I hope this is in the right spot, just did my intro and thought I should perhaps start a thread on the XJ and my experience as I work through all the issues. Any advice gratefully received!

So long story short, I did what everyone tells you NO TO DO!!!! And bought the cheapest XJ on the market...... With no intention of buying anything, I recently saw that XJ's in this country (I live in Spain) are at a premium. A good X350 V8 is had for 8 to 10k in 3.5 V8 form and 12k and up for the 4.2 but then I see a shiny BRG XJ8 for 3k! Could not let it go.... The guy tells me it's perfect inside and out (bs x 1) and that he bought it at an auction as an investment but was being quoted 2.5k to fix the auto box, hence the price. I put some cash together and headed out, I test it, shifts aren't actually too bad, so that's good but, now I get a car too low warning.... The guy starts getting uneasy, like it's a new to him problem (bs x 2).... Front is definitely on the floor, stiff and on the stops, even some hissing from the front left, but reading up on here made me comfortable enough to go for it! The fun begins when I go to pick it up, front and rear are on the floor, I start to sweat.... I'm thinking there is no way I can drive 300kms like this but fortunately the rear eventually came up and the front just a little so with yellow and red lights and too low warnings I drive it home loosing some teeth to a pothole or two on the way. Yes, front bottomed out again after a few kms...

Issues and some fixes as follows:

• Leaky front strut (hissing like an angry cat on bumps before the red car low warning comes on and it falls silent) - replaced with a Miessler unit with CDC (glad I picked up on that here!) and managed to strip 4 wheel lugs on the way - what's with the monkey metal??
• Still low at the front so I'm guessing overworked/leaky compressor - new seal kit on the way form ebay "bagpipeandy"
• Gearbox lurching in some gears - suspension is my priority but that's next. Oil and filter will hopefully improve/eliminate that problem. I believe I can expect up to around 90% fix?
• Rear left parking sensor sunken in from impact so intermittent functionality from the parking sensors - Maybe just a loose connector but taking the bumper off doesn't look like fun...
• Rear plastic seat moulding passenger side fallen off - they tried to repair with all sorts of nasties, all it needed was the proper clip kit from Amazon - now fixed!
• Front cigar lighter not working - why confuse me with a cabin fuse reference? I stopped reading the manual form there on and couldn't find the fault! So rear fuse box, F44 it is! Again, thanks to this forum, now fixed.
• Pedals not adjusting - hit the motor with a "persuader" while toggling the switch and it came back to life, so everything works now in the interior.
• New bonnet struts needed and the cabin filter is disgusting, I'm being nice about it..... waiting on ordered parts. Mann antibacterial filter - I swear by these.
• No literature but I've seen where I can buy new if I get bored enough to do so although my OCD will not allow me to drive around with things missing....
• Recent oil and filter change but needed a 1 litre top up - I've seen some wet surfaces down below, maybe oil, not sure if there is a common issue on these - eager to know your thoughts. Need to get it up on a ramp and look deeper into this...

That's about it. This car started out as a lease for Santander Bank in 2005. Did that for a few years and then had 4 owners since. The last few have neglected it badly, hence the issues. Paint needs correction but not much else. I have bills for the last two oil changes and have looked by VIN in Jaguar and there are a couple of maintenance jobs on record - oil and filters, no transmission, as expected. It's spent all it's life in what's known as Spain's frying pan (Extremadura region) as they hit some extreme temps in summer so good news is, no rust to be found. I live near the coast but it's relatively dry here so rust is not going to be an issue here either.

The car drives amazing!! I'm smitten... A bit low/stiff at the front but at least no suspension error after replacing the hissing shock, so hopefully I will enjoy smooth riding when I refurb the compressor. Love driving the XJ even with the issues, it's no slouch and offers decent fuel economy so long trips are being planned as soon as I get the transmission and suspension up to speed. Every time I get out of this car, I just want to jump back in!! What a nice place to be...

Eager to hear your thoughts, and will update with all future fixes in detail.

For now, some pics with my sagging front end... ooer missus!




This cat is definitely cat approved!!!

 

Taking on a Jag project is always fun! I'm currently doing the same to an '06 XJR but even more of a dumpster fire! Neglect seems to be quite a common thing with these x350s, but it's amazing how well they can take the abuse.

For your transmission lurch, you'll want to do the usual ZF 6HP maintenance which is changing the pan/filter, bridge seal between the mechatronics assembly, and the mechatronics plug sleeve. You can find whole kits with the pan/filter, new screws, bridge seal, and plug sleeve all in one package. Plenty of good resources to guide you through the process on these forums and on YouTube:

As for engine oil leaks, you'll likely trace the culprit(s) much easier once you remove the lower aero panel. On my XJR, I had leaks coming from the VVT seals on the valve covers, the oil drain plug, and the oil filter (which had rusted so badly that it developed its own oil leak). Another common oil leak location is the valve cover gaskets, which happened on my S-Type and doing valve cover gaskets is almost a rite of passage with these AJ-V8 Jags. If you haven't already, pull the ignition coils and check to make sure you don't see pools of oil in your spark plug tubes.

