bushings on that aged of a car could very well be the culprit. Any good independent shop could do the control arm bushings, and they are sold separately (at least on my Xk8 they were). My car only cost $1200 including all OEM parts.

Try (motorcarsltd.com) ask for Ken, or nalleyjaguar for member friendly pricing.

 

It's not reasonable that all bushings would fail at once. These are oil filled bushings and my left lower front wishbone bushing failed at 47 K miles. Sometimes you can see oil stains around the failed bushing, the one closest to the center of the car.
The tech is correct. These bushings are quite large and not made for field replacement. You must buy the arm inclusive of the bushings. If you have good mechanical appitude and the tools you can do it yourself. If not, leave it to the pros, but find a pro with more respect for your pocket book.
Go to the Gen. Tech. Help Forum and do a search. There are several write ups on the subject with good input from Jag Techs.

 

bummer, if they XJs don't have separate bushings, my apologies for letting you think they did.

You can still find the control arms thru a more affordable source, surely.

 

Yes. You can buy the arm/bushing assb's from 3rd party sources(such as Welsh) for about 1/3 the dealer price. The one I got was an OEM part with exact same ser. # on it. Talk to Herky Cort at Welsh.

The problem is isolating the bad component and getting the work done either by yourself or an independant mechanic who will use parts supplied by the owner. This is a job a B+ shade tree mechanic can do. It is not a job for amateuers, however.

For sure, no reputable Jag dealer is going to use owner supplied parts. They are entitled to make a living and too and the have to back up their work as well. The maintenance of these cars on a budget is a calling. "You got to love it". If you don't mind spending the money and you want peace of mind, the dealer is the place to be. That doesn't mean you have to let them rebuild the front end for 1 bad bushing at 26,000 miles.

By the way Alabama, if you get over to Atlanta, Nalley Jag is deep discounting parts on their service work as well as over the counter.

 

I thought his name was Herty Girty

Ive put on many customer supplied parts over the years, but we dont warranty and note that customer or extended warranty company supplied parts.

The reason many times a complete rebuild is estimated is cause 2 reasons
1) It needs it
2) you would be surprised how many people get alttle work done and then complain theyre still hearing the same noise and expect all future repairs for free. Then there's the how many noises are there really, and can you truely isolate them and what each 1 is before you repair one thing.
Just cause youre honest and wouldnt try the "I hear the same noise and Im not paying anymore" doesnt meen everyone is. We all learn this from experiance, sometimes I wonder how people sleep at night. I have a customer that wants us to tell his tire warranty company he has bubble in the sidewall so he can get new tires cause theyre just wornout. I just told him sorry, they wanted pics and denied cause the tires are wornout, wether bubbles or not.

 

Sounds like a job any good independent garage can tackle.

 

I've had this crazy incident happen twice. I ignored it the first time, but the second time has me worried.

Driving freeway speed of 70-80 the car just dies -- except the engine is still running. The car is in gear -- and I can't remember if it's in D or in 4 as I do tend to switch between the two.

I pull over on the freeway. Put the car into Park and then drive. The car doesn't move. I push on the accelerator, but there is not real change in RPM - it sits at idle. If I turn the car off and wait a couple minutes, then 'reboot' and start again, go into gear, I'm good to go.

It's a 2004 XJ8 and has about 50k miles. It's the strangest thing and while on both occasions simply restarting the car got me going. It's a bit scary as the car dies while I'm in the wrong lane and slowly lose speed and must pull over. Not to mention, what happens if I'm in the middle of nowhere and rebooting doesn't get me going?

Anyone ever experience such a phenomena?

 

worldrider, I'm afraid this is the wrong thread for your particular problem, and if you do a general search for 'restricted performance' you'll get lots of hits on similar issues. Its a common problem that we've had alot of success in diagnosing around here. good luck.

 

I too have developed very loud front end groans when coming to a stop. Also the ride quality in my car has gone to complete sh*t. It is extremely harsh and if I hit a bump at freeway speeds the steering wheel and brake pedals shudder very hard. It almost feels like something has come loose in the undercarriage. Could these arm bushings be the culprit? This started a month ago when I suddenly received an Air Suspension Fault message. However, my mechanic could not find anything wrong with the suspension and the message has not come back since, but the ride quality has deteriorated to the point where I dread driving on the freeways.

 

i've heard of other newer xj owners receiving a suspension fault, and the shocks go into 'stiff' mode until it is fixed. Maybe that's the 'default'?

 

Thats how it feels, extremely stiff. You may be on to something. I don't know what to do though because the mechanic couldn't find anything wrong, and no codes were stored either.

 

I believe the suspension arm bush in the aluminium wishbones are now available separately. Trouble is the website is on my other computer favourites list.

Remove arm then it should be heated up with boiling water, the bushes then press out fairly easily, the new ones should be put in the freezer and pressed in to the hot aluminium wishbone. Cheaper than buying the whole assembly, anyway, and surely not as much as $3300 !!

 

I also have spotted arm bushings available online separately for around $50 a piece. Not too bad. I just wonder how many labour-hours my mechanic would need, if it turns out to be the problem, of course.

 

when you say your mechanic couldnt pull codes...are you at a dealer cause most non Jaguar scanners will not pull air suspension fault codes and many other Jag specific codes. Also is the front of the car level with the rear?
Even if it is there is still a normal shock inside that airspring and they do fail and they tend to knock alot over bumps. I just got remanufactured front air springs from a aftermarket company the extended warranty company sent us. So theyre out there now. Also if the fault is with the shock you wont get a code for that only if theres a air leak/failure with the AIR suspension, not the mechanical portion like the shock. That takes good old fashion experiance to diagnose

 

My mechanic has been fixing Coventry cats since 1977. They couldnt pull any codes so they manually checked each component of the air suspension and couldn't find any faults. Im due for oil service soon so Ill have them check it again, and check the arm bushings while theyre at it.

And yes, it looks to my eye that the car is perfectly level on all sides. I havent taken the time to actually measure though. But the front lifts up slightly on ignition, per usual.

 

If its knocking they need to use "chassis ears" i use the wireless kit and works great for pinpointing noises. Ggogle it and youll see the kits out there, if theyre not using this, it would be like a doctor not using a stethoscope and trying to listen to your lungs and heart

 

Our British friends were able to get the bushings; not sure if these are the ones you need but maybe this can help someone else. check the link http://www.jaguarforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=34592

 

Its not a knocking sound, its a very loud groan when coming to a stop. Thats not even the issue that bothers me, however, its the terrible ride quality.

Just took it to an actual Jaguar Dealership to have the emission recall done, and they performed a safety inspection of the car. They gave it a clean bill of health besides a dirty air filter. I would imagine that during a "safety inspection" they would check out the suspension bearings and such, no? I could be wrong.