Hey sweeties, I have decided to start a diary on my car! When ever I do repairs/maintenance I will post and try to be pretty specific on part numbers and such so if others come across the thread in the future they may find it useful.


First a little background on the car. This will be semi long winded and not too important. Just another car story but I suppose that is what this is for.

This post in general will be too long. LOL

My wife found the car online shortly after selling our 2003 S-Type 3.0. After many phone conversations and quite a few emails with many many photos, we planned to drive down on the one Sunday we could get a sitter. I was assured that the car was in pristine condition with absolutely zero issues what so ever.

I drove down with my wife to Greer SC, From Wilmington NC to purchase the car. The drive was about 5 or 6 hours and had I google mapped the place prior to going I honestly wouldn't have gone. It was a small dirt lot car dealer, the typical 10-15 cars on the lot. Surprisingly the dealer had some good reviews online but after dealing with them I suspect that they may have been fraudulent. Sweet Rides LLC.





I inspected the car best I could, and test drove it myself for about 20 minutes and all in all the the car seemed to be in very good shape! Interior and Exterior are minty minty clean. No scratches, no tears, no burns, the only issue cosmetically with the vehicle is the bound to happen head liner starting to sad in inconspicuous spots like the very rear and underneath the sun visors.

Car drove fine to me, very very different than the 2003 325i that we drove down in, especially on those poor excuses for roads down in South Carolina. Unfortunately, that entire time test driving was spent going to and fro to closed mechanic shops. I was unable to get a PPI, but I loved the car at first sight so I took the gamble.

I let my wife drive it home.







$8500.00 out the door. 87,000 miles on the clock.

I got to look at that big round butt for the next 5 hours.

When we got home she said verbatim "The car was trying to kill me the entire drive home.". And so the buyers remorse set in, worrying how bad I just got screwed, that dealer that everyone knows you're supposed to just keep on driving by when you see, they got me.



Now to some repair stuff

First thing in the morning I took it up to a local shop and had my inspection. Fearful I was.

I was told that all my bushings were bad, uppers lowers, front and rear, also a ball joint or two.. Called Jaguar in Raleigh and they quoted me $8000.00 to repair it.

Got a second opinion, and let me just state that this was only because my mechanic was unable to look over the car and I am inpatient. Second opinion (and my own visual diagnosis from my back in my driveway) noted-

Torn front upper ball joint boots. no play through.
Play in the upper front lower arms (curved).
VERY bad rear right ball joint. Very bad.
Warn bushings in the lower rear lateral arms (three bush type).

When my mechanic (third opinion) finally looked over the car he noted that the rear ball joint that was dangerously bad... Was actually just loose, so loose in fact that I was able to turn the nut by hand!!!!! This was indeed the reason for the horrible driving experience, that rear wheel was all over the place at highway speeds..

Never undervalue the eyes of a competent mechanic and get second opinions is the moral of the story. My mechanic also noted frame damage I was unaware of and that the other two local shops missed. I did not get to view it in person until I took the car to get aligned. I was shocked. Alignment was unable to be performed.

Here is a thread I started, trying to figure out that stuff, it has many good photos and can be another good source of bushing info for the XJR guys. The frame damage is also pictured at the end, I had figured a temporary solution for that but decided to go another way. I'll Discuss that soon.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...bility-134724/

Post break!

 

From day one my car ran slightly cold. Just a tad cooler than the normal dead even half way mark on the dial. I suspected thermostat, so I ordered one from Rockauto.com, I won't list the part number, you can find it easily you lazy. 20$

One night driving the car, whilst the part was on it's way, the check engine light came on, then restricted performance, then a few moments later the temperature shot up all the way. I was doing 65 miles per hour with the cruise control on.

I pulled over IMMEDIATELY. Turned the car off, had a look under the hood and under the car for leaks or coolant. None. Sat there for a few moments and then cranked the car up, all was well. Car drove home without issue with just the CEL on. When I got home I ran the codes and it was the P0116 (Sensor or Thermostat bad) code.



A few days later I did the thermostat myself in the driveway. All that is needed is a flat head screwdriver a T30 bit, and a small wrench.

You remove the intake duct, stuff a bunch of towels underneath the thermostat housing and around anywhere that coolant may leak. two T30 bolts on the top of the housing, and one major PITA bolt underneath that I just removed using the wrench as leverage turn by turn slowly but surely.

