Called a boot on motorcycles, mostly just to protect the shock shaft, & seal, from crud getting in.

 

I just called the garage to get more precise information regarding what was done and the mechanic told me that not just that boot was rebuilt, but also one more rubber part that is underneath the metal part.

I wrongfully assumed that the boot was the part that holds pressure, there occurs to be another part that does that and it was the main part that was rebuilt.

Sorry

 

Sounds like a great possibility to fix an issue we all face with the stock suspensions in these cars.

 

Took the Jag out of the garage and washed it for the first time since the beginning of Winter.

Before I did I noticed the sunroof was not quite where it should be at the rear so adjusted it.

Also there was a persistent chime as if a door was open or something.

The car was very damp with condensation. Warm moist air over a cold surface.

Once it dried out chime went away.

I rinsed off the Rover but have as yet not done the wife's Toyota.

 

Hey all! Update on the thermostat situation:

I made the decision to also do a coolant flush before installing the new part (AJ811793 from SNG) to ideally have a clean system for it to install into. Remembering how difficult my lower radiator shield was to disconnect enough to install new headlights a year or so ago I knew this was not going to be fun.

What a relief it was when all but two bolts came out argument free! Sadly, they were all ones I had replaced due to having to dremel the original ones to death during the headlight job. So the dremel was once again required, after almost two hours the shield finally came off.

Now it was time to begin flushing. 22L of deionized water, several 10/15 minute drives and 4 hours later the car was ready for repair.

First off, drain out the last of the water which conveniently enough lowered the coolant level in the engine far enough that there was no surprise leakage when removing anything! Now I'm not sure if I'm just lucky or the car Really wanted to get fixed as everything went extremely well.

​​​​​​All hose clamps were opened with vice grips and slid away from the hose fittings for ease of removal, then removed and set aside to avoid unnecessary crushing of the hoses considering they're 11 years old. Even the largest clamps were fully opened and closed with clever use of the vice grips and jaw pliers. Off with the intake pipe, throttle body, disconnected the EGR, PCV pipe, vacuum lines and throttle elbow, the real work was now able to be done.

Assessing the situation I knew immediately what people were getting at when they said to just split the thing into its pieces so it's less of a hassle. Took the screws out from where the thermostat lives, out comes bits of thermostat. No turning back now, this thing is absolutely toast.

"This is it. This is where everything collapses" Rusty T30 bolt heads... Lovely. And not easy ones to get, the ones on the bottoms of the diverter pipe. First of all, who installs these things? There isn't space for human hands in there! So after a bit of swearing and digging with a deck screw to remove rust debris, I put out a silent prayer to the universe to let this be a success.

Hammering the sockets into place, and then with as much force control as possible I began untightening the bolts. No sheared heads, no heads stripped, literally a 100% success rate. Wiggled that pipe section off the riser and... crunch. Riser is also failing. Thankfully I was already prepared to replace the whole unit.

Again luck was with me, the two bolts on the back side of the riser are definitely in a horrible spot. Luckily my torx did as they'e designed and bit right in even though you have no choice but to drive at a slight angle.

A quick reassembly from there was easy. Rebuild it all exactly as you removed it, piece by piece and it puts up no fight. Riser, throttle elbow, diverter pipe (connect that temperature sensor!) Thermostat, hoses and so on. Refilled the coolant with pure dex cool as the system was essentially 95-100% water at that point and it ate the whole bottle. Plus over a half bottle of 50/50 I had luckily enough.

Stupidly I forgot to connect my MAF sensor when I started the car so it didn't like that very much, quickly reconnected it but I don't believe it made a difference. Out for a 30 minute drive with the heat pumping and wow, unbearable at maximum temperature and fans. Haven'​t had heat like that since I bought it in 2014!

Running Torque Pro on my phone the system was beautiful. Came up to about 195-200°F and never went above or below once it got there. Checked coolant levels hours later and she needed a tiny top up, but otherwise a that complete success.

Here's what I found:

 

I feel your pain on the thermostat housing. I completed mine a few weeks ago, though mine came out a bit easier and really wasn’t all too bad of a job after removing the throttle body.

I set aside today to tackle the rear brakes pads, rotors, caliper rebuild kit, and brake flush, as I found some minor scoring in the rotors. Took the wheels off and began the brake disassembly only to find the rear pads have plenty of meat left on them. Oh well, I have new brakes for down the road. The rotors could have been scored all along and I didn’t notice, or maybe they picked up a bit of debris. The rotors aren’t worth changing until the pads are ready.

While the wheels were off I decided to switch back to summer tires. After doing so I opened the garage to find 1” of fresh snow on the ground that had fallen since I had been in the garage. Ha.

Something good did come from it. I replaced the fuel filter with a K&N PF-1000. Took all of 30 minutes and now have the rest of the day to kick back.

 

New shoes

 

It's just too cold here to do anything right now, the wind is from Russia and it's even snowing heavily in Rome, where my wife is from !

