Well, only got the car back today

Fully refurbished exchange turbo supplied n fitted and the car all back to normal as far as I can tell. Here's hoping for a little decent weather and I can get out, get her cleaned and checked over for my own satisfaction.

Seems to be running all A ok and glad to have her back
Costs £1120 for refurbished turbo, supply, fit, vat etc so a rather large unexpected bill, but that's motoring for you I guess

 

Jim my brother, Bravo!!!! Your car is stunning my friend. I love it and may you have many million miles of sheer driving without any major issues!

Once I've gathered enough funds, I'll certainly spruce up my car's paintwork and refurbish leather in the front seat.

Well done buddy

 

Thanks for the kind words Seth, much appreciated.
My drivers seat is now starting to show a few sign of wear, I guess 107k miles will do that, the rest are in really good shape.

I may have to consider getting the drivers seat done at some point soon, funds willing of course, lol

Cheers
Jim

 

Nice little run today down to Ullswater, Inn on the Lake, good day for it too, mostly sun shining all day, just a few drops here n there


Simon arrived first, followed by Alec and bagged a nice spot on the overflow car parks ( Jags only!! )

I got a text around 11.55pm but was only 2 minutes away, Rich turned up some 30 minutes later, so much for a SuperV8 being quick eh?
Must be the way he drives it I reckon

We chatted and had the craic and then a Range Rover tried to part next to us, I shouted and told him it was Jags only!

He laughed and did park next to us but left a respectable distance to be fair

We swapped a few stories, examined the cars and discussed mods etc, then had a nice lunch followed by more of the same.

Left around 3pm and had a small convoy of Jags for around 8 miles before I turned off, see some pics below
3 in various shades of popular ( common as muck ) black and 1 slightly more unusual / unique Jaguar Green

Pics courtesy of Richards friend Martin.....obviously not in the pics as he's behind the camera








Great to catch up with you all, really enjoyed the day
Jim

 

Well, had a really good day and sold around £10k by lunchtime with others in the offing too, so all good

The weather's great, a little sun but not too hot, so decided to treat myself with an hour or two with the car and a quick going over......

Wheels and brake calipers / hubs etc treated with Sonax FULL EFFECT wheel cleaner
Pre wash, followed by snowfoam
Exhaust trims treated to Sonax FULL EFFECT and shined up as new
Using wheel specific microfiber towels, dried the wheels thoroughly inside n out, also checking wheel arches and liners
The same towels used to check / clean under the bonnet itself and engine bay
Then the exterior with A microfiber rated towels, windows from top to bottom
The interior was in really good shape, so it's a quick shake of the mats, interior carpet wiped down with clean damp microfiber, car mats also cleaned and replaced
The interior windows were all done completely around a week ago and in great shape still, so left as is
All door shuts including boot cleaned n dried too

Tyres dressed with a shoe shine sponge and Wet n Black, allowed to dry for 5 mins then buffed to a matt sheen for zero tyre sling
Nice little spray of Febreze Apple n Cinnamon....Job done!

Now looking forward to a little trip into Glasgow to collect the Audi A6 which has just had a lot of work completed too, see below.........

Ok so as you all know, the wife's had the car for about 2 and a half years now
To say she's been neglected in that time is an understatement, lol

Here's the way she was when I handed her over, this was after nearly 7 years and 114k miles, still looking good ( at least she was )





Anyhow here's what we've done recently, or imminent

1. Bonnet catch inop RESOLVED
2. Low screen washer fluid levels ( unable to open bonnet to fill ) RESOLVED
3. Recent low oil level warning ( unable to open bonnet) RESOLVED
4. Parkbrake fault - new switch RESOLVED
5.Wipers hitting off A pillar - re positioned RESOLVED
6. A/C inop - new compressor unfortunately RESOLVED
7. air filter & fuel filter replaced RESOLVED
8. Oil & filter change - TO BE DONE, Will sort in the next few days!
9. Drivers side rear mud flap hanging off- new set ordered and fitted RESOLVED
10. 2 new tyres required for front - TO BE DONE, Will organise in the next week or so
11. ALL 4 alloys wheels KERBED * ARRGHHHHHH* I'll book it into Wheelpro next week or so TO BE DONE
12. Tinkling from front N/S wheel - pads require reseating / re greasing RESOLVED

