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But at least you found it before you ran out of fluid. I had a total loss of brakes on a Merc once years ago when pushing on a bit & it's not the most enjoyable experience. That was an old W124 with worn rear disks & seized outer pistons in the rear calipers, so once the pads got low enough both inner pistons dropped out together. I had no idea it had an issue as both sides were the same it'd pull up straight & pass MOTs till the day that happened. It's also the day I discovered you can 'Swedish flick' a W124 around a 30mph bend at near 80mph and somehow get away with it, not something I could ever do deliberately but facing stone walls & a stone barn it was worth a try.
Mark, I hope the trip will still be a memorable one for other, better reasons. While I’m sure you’ll look forward to getting home and reconnecting with the Daimler, one of the most enjoyable things about road trips in our cars is seeing them in different environments - not showing them off per se but enjoying their interaction with their surroundings and the positive reaction they get from others and it’sa shame you’ll miss that. On the road they are travelling photo opportunities that start some great conversations that don’t happen with a rental.
I have done the Vancouver to Edmonton drive in both directions on various routes in a Fiat Spyder, a Honda Civic, a Chevrolet Caprice, a Toyota Camry, three Series 3 V12’s, a Jeep Compass, and the XJR. I have done other long distance treks in everything from a Pontiac Firebird to an Olds Cutlass station wagon to a Lincoln Continental… Nothing comes close to the Jags for adding to the trip instead of just being transportation for the trip except perhaps for the Spyder albeit for very different reasons.
Last edited by Ken Cantor; 07-01-2023 at 11:01 AM.
I can't believe that it's two months since the aborted Le Mans journey but things have been a little intense at home, so we've just been getting on with life. We finally moved back into our renovated home two weeks ago and while I'm still surrounded by workmen, I've sat down to bring things up to date.
The Le Mans Classic event was truly wonderful. Much more relaxed than the 24 Hours race itself, both on the campsite and at the track. There was a terrific range of vehicles in the different races which separated cars by the years of their original entries to the race. Watching the drivers wrestling the massive cars from 100 years ago was terrific, but my favourite was watching the little MGB's using every bit of track space as they competed with the Jags, Lolas, Shelbys and other magnificent cars from the same era. These guys weren't hanging around, and to watch the really fast cars braking from full speed at the end of the straights during the night was a joy. We were just lacking the lovely old Daimler to get us there and back but it didn't spoil the fun.
The odometer clicked past 100,000 miles on the way down to Portsmouth and although it came back on a truck (bringing the overall fuel consumption over the 600 mile trip up to 58mpg - surely a record for a supercharged V8 ), we've gone past 101,000 miles in the two months since we got back. In that time, I got the brake lines repaired and the mechanic fitted the reconditioned rear subframe and bushes which I bought back in May. That's truly sorted out the rear end, and the brakes all round are now in good shape. What it has thrown into focus, however, is the state of the front end. The new anti-roll bar bushes and droplinks had improved things but the state of the front subframe bushes is letting things down. I gave the mechanic a break after he did the rear subframe but he's now ready to do the front. I'm hoping to get it done later this month and will report back.
I've not had access to my garage and drive for months now and that's hampered my ability to get on with all the little jobs. This weekend, we will have the drive back and I can start emptying the garage - I can then move onto the updated list to help me hit my target of a December MOT with no advisories. Here's the list updated from original versions. I'm really pleased as to how much it's reduced. The items in italics were what is outstanding from Chris' original list with the other items being what I've added.
The DIY stuff:
That saggy headlining needs to be sorted. Agreed - I'm going to buy a replacement from Myrtle and replace it. In the meantime, I've pinned it up with upholstery twist pins - see photo
Replace the failed lights in the Sports selection button, gear selector gate and tacho
Smarten up various engine parts which are a bit rusty or faded
For the mechanic or at very least to be sent away for doing:
I think the gearbox oil could do with changing due to the age of the car. I'm going to get a full gearbox service
There is a technical bulletin on getting rid of the “chirp” the aux belt makes when cold. I would like to implement this (I think it’s a pully change).
