I seriously must be insane. I work to much and have little time to tend to one jaguar let alone three. To make myself even more of a glutton for punishment I also own a cayenne turbo....ANYWAYS (Im venting here)

OF all the cars I own my 04 jaguar xjr is by far my favorite. But its literally been falling apart on me the past few years. A broken air strut here, a blown motor mount there (which led to a broken transmission line and a blown transmission), new transmission just not acting right, a musty smell I cant seem to find, clear coat peeling off my roof, my old ml55 rolling into my quarter panel and tearing into the wheelwell a bit, a new clunk in my front end and now that dreaded engine system fault that seems to come and go. And of course my headliner....<___right of passage for owning a Jaguar.

So my plans for this car were many. I had always wanted an XJR since I first saw one at the Auto show in NYC. Work of Art. When it came time to purchase one I went with the newer x350 because all aluminum . I purchased most all the bolt on parts years back, then ended up buying 2.6 kenne bell big bore kit from Avos, bored out TB, exhust, injectors etc.. Jaguar depression kicked in when I couldnt find anyone to tune the car just relying on the Abaco MAF meter to change the transfer function for the 550cc injectors. I didn't buy an LSD because I didn't want to throw any ore money into it if I couldn't get it right.

So the fact I cant get a real performance tune is depressing. The fact I cant get the transmission to function properly is depressing and all of the little things are just making my favorite car not so enjoyable to drive.

I just dont think the car is worth throwing any more money into. If anything I can buy a used one in better condition and just enjoy it as is. Keep my performance parts on the shelf in hopes that one day someone will be able to actually tune one of these cars in the states. Dreams I know....

Anyway for now...Just venting a bit :O)

Cheers Damon

 

If its any comfort, you're not the only one that goes through this. I think over the last 4 years I have dumped over $25K into my Jag in repairs, maintenance, and mods. What makes it worse is I knew I will never recover what I put into it. Several times, I have posted it for sale, than taken it down. It runs well for a month or 2, makes good power and gets my hopes up and then boom, time to dump another couple hundred into it while it sits handicapped in the garage. Its really frustrating, but getting that occasional satisfaction makes me forget those frustrations. Its a lot of ups and downs for sure...


I have a neighbor that I often work on his S-type. He mentioned something a while back to me that put our situation into perspective:

"We don't own them.... they own us"

 

First read this 40+ years ago, what jazzyjags posted today about British motorcycles

"We don't own them.... they own us"

 

The real problem with running old Jaguars is they cost a whole lot less than when new, but the parts don't depreciate in price to match the car !!
Fortunately there is a very active after-market for Jaguars, (at least there is here in the UK), and these can alleviate the cost of repairs and maintenance. I owned two X350s, a 2003, and a 2007. The 2007 was the best mainly because I think Jaguar put right a lot of things that had never been sorted out when the cars came on sale in 2003. My 2003 was also low miles and I thought this was a benefit, but it turned out not to be, because the first owner, (I was the 2nd), had never got to the miles where a fault came up under warranty.

 

I think you are on the right track.You can easily spend more to bring that 2004 back to life than it's worth. I know, I've done it on old cars in the past.

 

As long as you plan to keep it long term, do your own work, & source your parts.
They are some of the best used car deals out there.
But even then you can you can spend way too much, to resell it.

 

I am too old to work on my own Jaguars nowadays. I just pays the money and gets it serviced. ($750 for just a coolant leak, hoses and header tank installed).
I just pays the money and consider it my duty not to die before my Jaguar does. Who would look after it then?

But seriously, Fraser is right. Service costs are related to the new price of these vehicles, not their "current value" which may be as low as 10% of new.

These are nowhere near a "classic car" and not likely to be. (compare with E-Type, Mk2, whatever)
Indeed, I tried to get "Classic Car Insurance" for my X358 (at 1/2 price). They laughed. My Jag was so upset...

 

Come on Chris your younger than me, i'm slower than before, but i still get it done.
That's why you have two, one to drive when your working on the other.

 

Parts are relatively inexpensive to be honest with you. Repairs aren't difficult. Paint is expensive regardless of car and the little issues that cant seem to be solved like the transmission issue or this new engine fault issue make me want to throw in the towel. The cost of a quality paint job here I can buy a used x350 with the same miles as mine. with none of the problems. Its a shame really. So I'm just starting to work on my XKR's till I get over this :O)

 

I'm 67. My X358 is a reversion to youthhood if you see my profile. I did recondition XK engines and that sort of stuff 40 years ago. I'm even a computer engineer but without specific knowledge...

All I hope for nowadays is some basic diagnostic knowledge, then send it to a specialist. Coz I'd look pretty silly if it was just a plug needed wiggling. Or I called a plumber for my rental houses when I can replace washers myself.