You'll also want to snag a Mongoose cable and a copy of SDD/IDS, there are quite a few functions that only that tool can perform on these cars. Very helpful considering how technologically advanced these cars were for the time period.

Excited to see another XJ project on here!

 

Yeah trying to source the complete ZF maintenance parts (edit: just found it all on Autodoc) and not just oil and filter/pan. Thanks for the heads up on oil. The Mercedes engines also lose in the same places by the looks of things, as you say, right of passage with them too… so I’ll have to get to that at some point once I’ve got through the list of priorities. Which isn’t bad considering. 264k kms!! Forgot to mention that.

I’m waiting for delivery on an iCarsoft V3.0 in the hopes it will covering everything I need. If anyone has any experience with these, would be good to know, otherwise SDD/IDS it is!!

 

Looks like I’ve solved my sagging front end after swapping out front left shock….. been driving me nuts. Bent sensor bracket….. D’oh!

Finally enjoying the ride. Sublime….. Now onto the transmission refresh!

 

Well done but please explain ;

"and managed to strip 4 wheel lugs on the way - what's with the monkey metal??"
Undoing the plastic undertray could be a PITA
Maybe use a hole saw on the fittings.
Electronic copy of owners manual available here in stickies
I have had to drop the rear bumper a couple of times to replace sensors
which clip into a very fragile looking clip on the inside.
Initially had to hacksaw the wheel arch fastener and made a new fastener.

 

Sounds like they're talking about the garbage lug nuts that the Jags came from the factory with. They have a vanity cap over them which traps moisture and crud, making them rust and spin freely when you try to use the appropriate socket over them.

My S-Type had those and I just hammered a smaller socket over the ones that spun, then bought 20 new one-piece lugs so I never had to go through that ordeal again.

 

The caps on the lug nuts, very pretty but spun as soon as I hit them with the impact (electric and not that powerful). Didn’t know what was going on tbh… pulled them off by hammering a small screwdriver into the tips and managed to get to the nut underneath. Have checked around the car and there are at least 10 nuts with loose caps so have ordered a couple of new sets.

 

This cap spinning had me questioning if I should go anywhere near the car with a wrench seeing as I couldn’t even get a wheel off! I’m just glad I didn’t discover this issue with a flat by the side of the road.

 

Hello Zenderman:

I too purchased a 2005 VDP. I too bought one that everyone told me not to. But now on forward. I had trouble with the transmission jerking in a couple of gears. I rebuilt the complete trans. New everything. It now shifts like my mechanic says " like butter". That means smooth to the people that don't understand Texas slang. My theory was to buy a Jag in the color I wanted and just fix everything. Boy was I wrong. I assumed that with any car that is 19 years old, you are going to have to fix the wear and tear items anyway. Motor mounts, trans mounts, front and back suspensions, rack and pinion , struts, and on and on and on. The trouble here in the states is parts. You can not find OEM parts as they don't make them anymore. So you have to use Chinese made parts. One thing I hate about British cars is they made everything out of plastic. I really don't know why maybe it was cheaper. I purchased mine over a year ago and have put maybe 300 miles on it to and from the mechanic. I am a picky bitch and want everything fixed. If I were to buy one again, I would buy the best one I could find then fix the parts as they go out. Keep listing the things that you are fixing as I am sure I have fixed them before. One thing to be aware of is the thermostat housing. If your car starts to leak water, that's your problem. I have a 2013 XKR that I had to change the thermostat housing as well as my 2005 XKR. It is made out of plastic and eventually will fail. You may be able to find parts where you are located. Good luck.

 

Hey JDog, I've managed to dig up some more service history and it seems that the car has been taken care of up to about a year or two ago when it gets auctioned off for peanuts to the guy I bought it from. He thought he was getting something he could flip quickly.... NOPE! Cheap XJ's don't exist.... So he just left it it sitting with a sagging suspension and unserviced tranny and has taken it out every now and again for a quick blast... I've noticed the thermostat housing has some sealant that doesn't look factory and looks failrly new so fingers crossed, it might have been done in the last couple of years. No leaks gladly. Thing is with these things, until you start digging and using them, you can't be sure.... either way, not much into it financially for now and probably won't go too far either....

 

The Jaguar lug nuts are actually luxury components, with bright stainless steel covers that will never peel or pit like chrome. Stainless steel is not strong enough to form the entire nut, so Jaguar uses a tempered steel core. If properly treated, the nuts will last the life of the car.

The problem is that tire shops don't treat them properly unless you tell them how. Many tire shop techs make common mistakes like using a 7/8 inch socket instead of 22 mm, or a 12-point socket instead of a 6-point, or they over-torque the nuts.

