and curbs. So they charge more for them and make more money.
I just had a customer come in after we gave her a new Xf loaner for her older Jag in for service and she came right back in and asked me "How do I adjust the rear veiw mirror? to which alittle taken aback I said " You just reach up and grab it"
"oh I thought there was a joystick or something to power operate it like the side mirrors" she replied.....
geez as if we dont have enough stuff to make I lives lazyer and more stuff to break....
On a lighter side, I spend much less time with a wrench in hand replacing parts than I do in from of a laptop over yrs past.
Yes when on a forum you get everyone looking to fix problems, and yes the airspring is an issue with the car, but it is also with every single other manufacturer that uses them also. Just look at Arnots website and they sell and service way more air spring to other manufacturers over jaguar. Yes less jags are out there, but talking with Bill at Arnot he is in business to fill the need and they do a brisk business because of it.
I think everyone has a choice and this is what these threads are for.
you can replace completely new $$$$-$$
you can replace the whole system with coils$$$
you can replace with remanned units$$
or you can replace with good tested used units$ to which I occassionally sell to when I get them.
You know Fitz, when I took autoshop in high school (late 70's) the teacher asked if we
knew how much it would cost to buy all new parts for a car to assemble the car in for a then say $6000 new Z28 Camaro???
$300,000+
Merry Christmas

 

You are so very right, ALL auto and equipment manufactures make huge profits from parts.

 

So much to say here about the shocks.

Why I would not let Jag dealer touch my car.

1. Jag knows about the air shock problem but refuses to do anything about it.....apparently unless you buy a $1,200 replacement. You could replaced 3 on you Jag with the Arnott rebuilt for the price of one OEM.

2. It is 125 miles to the nearest Jag dealer in St Louis......oh wait....they declared bankruptcy 6 months ago.......maybe if they did not have an obvious attitude they might still be in business......if you **** off all your customers and they will go somewhere else.

3. The Arnott Air Shock air bag itself is a Goodyear and appears to be about twice the thickness (just a guess from the feel) and appears to be what I've seen on a truck. OEM bags looks like a balloon compared to the Arnott.


On another issue, I called several Jag dealers to get info on keys and when they found out I got a spare key from ebay I got a serious attitude from them.

Don't get me wrong I love my car but when people have an attitude when I talk to them about service I'll just do it my self. They won't work on my stuff when when they are pissed off at their customers in the first place.

To the guy with the leak around the sensor......there is an o ring/packing/seal under the nut and washer. That nut secures the shaft for the lower portion of the shock. Caution....if you decide to replace that on the car remember even after you disconnect the pipe and the car settles it will still be pressurized......remove it slowly and let the pressure bleed off before you remove it all the way.

 

I have a few questions to add to this discussion about Jaguar and the air suspension:

1. Why should we not hold Jaguar responsible for delivering parts that wear out too fast? We pay Jaguar a premium for their cars and they are ultimately responsible for the longivity and quality of the parts on their cars. Everyone farms out the manufacturing process and sometimes to a cheaper overseas company but by doing that they risk quality but save big $$. Because of this the auto company has to perform long thorough quality tests before putting the parts into our cars. From a customer perspective if something slips through it's Jaguar's fault, not the company providing the parts (Bilstien). If this attitude was the case then only a very small percentage of the parts on a new vehicle would be covered under the bumper to bumper factory warranty.

2. There is a lot of talk about the remanfactured Arnott air springs not being thoroughly rebuilt but what about the new ones Arnott offers for only $75 more pe pair. That seems like a no brainer to me for the extra change. My local private Jag repair shop is offering a set of new Arnott's installed for $1250 (parts and labor) and they will replace them under warranty if they do fail. Has anyone tried these new ones from Arnott?

 

Followup on my vehicle too low -- I did detect air leaking at the base of the brass fitting on top of the air strut but not at the brass compression nut where the tubing is connected to this brass base. It looks like this is where the brass fitting goes into the top of the strut. Is this repairable? If so, how?

 

leak is around base of brass cap where it must go into top of shock -- leak does not appear to be coming from brass compression nut just above the base of brass cap. Is this what you are referring to above? If so, how do you pack the inner rim/ Thanks

 

Remove the brass fitting and replace the O-ring.

 

To be fair to Jag, when I first had my airshock problems soon after I bought the car at 4.5 years old, my indy told me that this is not peculiar to Jag and all the cars with airshocks have the same problem. Typically, with our hot n humid weather here, they last about 3-3.5 years and then start to leak. This holds true for Benz's etc.... any that are fitted with airshocks, and not only the Jag.

Bottom line really would be that if you don't want the leaking problems with airshocks, then they need to be changed to coilovers.

(Sorry, only just realised the earlier posts were many years ago.....)

 

Thanks for feedback -- when you mention brass fitting, do you mean the entire stem as I do not see an o-ring when just removing the compression nut on the brass stem. The leaking seems to be coming from base of stem but it was not apparent to me how to remove the stem assembly. Does the entire unit need to come out to do that or can it be removed from top of engime compartment. Many thanks again for your help/insights