Which brings me to the funniest bit. I strictly can't visit my rental houses in my Jag. If you were a tenant, what the hell would YOU think?
(OK OK, being a fellow Jag owner you'd understand why I need unlimited income...)

Apart from the jokes, my X358 really is Wonderful. Though only used as a Sunday Driver. And no demonstrable faults at this time.

Late Edit: I should also point out that reconditioning XK engines has nothing to do with current Jaguars!

 

I'm old enough not to worry what others think, or making a mistake looking foolish.
Asking others here, will give you direction on how to go about fixing things.

 

I dropped my xkr’s bbs Detroit’s to be refinished. That will make me happy. I think. For now haha

 

This is our fourth Jaguar now, a 2006 XJ8. I AGREE and I too still think they are the best deals out there. But you are correct you have to do your own work. You have to keep the big wild cat well fed or it'll hurt you. That being said, as long as I can keep it running for less than a car payment I'm happier with my old Jaguars than with a newer Toyota. I do not subscribe to the idea that a car is totalled when your repairs are more than the black book value of the car. The insurance companies and car dealers who want us to buy new cars have sold us on this idea. A fully maintained car at 200k miles can run just as well as it did at 60k. Sure it might have more new components than original components but it's still the same car. And right now my 2 old x300's are just approaching the very bottom of the market at 25 years and it's time to start moving up in price again slowly. If you compare to a car payment of $500/month you can keep your old Jag running for 6000 a year in repairs. If you dump that kind of money in your car you'll have a car that is just as nice as it was when it came off the showroom floor. If you love the car why would you want to sell it anyway? I typically buy cars at the 10-15 year mark when they are 10-20% of their original purchase price. I find them with relatively low miles and then drive them till the wheels fall off. When I'm done with them like with my old red 97 x300 I gift them away to someone rather than send them to the crusher. I just can't stomach sending such a vehicle to the junk yard to rot. There are too few parts available anyway. If I can get 10 cents a mile I'm happy so if I spend 10k for a car I expect to be able to drive it 100K miles. So this XJ8 I just bought with my son we spent 2700 for with 128k miles. We will put probably 3k into it getting it up where it needs to be. Will we get 50k miles out of it for that? Absolutely; and probably more. Now if I spent 70k for something I think I might want to sell it, But if I I sell it after 3 years I will loose 35k for my first 30k miles. That's nothing like loosing 3k for 30k miles of use. Even if I spent 6k in repairs for 10k miles it would be better than 35k for 30k miles of use. I don't see the reason to buy a new car at all.

 

I agree. I just cant buy a new car and lose that type of money. I even bought my wifes explorer sport off a 2 year lease with 30k for 25 thousand less than new...Seriously. And its a Ford. Car prices have gone batty when a used XJR can be bought for less than a used mustang

 

Haha familiar vibes here..)) I came to a conclusion that you just did not push that hard enough to cross the satisfaction line) I recently was in front of similar road sign: go right and sell, go left and keep it dying or burn money WOT further towards brighter future. Finaly i completely restored the shell with complete paint wipe out to pure metal including changing what had to be to get it close to a condition I'd love again - i had to change front wings because of corrosion and hood due to non quality previous owner repair. All new exterior chrome, new glasses.. Yeah, of course, new headliner (much better than stock flock and more suitable than alcantara), new driver seat (passenger one from rhd car), new matte veneer from last x358s and portfolio versions.. redone both steering wheels i have (I change them when become bored haha).. by that point i already fixed all mechanical things that can be done.. new steering rack, less millage gearbox, new wiper motor all new bushings, arms, bearings etc etc etc)) even new ECU haha.. I just could get another one same jag to put a side by for the same money i spent keep it running good, but the problem, those two would not be that only babe i wonder)) And today i still feel potential to push further - i need quaife, i need third set of rare wheels i need burn more money into exhaust as i feel already how to improve it )) endless way and i like this car becomes more and more mature with times especialy in x350 shape with chrome and other heritage bits. Good luck and just keep it WOT burning more!))

PS May be you should send it overseas to AVO?! haha))

 

Soo. Seems to be a TPS issue i read about years ago.....Don't recall if there was a replacement available. Oh fun

 

Nobody here bought an XJR because it was a good deal on a used car.
We're smitten, and will spend whatever it takes.

 

Did you have an aftermarket TB?

 

no factory TB bored to 83mm. I still need to check old posts because I recall someone playing with this and finding a replacement.

 

I never updated this. So I ended up tearing the entire top half of the engine apart( above the heads) and replaced pulleys, tensioner, belts, water pump , thermostat ,misc hoses, rebuild original sc snout , upgraded IC pump and the TPS.

wel I was talking about this in another post...the aftermarket rod just did not work. I threw a used one on and it’s good as new. I’m still having issues with spending money to pint the car, the clearcoat is just getting worse and worse. Being silver it doesn’t look all that bad fortunately.

Anyway. Picking up another soon