To be fair, even with 2 and a half years of neglect she still looks good, will look even better in a few weeks time
She now has around 135k miles on the clock and runs like a champ, never missing a beat, can't fault the ole girl

Love the Audi as I had it from new. It's getting oil and filter change and 2 new front tyres on Tuesday next week, then booked in with Wheelpro for all 4 alloys to be refurbished.
I may elect to spend some time with my DA and really bring back the shine too!
To be fair, it's probably me being a little harsh, as once she's washed / polished etc she still looks pretty ok

Once the new tyres are on the front, wheels refurbished etc, I'm going to repaint the hubs / calipers. Then I'll get the DA out and try to bring her back to life, there's a few little stone chips / scratches etc here n there, but I'll touch them up.
I'm trying to get her to agree to repaint the front bumper due to a slight mishap at the lower portion which would also help and bam, back fairly close to where she was.
Here's a reflection shot of the way the bonnet used to look....



A little work on the front chrome surround and job done hopefully, she seems up for it too which is half the battle


Jag XJ - I'm hoping for some decent weather on Saturday morning and intend to get her all cleaned up, should only take a couple of hours, then job done.
After recent turbo replacement I feel that there is slightly more turbo lag than there was before, coupled with being an auto of course........just can't shake the feeling


Jim

 

Spent some time with the XJ this morning and re visited Kwik Fit regarding alignment.

The steering wheel is ever so slightly off centre to the right and the car is wandering ( just a tad ) to the right too.
Half an hour on the Hunter wheel alignment machine showed that the vehicle was within tolerances, so, the wheel was reset, centred and everything was adjusted "just a smidge" and it does seem so much better.......so far.

Also had a slight mishap in the local filling station the other day, the trench that surrounds the garage has cast iron grates for drainage obviously. One of these was loose and as I drove over, popped up and clattered the underside.....no real damage as far as I can see. However, this was enough to pop the bumper reflector off and smash.

I spoke with the manager and logged an incident and have since replaced this at a cost of £30.00!!!
I'll be claiming this back, it's the principal more than the money.

I've ran a bottle of Cataclean through the fuel system to keep everything nice n clean. Not that I suffered with clouds of black smoke or anything, more preventative really.

Lastly spent an hour or two with my newly arrived paint touch up pen, this was PEF midnight black. the various little stone chips and scratches were attended too and I'm happy, it's another thing off the list.

I'm waiting for my interior dye to arrive in NED Ivory, once this arrives I'll be tidying up the drivers seat and a little on the bolster area, everywhere else is fine.
The rest will be cleaned with Autoglym leather cleaner and then the entire interior treated to Autoglym Leather balm conditioner

Jim

 

I had a few tiny stone chips here n there which were driving me nuts, so bought a touch up paint
All in all quite pleased with the touch up pen results to said stone chips etc
The colour was a good match and filled in nicely. It's clearly not as good as a repaint, however after having literally just done the bonnet and bumper I wasn't going to spring for it again, at least not now.

It's certainly an improvement over the little chips here n there which drive me to distraction, so happy days for now.

Now waiting for interior dye to arrive to see what we can achieve on the drivers seat and bolster. To be fair they're by no means the worst examples I've seen, but the rest is in such good condition, it's an annoyance I'd rather try to resolve


13th October 2016
Well on zero hours slept I travelled down to Stoke, leaving at 2.45 am in convoy with Danny and a nice leisurely pace saw us there around 7.50am, Chris arrived around 10 mins later
It was really good to meet them yesterday

I was there to upgrade from my BLUE remap, a hybrid for power and economy to full blown RED remap for all out power and DPF/ EGR delete
Here the DPF before and after
Before.....


After.....


