Radio stopped working on most speakers and stopped switching off when ignition was off so pulled it out this weekend to asses damage...

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Glad I kept a broken board for spares, replaced the socket, fixed one track, replaced the power board, put all back together and its good as new. It blew up a 10A fuse after all this but damn these fuses can be completely out of spec, this looks waaaaaaay more than 10A damage.

I was getting a slight misfire at idle and still had original injectors in the car. I attempted to clean them, replace o-rings and filters (baskets). Unfortunately, I found that the misfire was slightly worse. Thankfully, I had a working spare set, which were untouched 190k mile originals.
Determined to cross this off the to-do list I just installed a set of fully refurbished fuel injectors from what looks to be a reputable eBay company (dimarmotorsportsllc). The injectors looked in great shape and came individually sealed.
I am happy to report that so far the engine is running a lot smoother although I am monitoring short term fuel trims, which at the moment are averaging around +4% with LTFT at 3.91%. Not too bad but I am hoping for them to seem closer to 0% in the few days/drives.

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Fixed the aux water pump as heating stopped working recently. Think I've fixed about 5 of them now, every time I seem to buy 5mm x 5mm brushes and they are definitely too large, if you need to fix yours, go for 4mm x 4mm. Not a big issue though, just filed them down until they fitted in the metal slot. The existing brushes were used up completely at 140k miles.

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Replaced both pump mounts too, they are always broken and easy and cheap to replace. Whole process took under an hour. Fitted back and have heating again.

Not exactly what i have done today, but,
i made the purchase for what i plan to do soon

plan to touch up parts of the interior. Lets see how the colour matches and how easy it is to get a good result.
the easier it works the more i will probably do…..
just want to touch up scratches and marks on various bits of trim.

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A very important job completed today, I replaced both the old, hard 'O' rings on my V12 engine dipstick with super dooper Viton 'O' rings so the car should be good for another 350,000 kms!!

Cheers,
Jeff.

I'm half way there

Drove goddaughter to her wedding


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went on a long drive on twisty back roads to try out the yellow bilstein B6 shocks - what a difference they made! (only front so far - waiting for new isolators before installing the rears)
highly recommended for XJR owners - not harsh at all, just nicely damped, and the car feels so much more planted and controllable in the bends.
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A wash and took my Son (and car) for a short walk in the Cheshire countryside. Riding on the highway, going to a show...

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whats the airbag warning about?

Haven't been able to go through the troubleshooting list yet so not sure - it started to show up intermittently just recently, so i have to track down some suitable resistors to figure it out.

saw someone in the x308 forum do something that inspired me to take the same approach.
my front seatbelts particularly the drivers one was about as far from the original oatmeal colour as possible. they were crusted up pretty solid with years of thick caked on grease and grime and were almost black, i wans unsure of how to get the best result.
but what i ended up doing was the approach i saw there.
i took them out so i could get it all done, i sprayed them with Vanish Oxy Action (fabric stain remover, very very strong stuff essentially coloursafe bleach, removes stains from just bout everything), let that sit on there for about 30mins and then hit them with the high pressure washer.
all i can say is OMFG! i canno believe the transformation. they look amazing now. look like a totally different seatbelt.
will take pics when i get a chance and see if i have any pics that show the bad colour they were before.

Today my recently-acquired baby is getting a full evaluation from the local specialty shop. I’ve done minor stuff on my American cars, but don’t have the nerve to touch this one yet until I get more familiar. I’m much more of a driver than a tinker. 😇

This weekend was a case of the good the bad and the ugly.

THE GOOD
got my andy bracket, installed it in about 10 mins and cleaned the crank sensor whilst i was there.
we will see how performance and economy goers after a while but from the one drive i have been on since installing it it is nice.
noticed the economy has gotten better.

THE BAD
spent the best part of the weekend trying to chase down a high idle. still unable to fix it but tink i have narrowed the culprit to the IACV which is no set for a nice idel and disconnected until i get a replacement.

THE UGLY
well....
i had a front crank seal leak i had not yet gotten to fixing....
well i guess i will now be fixing that ASAP.
i got home and noticed a decent amount of oil dipping, checked the front of the engine and bamn a fair amount of oil everywhere.
it seems the crank seal has blown and spewed oil out.
so she is now off the road till i fix it.
seal already ordered so will hopefully be here in the next few days.