Half a QT of fluid spilled out when I opened the housing, be quick. Note the thermostat orientation when you replace it. Mine looked perfect but was sure enough stuck open. Easy job. Replace coolant with Dexcool ORANGE from your local Autozone, REMOVE TOWELS.

Cleared codes, issues resolved.

 

The next job I wanted to tackle was a lubricant change.

I went with Mobile 1 engine oil and filter and ZF Lifegaurd 6 Transmission fluid.

I had started a poll and the census was overwhelmingly in favor of the ZF. It is about $100 more case then the Mercon SP, and can be had at the California transmission supply company. They do not have a phone number. But my order shipped fast and it was actually not bad postage wise. $225 for 12 QT. $20 odd dollars for the sleeve, also on there site. I went with a German made filter/pan off ebay for like 70$. Quality seems perfect.

I can only image how the transmission would be effected by using anything other than the ZF fluid. I replaced with the ZF fluid and the transmission acted worse than it did prior to the change. Viscosity change. My initial reason for the flush was a hard(er) than normal 1st to 2nd gear upshift.

It was much worse after the flush. I had an indy flash the adaptations from the TCM and update the software a few days ago, day after the flush, car is now better than ever but the transmission is still learning my driving style. It is definitely better though, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Cost was 100$. Jaguar in Cary wanted at minimum 175$.








I am sending my fluid off to Blackstone Laboratories to be professionally analyzed. Here is a comparison shot and a before and after. They ship you containers and stuff for free and you just send it off when you are ready, 25$ per test.

The container that is slightly less full is after the flush. Both smell like bum.

 

PARTS. PARTS.

PARTS.


My parts are here.

I drove all the way back to damn near South Carolina to find the only XJR 2004 in NC at a wrecker. I will die before disclosing its location.

I wanted it's frame. This piece here.




Sorry if this image is too large. The frame was mangled where the front right lower lateral control arm attaches. To see intimate photos of this you can go here.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...bility-134724/

If you read that thread, at the end you will note a photo that shows the rack and pinion leaking... Lets replace that too while we are at it. C2C14898

379.00$, with a 250.00$ core charge. That includes a brand new solenoid, guaranteed fit, 3 year guarantee, free shipping. From buyautoparts on ebay, I actually called just to make sure I had their word on it being a direct fit, they were refreshingly helpful, and sent me a Paypal invoice so I could use my 'Pay it Later' option. LOL. They have the part without the solenoid on ebay for $303.00. New they are $2000.00+, It is a refurbished unit but it looks seriously brand new.












So I got my frame, I'm happy (200$). Someone is getting dirty. Could of found regular XJ sub frames but I was not sure if they were the same as the XJR.

While doing the frame I decide to do the Engine Mounts, C2C2295... My drivers side mount is broken.









And those Front bushings that I spoke of in the first post.






These are the bushings that are apparently non existent according to jaguar.

I found them in this super super helpful post.

The definitive wishbone bush thread

Read up.

I got the part from rockauto.com, along with the mounts. 150$

Dropped the car off this afternoon at Ken Baker Originals in Wilmington NC. 5.5hrs labor, quoted 539$ but we shall see tomorrow. Should have the car back tomorrow and I am OOOOO so excited.

 

Very interesting read. Looking forward to more.

 

The car is very beautiful. I'm glad that you have the experience and knowledge to rescue that damsel in distress.

 

Good googly moogly.

Sweet baby Jesus on a pogo stick.

I can not believe how big of a difference in handling and ride comfort switching all those parts.

Ken Baker got it done in one day like they said, 539$ in labor like they said. Nice group of guys up there, they lent me a Mercedes Benz CL430 and man was that car dog ****.

Apparently all went perfect, there is no other damages to the car, seems when what ever happened happened they fixed everything but that frame.

All my parts were a direct fit, bushings were a non issue to press out. Very friendly knowledgeable shop. I will post photos of the old broken parts tomorrow.

All my handling issues, i.e alignment of the front end, vibration at 50 and 70 mph, slight front wheel shimmy when hitting harder road imperfections, engine flopping around like a fish, all solved. I wonder how many of these mysterious vibrations are a symptom of a bad motor mount.