Took some friends out yesterday in the Jaguar to a local museum in Northwich that tells you all about the salt mining and brine pumping in and around the town. A local law of the 1880s forced all buildings to be timber-framed and able to be jacked up, or even moved, in case of brine-pumping subsidence. We then went and saw one of the "flashes", (lakes formed by subsidence), Neumans Flash being the largest, formed in 1880 when a huge area collapsed into salt mine workings. Salt is still extracted locally and used for the manufacture of sodium carbonate, the original company being Brunner-Mond that eventually became ICI. JUst a few miles from where I live is a salt works and as one drives past you can see the huge pile of white salt waiting transport.

Northwich: The Town With That Sinking Feeling

Just up the road from us is an old salt works and when we were buying our house 22 years ago, we had to have a "salt search" done to make sure our house wasn't built over old workings. Fortunately it wasn't, but only a mile away is an area with several "flashes" where a salt works pumped salt out of the ground for over a century.

 

Technology fail! Somehow my phone decided to post on this thread instead of the "What did you do to your X350/358 today?" For some reason. Ah well.

Fair enough, figured I would just put the question out there anyways even though I'm going to have to replace the battery no matter what. I wasn't totally confident in the health of the alternator just due to having read/seen in videos online that 14.2-14.VDC is what you want to see at the terminals.

Thank you nonetheless for the response! Helps put some of that worry to rest!

EDIT: well then. It seems my phone decided to post in the correct forum this time around, compounding my stupid! Previous post somehow made it into the XK8 "top won't operate after battery replacement thread" definitely not my day

 

 

Replaced the 2nd of three pulleys to try and get rid of a squeak. Still have the squeak so will have to replace the 3rd one.
Which is the lower tensioner pulley.

If I stand on one side of the engine it sounds like it is coming from the other side and vice versa.

Also installed a new dashcam that is positioned immediately under the rear view mirror in a small form factor. It is accessible on my Android tablet and so far I am impressed.

 

well... yesterday. enjoy!

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...cement-198507/

 

Hi Jackra_1 can you share the dashcam you purchased (brand/model). Like the fact it's accessible via Android. Thanks

 

WIFI Dash Camera, ZOTO

The above is the name of the camera and can be found on Ebay and Amazon.. I bought the 1st one from China my 2nd one from a US supplier for quicker delivery.

On my car I had to cut off the "arms" to fit so beware of that. Also maximum size of the mini SD card is 8GB ONLY.

I am very pleased with the quality and sound of the video.

I have one in the Jag and also in the Range Rover.

Added a pic of the Rover. I power it with a portable battery above the sun-visor as I want it on when parked at a Mall etc.

I carry a spare 8GB SD card as well in case I want to save what I have recorded.

 

Unclogged windshield washer pump filter by using can of air to blow back debris from filter. Changed cabin air filter. HVAC air flow seems better.
Changed air filter. Sprayed all flexible plastic parts with dashboard cleaner. Keeps plastics and rubber more supple. Effect noticeable on air intake flex hose and air intake plenum locating bushing. Both were quite rigid.

 

Doesn't everyone love when recent repairs fail? I know I do... I got around to doing some replacing of my front suspension parts when trying to hunt down a very annoying creak last July. Replaced both front curved control arms with MAS auto parts, as the driver side hydra bush had failed 100%. No change in the noise. Fast forward to mid October when I had my indie do the air shock bushing on the driver side, and voila! Noise is gone.

Short lived that was, within 2000km the noise had begun to return. The other day it got Really bad coming home, so I stuck my head in underneath to see what is going on and..



Both failed. Luckily I have a second 101-7517 Beck/Arnley but it makes me wonder if I should get a different bushing considering this one didn't even make it 5000km. I am attempting to contact both MAS auto and Beck/Arnley about warranty replacement especially considering how they toot their horns about "OE Quality"

So, after all the ranting I have a question. Seeing as the bushings are already destroyed, would silicone spray lubricant shot inside of them at least make them slightly quieter until I can replace them again?
​​​​​​
​​​​​​I will be trying to keep the driving to a minimum although I'm not sure if it's making a huge difference at this point

 

High temperature grease, silicon grease is also good, others may use something different.

 

Those rubbers look a lot older than that, unless you go off roading in the car. Yes, they should be replaced by the supplier, unless they can show that they were incorrectly fitted.

 

Actually not today, but a couple of days ago, cleaned the MAF sensor wire, for no special reason other than that I had not even looked at it since buying the car. It has always run perfectly, but the wire was quite black so perhaps more accurate metering may help the fuel consumption. I'll check it over the next couple of tanks; it usually averages a real 19 mpg in a mix of stop / start local journeys, and using all the power out of town.

 

I can't say I know the manufacture date of the parts themselves but I can guarantee you 100% the control arm was done in July by me personally, both sides in one go. The air shock bushing was done late October 2017 by my mechanic, because it was done just prior to a road trip to the east coast. MAS auto contacted me today and said that they don't deal with consumers directly, so it's up to Rock auto to warranty.