Did you replace the o-rings on the oil cooler bypass, next to the oil filter? My o-rings were hard like plastic and broke rather than come off. That was my only engine oil leak on my 1996 XJR so far.

yeah did that one a while back. Was a bad leak

when I say this is the crank seal i know it is the crank seal. You can tell easily where this is coming from.

Coating
 

I just had these ceramic coated. Would like to install them but I had my car over at car crafter redoing the bumper, well Albuquerques Balloon Fiesta is going on and a balloon tried to land in their parking lot through the drop rope down and it landed on my car. Big dent and windshield had to be replaced
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^^^ That is some bad luck. For both you and the balloonists. "On a Jaguar" is not a good place to land! But I bet the insurance company is used to claims from ballooning accidents during the festival. Now you will have refinished paint and windshield too. Those manifolds look great.

Today on the V12 I put in a tiny rubber throttle shaft pivot and adjusted the cable. All good.

I bought her.
 

I brought her home.
I was fortunate enough to acquire a '95 XJR.
She has been tinkered with by previous owners. I have a few issues to deal with, but can't wait to get her growling along the highway.
She has been lowered, so didn't pass Australian Blue slip safety inspection. I have to either replace existing springs with stock or shim them.
Does anyone know of any spares gathering dust around the Newcastle area?

if i knew of any spares around the area i would steal them for myself. LOL.

Fuel flap lock
 

Fuel cap cover flap lock mechanism wasn't working. When car was locked the pin was still retracted.
I learnt how the boot lining comes out. I learnt how the lock motor comes out and decides to work as soon as you have unbolted, unscrewed and unclipped everything.
Testing the motor, after checking that I had a 12v pulse on the signal wire, showed that it was working.
Bolted everything back together. Works a treat.
If everything else that needs attention comes to life as soon as I unbolt it, I will be a happy chappy.

So I had a mixed long weekend.
had some stuff that i couldn't sort that annoyed me like my central lock dash button and security light not working.

but,
I degreased the crap out of the front of my engine to find 100% the source of the oil leaks,
I repaired my boot lock, i could not open the boot with the key, so i took apart, cleaned and lubed the lock barrel, and now it works sweet as.
I recoloured the bottom parts of my door trims with oatmeal leather colourant, recoloured my steering wheel and hand brake lever with antelope colourant, and finished off with some matte leather finisher.
next up is the seats. atleast the rear seat, i may need more colour to do the fronts as they are real bad so will probably do the back, buy more colour and then do the fronts.
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The doors look great. How do you like the finish, is the leather still soft?
Mine are in need of attention as well especially the drivers seat and door handle.

leather is still really soft.
one thing i find is that it has ended up too shiny after the finisher was put on.
so this would be easy rectified for future by adding some duller into the leather finisher which is sold for that exact purpose.
or what i am going to do now is i have ordered a can of spray matte finisher from another company that is recommended to be matte and people have used it over the exact finisher i used for the exact reason with great results.

once the colour was put on they looked amazing and had a nice matte finish to them. a finisher is needed tho to seal the colour in and give it a top coat protection so that it lasts longer. without the finisher it will mark too easy. like paint without a clear coat.

deciding whether or not i want to get some leather putty so that i can properly refinish the steering wheel 100%. at this point i don't think i will, i have too many other jobs on the plate atm with the car.

Definitely on my to do list. Have been reading good things about the scratch doctor products.
I might try looking for a matte leather finisher, also going to need some putty for the cracks in the seat.

Passed inspection
 

Installed my home made carbon fibre airbox to new to me XJR (car only had a pod filter stuck on end of MAF tube), air temp sensor is bridged. (Stock air box is in transit from Tasmania)
I fitted two new tyres and got a safety inspection done.
Passed. Paid the Government Corporation money and took her for her first good drive.
Here's where I ask for input/advice.
She drives nicely, with a light right foot. Any spirited pedal action results in a surging acceleration (well not really acceleration, if you take my meaning)
Sometimes I can achieve boosted acceleration, but mostly she doesn't seem to want to play.
I have run car, at night with cover off coil packs. No light show. There is a miss at idle, so will be replacing spark plugs.
Wondering if this is a symptom that has been experienced by others and if anyone can point me in the right direction for diagnosis.
Thank you all.

not sure on that at all but what i came here to say was if you happen to find any parts cars around at wreckers you should let us know incase in need of anything.