I'm going to get the supercharger checked and serviced, after reading Dave Mattocks update in the Jaguar Enthusiast magazine
Front subframe upper mountings splitting - unknown but expected. I will ask the mechanic to do these later in the year before the next MOT
Fuel pipes corroded - not picked up in the MOT but should have been expected
Drive belts worn - age related and I'll get these done before the Le Mans trip (I didn't)
Front brake duct missing - I don't think this is a problem unless someone tells me otherwise
Rear bump stops fallen off - not an issue but I'll get them replaced. Hopefully, there is somewhere to mount them after all the work that's gone on in and around the wheelarches - maybe the original bodyshop removed them and didn't replace them
Stuff I’ll probably leave for now:
The drivers side lambswool mat has slight wear to it… but I may never find a perfect one as they are no longer manufactured new. I'll keep looking for one but very low priority as I clearly have lower standards than Chris - it looks OK to me
The lacquer on the rear picnic tables has gone slightly dull.I'll maybe fix one day but it's very cosmetic and Chris's comments are, again, testament to his high standards
In other news, we bought an electric car at the beginning of June. It's an MG4 and it's the first EV I've seen which doesn't have a preposterous premium, but does the range to get us from home to our daughter in North London without charging. It's basically a car as an appliance and is brilliant just to jump in and go. It's being abused every day by the family as the local runabout. So long as we charge it at home on the overnight tarif, it's really cheap to run. A good comparison is the trip to London. It costs less than £10 to do the 420 mile round trip in the EV. In the Daimler, it's closer to £120 of super unleaded fuel (99 octane). Add on the London ULEZ charge of £12.50 per day for the Daimler and the savings are significant.
Having said all that, we still choose the Daimler almost every time - I still love this car and it's worth the extra cost while I can afford it.
I couldn't resist putting in this picture although our drive still isn't completed and the cars are hemmed in by building materials and bins! I think they look great on the gravel.
It's been a while since I have checked in and lovely to see an update with a stunning picture of your two treasures!
Having read through the above list, a couple of things I know which might help you?
- The lights in the sport select button are soldered in, and so are not easy to replace. However it can be done, and I did it on a different X308 years ago by purchasing a few of the speedo bulbs, putting apart the assembly to get the bare bulb, then soldering it in place of the blown "sport" button bulb. The bulbs are a different size, but I found they worked nicely as they were the same voltage. My suggestion would be to purchase a cheap 2nd hand sport/cruise button assembly, regardless of it's condition and use that as a basis to start. I have also head some people have been successful fitting an LED... but LEDs were not commonplace 15 years ago when I did the repair...
- I think the supercharger was serviced when I bought the car, by a small garage "Charlies service station" which was a friend of a friend who checked the car over for me. From memory I think he replaced the belt, I cannot remember if he did the oil - but might be worth checking the receipt to see what he did?
We also spoke on Whatsapp about the timing chain tensioners... this has played in my mind as I told you I had no reason to think they had been done, but now I have thought about it I really can't remember if I saw something in a receipt somewhere about them being done after all... but I also had another older (non-supercharged) Daimler 3 years ago or so.... and I may be getting the two cars mixed up! So it might be worth going through the folder of receipts for the car to make sure; though opening the rocker up and checking might be a worthwhile endeavor anyway. At least you will know for sure then
Oh - and what a lovely house you have, I love all the trees!
It's always a pleasure to here from you! By coincidence, I replaced the light in the Sport button yesterday and, at the same time, replaced the non-matching bulb in the instrument cluster and the tiny bulbs in the trip computer and fog light switches. I made a mistake with the switches as I got blue LED's and they are simply too bright. It's a simple job so I'll replace them again soon. Next jobs on the lighting front are to sort out why the rear seat switches aren't lit up and fix the lighting in the transmission selector. I'll do them a the same time as the centre console will need to come out but I have to confess that I'm on the fence as whether to do the transmission light. All those microswitches bother me. Finally, yesterday I also dug out the spare set of steel decorative bezels I had for the instrument surrounds. I really like the look they bring as I think the standard surround looks a little unfinished - those who don't like non-original or "shiny things" will disagree with me, of course :-)
Last week the new bushes arrived for the front subrame and the car goes into the mechanic to fit them tomorrow. I contemplated doing it myself but decided it was too big and heavy a job so am leaving it to the pro. The front end has become increasingly wobbly of late so I'm hoping this will fix it. I hope to report back with good news next week.
What's become very obvious is that the rear is too low and it bottomed out last week when I had rear passengers and some stuff in the boot. I suspect that the use of the tow hook in the car's earlier life may have weakened the springs so I'm hoping that some new springs will restore equalibrium (please don't let it be the CATS dampers). The mechanic can have a good look when he's under the car this week. I'll get new bump stops fitted at the same time.
The car continues to run like a dream and every trip is a pleasure. Curing the wobbly front end will just add to the pleasure.
I'll have a proper read through the service history then make a decision as to what I do next from the maintenance list, based on what I find. The good news is that, net, that list is reducing :-)
Hitting 100,000 miles when idling down the M40 at 70mph.
Same dashboard (different camera) with the new dial bezels.
At one of the Mersey ferry terminals with one of the world's greatest cities in the backgound (Biased? Me?). Does that rear end look a little low to you?