Car handled absolutely superbly in the bends on the country roads all the way home, eats the corners alive. It really is remarkable that such a big comfortable car like this can be stuck into a corner like my 3 series. It was a pleasure to unleash the fury without worrying I would break something. Finally.

Firestone did the alignment, went with the 150$ deal for lifetime alignment, so for the life of the car no more paying for alignments. Pretty sweet deal for an extra 50$.


When I had my TCM flashed at Import Performance in Wilmington, I had them diagnose my crappy heat. I have the typical cold air on the drivers side. They charged me 50$ for that AC systems check, they diagnosed the fault to be the heater core.

I told them to inspect the Aux Pump to make sure it was working correctly which they said it was.

While talking with the hero who fixed my car today I asked him to take a quick look at that pump, to which he replied "Oh that pump, I noticed it is not even plugged in, the plug is quite dirty so I imagine it has been unplugged for some time.".

We did not plug it in. I am guessing it is broken and the dealer I bought the car from probably unplugged it.

So that is the next job to tackle. After that, polyurethane bushings on the lower lateral control arms and new brakes all the way around to accommodate my newly acquired SPEED and POWER.


Peace. Pics are coming do not fear.

-One happy Jaguar owner.

 

Naso

Can I just thank you for posting such an informative thread. The pictures are absolutely ace ! I looked at your other post which showed the damage to the subframe. I do wonder sometimes, what people do to get damage like this. Anyways, you're now driving a car that goes in the way Jaguar engineers intended it should. Of course, it's a Jaguar so there will always be a job or two to do, that's just how it is.

Looking at what you have had to do, I think I am damn lucky so far. I bought my car on 30k miles and regarding the suspension, have replaced: -
- air compressor
- all lower air spring bushes (4)
- rear tracking arm (off-side)
- rear lower wishbones (2)

I also replaced the air springs early last year, as I didn't like the Sport setting, so managed to get a full new old-stock set on the internet. The ride is better, but not like my old 1980 XJ6 Series 3, a very badly made car with a perfect ride.

I wish you every happiness with the car notwithstanding your current difficulties. Your car seems to be the same colour - Jaguar Racing Green. I also have the front mesh grills too, (Adamesh stainless steel). The car goes very well on German autobahns, by the way !

Edit update
Forgot to mention replacing one of the rear roll bar links.

At the moment the shop who does my maintenance is urging me to have the sump gasket replaced due to oil seepage, (note I said seepage not leak !). Actually it's now at the point where my lovely drive-way is getting stained so it'll go in soon. I intend to get the front roll-bar bushes checked at the same time.

 

Snapped some photos of my old stuff.




Top view of the old K frame.




This is a strait shot of the good side.




This is a strait shot of the damaged K Frame Lateral Control Arm Mount





In this shot of the same area from an angle you can better notice the heat marks, blueish in color, someone tried to fix this and then gave up. Note the waves in the aluminium, this should be flush like the photo above. This had to be fixed so the cars camber on the front right (passenger) side could be aligned properly.






This is a rear shot, if you were under the car looking at the rear from the front this is the angle you would see. This is the good side.



This is a rear shot, if you were under the car looking at the rear from the front this is the angle you would see. This is the BAD side.





This is the Motor Mount on the drivers side of the car, the side without the damage. Clearly destroyed.




This is the Mount that was on the passangers side that sat directly above the warped frame. Superficially damaged but functional. Whatever they hit, they hit something hard.


I suppose that the ONLY reason the car was not deemed a salvage was because the "incident" occurred when the car was one year new with 8,000 miles on the clock.





Blocked out my email address. I know how you savages are. Post my email address and the next thing I know I will be getting calls on cell phone from Nigerians trying to sell me ***** enlarging supplements.

But at the end of the day, I can now say that it is fixed. and that it is fixed the correct way.

 

Naso, you're a hero ! Not many people would have gone to all that trouble, they'd have sold the car on or broken it for spare parts.

Went out in mine for a little country ride. Car now very dirty ! Where we live (Cheshire) is cattle country and every farmer and his sons and uncles is on the road with tractors towing trailers full of cattle sh*t.

 

Yes, thank you for the pictures and the story. Your car looks gorgeous.