Second hand airbox is being sourced from a Gent who is wrecking his previous daily driver and is located in Tasmania, Australia. He has listed lots of parts on Gumtree.com.au

Cam cover seals
 

Replacement spark plugs were fitted. Whilst doing so, I discovered that that cam cover seals had been leaking oil into plug wells.
After cleaning everything and putting it back together she still has a miss.
Have ordered seal kit and will check valve clearances whilst apart.
Ran a lot harder, this morning but later developed the surge upon acceleration. I suspect oil ingress into plug Wells to be the cause.

Oil in the spark plug/coil wells is a common issue. It is worth changing all of the valve cover seals (cover gasket, spark plug well seals and bolt seals) while your at it if you don't know the history.
Try to make sure all of the surfaces are clean and corrosion free particularly where the spark plug seals sit.
I had oil leaks there on both my x300's and it does solve one cause of occasional misfires. Also it is really satisfying to lift the coils and see it clean when you open it up in the future.

Towed her home. 8-(
 

After fitting new plugs and cleaning oil from plug recesses, she ran better.
I decided that a good run may help blow out some cobwebs, whilst I wait for new rocker cover seals to arrive on Monday.
Made it around 40km before she lost power and just wouldn't react to throttle input, slowed and died.
Now she will crank and fire, but stall immediately.
Roadside assistance towed home. Now back in the shed. I am praying that it's a blocked fuel filter.
No codes stored (obdII) Checked fuel pump fuses ok.

Removed my old leaper. And I would like to get new one. But I am wondering which style leaper is original for 1995 X300 Sovereign?
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Had a pretty good day today.
installed a 4ch remote unit to give remote operation of Headlights, Highbeams, hazards and horn.

Connected it into one of the spare ports of the LH engine bay box.
power goes into remote box.
negative connects to ground stud near lh engine bay relays,
negative bridges across all 4 terminals of the remote unit.
then power out from each channel.
1 - goes to LH and RH low beam relays
2 - goes to High Beam relay
3 - cable runs through firewall (grommet near glovebox) up to hazard light switch
4 - connected to horn relay. Will connect this with a electronic flasher unit so that the horn beep beep beeps rather than solid on when i can get one.

(video below does not show horn but “D” activates horn)



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Thanks to @cdma for the new toolbox lid label, i was able to replace my worn and illegible fuse box diagram with a much better looking one.
Got some new foam tape 3mm thick 5mm wide so now it looks so much better.
just need to find some spanners that fit in.
10mm-11mm and 15mm-17mm if i am not mistaken.

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10 , 13 and 15 are the most used

what i did today
 

shouted at my window winders and heater to no effect

G’day Spud,

Here’s a pic of my tool kit, the spanners as you can see are 15/13 mm and 10/8 mm. My 10/8 spanner was missing when I bought the car and I tracked one down on eBay.

Cheers,
Jeff.


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The leaper you are holding has a rectangular base , the X300 and possibly the X308 has a teardrop shape base that needs this second base half , Spring loaded pivot upper Jaguar

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Bosco 15
There is a Jaguar service bulletin about misfiring on the AJ16 engine which appears initially to be addressed to the XJR. On my 1996 sport X300 it had a rough idle when I bought it. Compression on two cylinders was well down around 115-120.PSI.
The service bulletin addressed the problem of carbon build up on the exhaust valve stems. This appears to become a problem when the car is driven continuously in a city/town environment.
There are two recommended fixes..
(1) Replace the valves with a special "cutter" valve
(2) Take the car on the open road and give it a hard workout.
I used option 2 and loaded up the fuel with about 4 times the recommended upper cylinder lubricant.
After a 50 Ks run in intermediate gears keeping the revs around 4000 in a 100Ks zone but with lots of slowdowns and full throttle acceleration the valve stems freed up, all compressions returned to normal and the idle was smooth.

On my previous 1994 X300 I had heaps of problems with cutting out, failing to accelerate from the lights etc. Turned out both oxygen sensors had failed.
Cheers

Picked up a new passenger today.
safety first.
made sure he is nice and buckled in.

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