Hi Ken, thanks for the input. I've been and measured and I'm running about 15mm short at the back with half a tank of fuel and no passengers or baggage. The right rear can be even further out when I'm not parked on a completely level surface.
I’m probably one of the least mechanically inclined posters on the board but that would be my guess.
The XJR still seems to ride where she should but I did have to replace the springs on one of my Series 3 VDP cars. It was one of those things that happened quite gradually rather than quickly but I started to notice it during the bi-annual tire/rim swap as I do my own rather than taking it in for the shop to do it on a hoist.
When it got to the point where getting the jack on a piece of 1/4” plywood under the jacking point was starting to look iffy for the next swap I pretty much knew It was time.
Interesting enough, even with the V12’s added forward bias, like your Daimler it was the rear that sagged the most. For what it’s worth, I did decide to have all four replaced at the same time.
PS - for what it’s worth, in my opinion the X308 jack is a big improvement over the Series 3’s but the lug wrench isn’t (I keep a Series 3 one wrapped in a towel in the well).
Last edited by Ken Cantor; 10-24-2023 at 10:56 AM.
Sure enough, the front subframe bushes were in a sorry state. I'm relieved that I didn't try to do the job myself; to quote the mechanic, "It was a right b*****d of a job every bolt was seized!". He replaced the all the bushes and the front end is finally as it should be - all the bangs and clunks are gone and, most importantly, it's not tramlining any more.
He confirmed that the rear springs need replacing so I'll be ordering some this week and, most likely, will take the opportunity to do the rear bushes too. Does anyone have any recommendations for springs or do I just go standard? The priority is ride in line with Daimler luxury.
That should have the chassis all sorted but the car obviously saw that coming and a couple of days before I took the car in, the engine management light came on. I've not had chance to look at why yet but guessing that it might have something to do with letting the battery go flat because the car is running just fine. The fault cleared when the mechanic disconnected the battery so he didn't check it but I'll get my own reader on there and see what transpires...
Yesterday, I took the cover off the XJ6 and drove to Llandudno in North Wales to take it for a service and its annual MOT test. In the UK you don't have to do this annual test if your car is over 25 years old but I always think it's sensible to do it and it avoids any questions around roadworthiness if I ever had an insurance claim.
The garage lent me a 15 year old X-type. With 135,000 miles on the clock, it was in lovely condition inside and out but I'm not a fan of the diesel engine. Nevertheless it took us in safety and comfort to the beautitul Snowdonia National Park and we had a stunning walk up the River Llugwy which looked slight terrifying with all the recent rainstorms. Needless to say that a night in Mountaineering clubs converted chapel involved far too beer/wine/whiskey, and I didn't feel my best this morning. On the positive side, the old girl passed the MOT with no comments or advisories, and she was rewarded with a full service. It poured down with rain as we cruised in luxurious quiet back along the North Wales coast so now I need to go and check all the normal water ingress suspects to make sure she's dry.
The Engine Management light is still showing on the Daimler so I attached the ODB reader and it's showing lots of errors. I'll be looking at them later and asking for help....
I think you need to check your dates on that post.
It's 40 years before things become MOT exempt. It was originally 25 years when it was bought in originally, but then Labour froze it at 1973. The Tories got back in & restored it to a rolling exemption from '73 which makes it 40 years now. Of course you also have to do a form to say it's not been substantially modified & a different form for the free road tax historic class.
I think you need to check your dates on that post.
It's 40 years before things become MOT exempt. It was originally 25 years when it was bought in originally, but then Labour froze it at 1973. The Tories got back in & restored it to a rolling exemption from '73 which makes it 40 years now. Of course you also have to do a form to say it's not been substantially modified & a different form for the free road tax historic class.
Good news on the pass though.
You are, of course, right. Just as well I didn't ignore the previous reminders! The car is over 40 years old now and so becomes tax, MOT and congestion charge exempt from April 1 next year. It's a strange world where I don't get charged for driving into London in my 18mpg 40 year old Jag but get charged £12.50 per day for my 22 year old 21mpg Daimler (yeah, I know it's not much different, but it would be the same for a 22 year old 40mpg Fiat Panda). The Daimler is probably worth more than the Jag so much more painful to scrap it if we lived in London and it came to that...
Our big news this month has had nothing to do with the Daimler. Five weeks ago we became grandparents for the first time and it’s twins - a boy and a girl. They were born 5 weeks early but are perfect. We feel blessed.In between trying to support the exhausted parents, I’ve continued to work through my list of things to do but, of course, have to deal with the normal day to day issues that face all of us who can’t give up our addiction to these stunning saloons.
I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been getting various warning lights with no apparent issues. I was guessing it was battery related and sure enough, when we came back from our first week with the babies the car wouldn’t start. Much testing later and it was clear that the battery was end of life so I had a replacement delivered and popped it in.