The cut is on the top side which sits next to the underside of the car.

Car on the ramp.....


Here's a few sentences on where we are to date..........This from Danny
The second or so delay on hitting the loud pedal ( part automatic / part turbo lag ) has not gone, but improved dramatically, it's definitely much smoother, more instantaneous and certainly quicker. There's a definite kick in the pants when hitting the gas
I'm a believer in how one tank defines the next tank and average mpg having tried n tested many tanks myself. For instance a smooth long drive over long distances will give good mpg and a good range, on filling up the average mpg will start at a higher figure and of course the range will also be improved......this also works the other way around.

On the way down at an average speed of 70mph on cruise with some 50mph thrown in Danny was getting around 48mpg. Bearing in mind that the car was standing idling during the process and had a few stop start miles put on her, then, the return trip. As we wanted to A test the cars for responsiveness and power and B get home asap as we were both tired we motored on home at a much quicker pace and with more urgency before I fell asleep at the wheel and also as Danny was working in the early am

We had a good few blasts and they were definitely much quicker, mines more so obviously with the RED map on her. It was noted that due to DPF and EGR that there was a puff of black smoke on heavy acceleration but this quickly cleared. Travelling at mostly 90-100 with some blasts in between the whole way home Danny saw around 44mpg which he thinks was awesome, as do I. In all honesty I would've expected a greatly reduced figure from that tbh
He also reckons to have somewhere just over a quarter tank left having covered approx 530 miles which is pretty good.

As for me?
I got down with an average of 40.2 mpg covering the same miles travelling at 70mph on cruise with a little 50mph thrown in, ( my last tank was terrible with a lot of stop / start and some heavy footed driving thrown in )
On the return some heavy testing combined with mostly 90-100 with some serious blasts thrown in saw me get 38.8mpg from the tank having covered a little more at 573.8 miles from the tank. I had around 62 miles left and refuelled with 78.64 litres and DIS stated a range of 642 miles
With the RED map I was expecting a bigger hit on economy but that doesn't seem the case, although clearly it's early days

Although I'm not too concerned at the 0-60 times as I don't do a lot of drag racing I feel sure there is a definite improvement as felt through the seat of my pants...lol
Overall to date, I believe that Danny and I are happy with the results and hope to hear how you get on moving forward Chris

I had mine MOT'd so a full ticket on her for the next year and all was well.
She's much more eager than before when the accelerator is pressed and action called for, but still very smooth when driven normally, so I'm over the moon

Here's a few pics of the cars together.....




He reckoned on around 270+ bhp
The torque must have increased quite a bit too, was previously at 531Nm so more like 570Nm now if my guestimate is correct

Either way she's a flying machine and much more responsive. The difference is almost like going from std to the blue remap and then I'd say probably about half that again on the Red


Good people, good day and good result all round I think

 

16th October 2016
We did have a little complication with the remap. After taking the car up the road we found the Service message had appeared and the cruise control was not working fully. It would set but + and - for speed wasn't available. The garage did a little more programming and it turned out it was a known issue that they sorted quite easily for Chris as he was still quite close - He now says, now I'm just enjoying the extra power and it's like having a different car!

As for Danny and I we were a little further up the road and too far to turn back, Quantum have arranged for us to call in to a local garage in Glasgow tomorrow for our remedial work.

In the meantime, I've been having fun with mine too. However, just last night I believe it was I was giving her a little stick and hear a loud "POP"
No engine warning lights etc but she did seem to go into Restricted Performance mode with only around 30-50mph available. There was also a whooshing sound, like there is an exhaust leak which can be clearly heard.

I believe and am hoping its blown a boost hose / pipe connection and will be getting that checked / hopefully resolved tomorrow before this other remedial work is done
Fingers crossed and I'll report back of course


30th December 2016
There's way too much and too long to go into here, maybe another time, but here's the long n short of it......