Jaguars aren't unique in using stainless steel covers. You'll find them on GMs, Fords, Toyotas and others. The modern Ford 20 mm nuts are probably the most abused by tire shops since this is an unusual size for lugs and the covers get spun off their cores even by dealership techs who must try to use their standard 13/16 inch or 21 mm sockets.

I've learned that when I buy a Jag, it is prudent to loosen and re-torque the lug nuts one at a time using only hand tools. And when I need tires, I take an unworn 6-point socket with me and ask them to use it and to torque the lug nuts by hand instead of just spinning them back on with their impact gun. In 30 years of Jag ownership, I've only had to replace a couple of original lug nuts.

Cheers,

Don

 

I bought a new set and just used hand tools managing to take all the old ones off without destroying the covers. Defo better result than hitting them with an impact, I did have to hammer the socket on as they were all gone and definitely overtightened!! As I went along torquing everything by hand to 125nm, my mind went to the moment when I may have to replace a tyre and how nobody is putting an impact to these again!! I always carry a cheap torque wrench in the trunk with a 19mm socket for this very reason, sick and tired of shops torquing lug nuts to death but with these I see there is a stronger reason to insist on its use! Not to mention it can come in handy to have something to swing and not be considered a weapon....

 

Quick update. So after discovering I had bent the front sensor bracket, calibrated to factory settings using an iCarsoft diagnostics tool (you have to fool it into thinking it's looking at a 2006 to 2009 model year or it won't pull up the suspension calibration for some reason...) and the green machine now sits like this:



I spent a good part of the weekend shampooing carpets (literally BLACK filthy water came out of the machine) and scrubbing all the lower and footwell trim with my favorite old school ammonia cleaning solution (expresso cup per litre of water). Hit the leather with Gliptone Liquid Leather, deep cleaner and conditioned and the interior smells yummy now!

Repaired the steering wheel with some leather repairer (temporary fix but it doesn't look too bad), need to sand it down and go over it again but 48 hour curing means it will have to wait:




And today I just received all these goodies so I might take the morning off tomorrow and get the transmission refreshed. I suspect it'll need more than one refresh to get it right. 265000kms and no oil change ever demands more attention so I expect I'll have to redo oil and filter in a few months time. But so far so good. This is all the priority stuff getting done. Next up will look into leaky valve cover gaskets and have a deeper look at the engine and see if anything needs attention like belts, water pump, thermostat housing etc....

 

Nice work, hoping your trans kit solves its issues.
If so, you will have a luxury car.
That you can actually almost afford to drive.
Really like the use of standard Ford, Lincoln, parts.

 

So did trans fluid and filter and also replaced valve body seals and ALL my issues are solved. Issues were lurch, kick down squawk, squawk on hard cornering (made me suspect low fluid) kick down giving me revs, no change up and then lurching hard on lift off, torque converter hunting which is a known issue and expensive I believe. So yeah, my cheap XJ was beginning to worry me but no! All issues gone!!!

What I discovered is that some monkey mechanic at some point did a refresh and short filled the box. My math tells me the tranny has been running with around 6,7 litres instead of its 10 litres (?). Clearly didn’t fill with engine running as per procedure… I suspect they filled cold, ran it for a bit, stopped it, filled until it dribbled, and decided that was good. I drained about 3 litres out and it happily drank up 6.3 litres following proper fill procedure.

Oh and driving home from my shop after testing and feeling all warm inside, cylinder 5 decided to misfire so limp home mode activated and I cut the test short. Always something with these things…… waiting on new plugs and coils that had been ordered as a precaution anyway so hopefully that should fix that. Thoughts?

 

Fantastic progress, zenderman!

Regarding the misfire, what codes did you scan? It probably is a coil issue, but could be due to oil in the spark plug well if your spark plug tube seals are leaking. You mentioned possibly needing to change the camshaft cover gaskets - be sure to order a kit that includes the spark plug tube seals.

Cheers,

Don

 

Nice work! I need to do some of the work myself such as transmission. Following your post with great interest.

When you say you used iCarsoft to calibrate suspension, what type was that. Was it a more advanced version or a simpler one. Reason asking is I have the iCarsoft tool V2 for LR/Jag.

br Martin

 

Thanks Don, I’ll pull the plug today and see what’s going on. I did pull number 2 soon after buying it and there was no oil but there is definitely a leak. Need to get a probe down into the engine bay I think…

 

Thanks Martin, it’s s rotten job and at 52 I’m feeling the aches today!! 😅

I picked up a V3 but it’s not perfect. I need to fool it into thinking the car is a 2006 onwards for suspension calibration to work (it’s a 2005) and it calibrates fine albeit with an error at the end where it says it couldn’t calibrate!! It’s ok for now, identified misfiring cylinder and pulls up other minor codes but I expect I’ll pick up the more expensive SDD software when I recover a bit from all the current expense. Seems to be the way to go if you want to get a complete picture of what’s going on…

 

Thanks, I have the V2 so uncertain if it will calibrate the suspension. I can read codes though.

Br Martin