We've got snow so no country rides for me. I have the spare on the XK so that kitty wasn't going out very far anyway. It's been a week of subfreezing weather and we got another 9" of snow last night to add to the 8" we got a couple days ago so the roads are a salty mess. Both are very dirty, covered with salt and I hate to leave them like that so yesterday I tried to give them a quick wash. It was 18 degrees, but I figured if I put really hot water in the bucket, did a wipe with the sponge and then followed immediately with a dry towel, I'd be able to make quick work of it. No joy. Soon as I put the soapy water on, it started to freeze and I couldn't wipe it. Another night with the cats stoically suffering the coat of salt.

Today is the first day in a week that the sun has come out and the temp eased up to 35. I took the kitties out of the garage one at a time and gave them a quick bath. Now I'm happy again and I'm sure they are too.

 

Nice one Naso - I have a similar thread running on both my A6 and the XJ

I add to it as and when she gets any repairs / upgrades etc done and also at MOT time every year.

Its always good for other owners to look into for ideas and or a record for you as an owner of work completed

 

Hey sexies, thank you all for the kind words.

The hero is the guy who did all the work, all I did was throw money at it!!!!!

I bought two things today for the car, a GoPro like device and a decal.

Now some of you may find that Ricey. I met a guy on the local BMW Enthusiast facebook group, we was asking if people want any custom stickers to go on peoples cars, I asked him to make me a leaper. We came up with this design -







Its like 19x8 inches or something, gunna put it on the back window! Hehe.

20$ shipped, I paid him via pay pal, the guy can literally do anything or any size. Just passing the word along. Nice fella, I am suppper picky and he had no problem working with me lol.

Buy some from him, nice guy. Initially I was going to do two small ones on the back side windows.

https://www.facebook.com/jack.walter.14



I got the GoPro thing at Best Buy, it was like 60% off!! Seems great for the money, Ion Pro 3 Wifi. Quality is great and the suction cup is super secure, can even use it in my reef tank. BUT! The app that runs it wireless is so bad. The worst app ever created. Ever. But if you are cool with just pressing a button and having 1080p 60fps right away than it is pretty cool.

Here is my trial video:



Transmission has been running better everyday, 500 miles since flush.

That noise in the video is a bag of grocery's I had sitting in the front seat. Sorry about that.

I will have to do something about that exhaust because it is about as exciting as a 93 year old lady of the night.

 

Just love the sound of the supercharger in mine , nice video of yours showing the whine !

 

This is a great read. Thanks!

 

Results came in today.

Coming up on borderline with the old fluid that had 90k miles on it, but no major issues.

All in all everything seems OK with the tests.

As Maury Provich would say, "You are the father.".








Now keep in mind that I flushed an entire case of ZF 6, 12 liters total.

Those of you who want to change 6 liter out, if it is a first time flush than you should probably flush 12 liter.

 

Another update for the records:


Took the car up to National Speed, in Wilmington NC.

Awesome guys up there, and they had some very cool stuff in the shop like a GT-R with 1200hp and a Volvo wagon with a Corvette engine. Extremely nice shop.

Ran the road while i was up there to see how the test of time has influenced my car, and too note where i stood HP wise before starting on my modification adventures.

I was hoping for 312-318.

Was pleasantly surprised with the results;

Stock 2004 Jaguar Racing Green Jaguar XJR

91,250mi 4.2 Supercharger

 

Got my exhaust components today. Yay.

Borla XSPro 2.5in mufflers and X pipe (dual inlet resonator)


Raunchy tips


Straight through muffler design


Inclosed X pipe


Also did the five minute flap mod.

1. Remove intake cover and tube, remove air filter.


Locate the flap inside the air box.


Using a Philips head remove the flap carefully and set aside.


Place the screw and mount back in the air box.


Clean any debris out of the box and reassemble.

 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...f&notif_t=like

Here is a better video of my dyno pull.

 

Avos mentioned it in the other thread about the uncorrected measurements on the dyno. 343rwhp from a stock XJR with that sort of mileage is unheard of. Around 319rwhp as he calculated is still quite "wow" given the numbers that other XJR's and STR's have put down stock, and with mods.

Get down to the dragstrip and see what mph it traps, this will give a better indication of where it's at.

Dyno's are still useful, for looking at the incremental gains you make from modifications, don't get too hung-up on the final number though.

(says the guy with a rwhp number in his signature LOL)