I had a turbo replaced around mid - late Sept and remember having a "feeling" that something wasn't quite 100% but unable to put my finger on it, put it to the back of my mind thinking it's just me. I went ahead with the Red remap / dpf and egr delete and all seemed well on the way home, albeit a lot more smokey than I wanted or had anticipated ( we did have a few small issues, these to be resolved by a local Quantum dealer )

The next day I had a "pop" as documented earlier and that's where it all went pete tong.

After many numerous visits to both the remappers and the Indy, it really seems that without actually saying it, one was blaming the other, more or less. Eventually to get some movement I decided to put a DPF back on the car and took her back to standard form, this was so we could read any codes....a remap disguises them to some degree.

Faults showed up and we went along the lines of a replacement turbo ( 3 in total ) new egr valves and new maf sensors too, oil and filter change etc etc........eventually after several visits and revisits we got it back to normal it seems.
After all this I took her back and simply got JUST a red remap put on and all seems fine so far to date

It has to be said in all fairness that the remappers and the Indy both worked with me and costs were kept to the minimum, with contributions from both sides

One way or another this was a nightmare from start to finish, that being said, neither the remappers or the Indy walked away, both stood up and assisted to get the final result with communication ongoing all the way through

I've never had any issues with the Indy's work prior to this and had a remap from the same remappers on my car for 2 years + prior to this event, or was it me pushing for more / ultimate power......In all honesty I guess I'll never know, it is what it is.


31st January 2017
Well, like a few others here in the past I'm starting to get a few very minor issues with DCS / Cruise not available etc popping up

These are usually on start up with a flicker here or there and never stay for longer than a second or so.......starting seems to have been getting just that half second or so longer in the winter and it's not severe this year either.
Anyhow, knowing all the issues with batteries I did check and mines is stamped JAGUAR, so probably the original as I haven't replaced it in my ownership. That being the case it's been in there going on for 9 years and owes me nothing, time to get her changed out.

I did have a look around and saw a Varta Silver Dynamic battery F18 85AH with 800CCA for only £126

I'm going for a Bosch S4 battery though, it has 95AH and 800CCA, It should be £149.99 from Eurocarparts but their sale brings it down to £104.99

A quick call to Prestige Jaguar and they've matched that, she's going in for some fettling next week ( warranty work ) so they'll fit in then, all good!


Jim

 

Well, the Jag's in at Prestige today for warranty work and some other bits n pieces as intimated already.

I'm having a few RP issues here and there, nothing major but shouldn't be happening. They seem to think that one of the turbo's is at fault in some way and are replacing it under warranty.

I'm not 100% sure I'm convinced but it's at their cost and not something they'd be doing lightly I suppose, so we'll see.

Over and above that it's getting a new Bosch S4 Battery 95AH and 800CCA

Both keyfobs no longer activate the headlights function as well as the panic alarm. That's not the end of the world but they should work and I want them to work so they're getting checked over too.

Hopefully back tomorrow around mid morning, then off around lunchtime as the wife has something planned for my birthday, unsure what that is, but time will tell

Best
Jim

 

Well got the car back today around 11am

Had to get her quick, it was my birthday yesterday and there were plans according to Mrs C.
Got her back and all seems well so far, will need to test accordingly

They fitted a replacement turbo ( under warranty ) due to the RP message, so no charge.

I did ask for a new battery fitted and also had a headlight bulb out ( one of the expensive types! ) Anyhow, these were done and keyfobs checked.....needs more looking into.

Wife took me to a top hotel for a nice lunch, spa day and 1 hour massage which was very relaxing I have to say. This was topped of by a full on steak dinner later in the evening at Milano's restaurant and a cosy night in

Was really surprised at the kids and the level they went too, as well as the many many pm's / cards / texts / phone calls and FB messages. Really feeling the love today

Thanks
Jim

 

Happy birthday, Jim!

And a happier Jaguar is a nice present!

Cheers,

Don

 

Opsss...a belated Happy Birthday Jim..sounds like it was a good one.

 

Many thanks for the birthday wishes guys much appreciated

Had the rear view dashcam installed on the car today, see thread here.....https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...y-x358-176583/

A small present for me, from me, for the car :-)

Jim

 

Took her in for an oil change today, National Tyres as usual, £40.00 all in, took just a little over an hour as they were busy, reset the service indicator, job done.

Considering replacing the air filter and fuel filter in the next few weeks so I can rest easy for a while

May also think about getting at least one of the fobs refurbished as the headlights / panic alarm buttons not working.

Other than that, all good

Jim

 

Playing around for fun with some different style pics...........

Black


Blue


Melted


A few more....Just for fun

Painting


Smoooth



Jim

 

Jim,

I like the "Smooth" image, but the "Melted" image is a good candidate for this thread:

What's the Worst Modification You've Seen On a Jag?




Cheers,

Don

 

Well, had a scary minute today.......

I had popped over to my local car wash guys for a visit. Before everyone shouts me down, they all know me there and how pernickety I am about my car
They DO NOT use their std acid on my wheels, I prep my own using Sonax FULL EFFECT wheel cleaner

They do it thoroughly with a jet wash pre rinse, then snow foam and then use wash mitts getting into ALL the nooks n crannies
They DO NOT apply their wax which discolours chrome etc, we've had that discussion too lol

I only use them once in a while when I want a quick going over and have no time myself, then I dry it myself and dress the tyres, clean interior, door shuts etc etc
Anyhow........

I'd pulled up and parked at one side and was treating the wheel with Sonax, along with the chrome louvres and exhaust tips and had let it dwell, then drove through and they did their thing
Then I pull around to the start, just outta the way and dry her off and do my thing

Gigi, the manager who knows me well came over and said Jim, there is a problem with your car, there is an oil leak, with a serious look on his face
So I go with him to where my car was parked and sure enough, there's a small puddle of reddish fluid

I'm horrified and dip my finger in it, smell it and then taste it......
It's ****** Sonax and where my wheels were sitting, so panic over, yeah thanks for that I say.....lol

Anyway, finish her off and then a wee casual drive to visit daughter and SIL for a while
Very laid back Sunday just enjoying the beautiful weather, absolutely awesome day

Jim

 

Well, although my struts hadn't failed I have decided they were a little on the weak side at best and so have replaced them.
I used SGS Engineering as I have done before for good quality parts that I know fit and work as they should.





If anything they are at 405mm a shade longer than the OEM versions which means the boot lid is propped up just a tad higher. Fitting them today took literally 5 minutes


Still have this idea at the back of mind, but no rush for now....


Jim

 

Well, great news today.....NOT!

I left the house earlyi(sh) and travelled to Edinburg, all very uneventful, coming off the bypass and onto Loanhead I was going around a roundabout and heard what can only be described as groaning / squeaking and wondered, what the hell is that??
I had the window down an inch or so and did see a lorry going round the roundabout and assumed it was him............wrong!

Travelled a little further and yes, it was definitely something very UN Jaguarish coming from my car, rear end it seemed. The annoyance factor was so much that I pulled over and stooped underneath to see if I could see what was what.......nothing.
It did seem much worse / noticeable at low speeds and over rough terrain.

Went about my business and was heading home, couldn't get it outta my head and so turned the car towards Prestige Jaguar for a quick visual check up. I was due to contact them anyway about updating my remotes with new buttons / switches.
I called in and had the crack, only to find out that Danny's Mrs was there with his X358 getting some brake work done, so a quick catch up and a chat all good.

Ian took a quick gander and quickly diagnosed the rear wishbone bushes at fault, which was a surprise to me....

I had these done not long after buying the car 17.03.14 to be precise at Chris Isles, the Jag Specialist around 62k miles. It would seem after having covered 51k miles they are due again....superb!

Oh well, get them priced up along with the keyfobs etc and we'll see about getting them done, can't be having all that noise.

Jim

 

Around 51k miles seems to be the limit for these damned bushes !! Durability is now the Key Issue with Jaguars as far as I am concerned. They already have Desirability, and Reliability, all we want is that little extra something and it'll all be perfect.