All the spurious messages disappeared and didn’t return but then a real problem popped up. Sporadically, I was getting the EML with restricted performance and a misfire, or a combination of two of those symptoms. I attached the ODB reader and got P0357 and P0307. These pointed to a failure of the coil pack on cylinder B3 but I knew that Chris had replaced all the coils three or so years ago, so I was a little nervous that it was something else. I pulled the coil pack and plug on B3 and the plug was very wet with fuel and this gave me a little more confidence that I had a simple fix.
To be sure, I pulled off the coil pack on B2 to swap the two over. I then promptly forgot which was which - schoolboy error. I was fairly sure I had worked it out but didn’t want to take the risk of putting faulty coil back in the same cylinder so I pulled B1 and B4 and swapped them with 2 and 3. I guessed that I’d put 3 in 1 (confused? You will be!) and was rewarded after a 30 mile drive with another misfire and Restricted Performance message. The new codes were P0355 and P0305, confirming that I had one faulty coil pack. Next day, a new one arrived from SNG Barrett and the car has done 300 uneventful miles since.
I’ve still got Chris’s original proof of purchase of the coils with a five year warranty. I couldn’t find the original vendor on EBay and really don’t know if it’s worth the effort trying to claim on the warranty. If Chris is reading this, I’d appreciate your thoughts on trying to get anything back…
A few days later, I took the old girl in for her annual MOT. She passed with flying colours except for an advisory that the flex pipes are blowing. This was on the original inspection report so not a surprise, and I already had her booked in for them to be replaced. After a look underneath with the exhaust guy, we decided the centre box also needed replacement so I’ve taken the plunge and replaced it with an X-Pipe and deleted the centre muffler. It looks like a really good job. There's no resonance or increased noise in the cabin under normal acceleration but when I put my foot down, there's a fruity rasp to accompany the supercharger whine and, from the outside, you can now tell it's a V8 now, with a very pleasant burble. It's probably psychological but it also appears to be breathing better and has a better pick-up. I have posted some photos below and can recommend the company who did it - https://www.cybox.co.uk/product/custom-build-exhausts/. Those of you who ran minis or MG's in the 60's and 70's will remember them as Peco Exhausts. I'd be interested in any observations....
Finally, I took advantage of Black Friday discounts to buy the parts to do three more of the jobs remaining on my list. I hope to do them before the end of the year so more in Update #2.
Another job off the list. I've replaced the Secondary Cam Chain Tensioners with later metal versions. Looking at the originals, they aren't as bad as some of the photos I've seen, considering this is a 102,000 mile car, but it's just one less thing to worry about when I'm using the full performance. Each of them had a nice crack and I've no idea whether that's an indication of imminent carnage or of little concern - feedback is gratefully received! I've not touched the primaries - way too big a job for me - but I took the opportunity to put a camera down there and the metal guides and plastic tensioners look fine for now. One for the future maybe.
The mechanic had said the serpentine belts were worn so I've bought replacements and am in the middle of fitting them. I get a "chirp" when the car is cold, which Chris also mentioned. I've taken the chance to run the car from cold while the Supercharger belt was off and this allowed me to identify that the issue is with the supercharger idle pulley. I know that replacing the pulley itself can be the answer but there's loads of play in the bearing and it feels very rough so I'm going to start by just cleaing up the pulley and replacing the bearing - a £5 fix so worth trying first.
Right Hand (UK Driver's side) tensioner. A 16mm crack opening up nicely. The tensioner plunger just fell out as I removed the unit - fortunately, I'd stuffed a clean rag into the timing case so nothing fell down into it.
Left Hand tensioner only has an 8mm crack. Maybe another 100k miles left in it...
I used to have a paramount performance 3 inch system on my 3.2 Sport, I found the exhaust on eBay going cheap. It was a great exhaust but under-utilised on the 3.2 engine, the difference in sound was pleasing. I left it on the car when I sold it, I wish I’d taken it off and stored it because it would be lovely on my XJR now.
Those tensioners look slightly worse than the ones I took out of my XJR when it was on about 79k miles.
It feels like it was definitely the right thing to change them. I've not been able to start the engine yet because of the other small jobs I'm doing while I was under the bonnet so I'm still feeling a little nervous ;-). Fingers crossed....
I used to have a paramount performance 3 inch system on my 3.2 Sport, I found the exhaust on eBay going cheap. It was a great exhaust but under-utilised on the 3.2 engine, the difference in sound was pleasing. I left it on the car when I sold it, I wish I’d taken it off and stored it because it would be lovely on my XJR now.
David Mattocks, who is the X308 contributor in the JEC is a big fan of the Paramount Performance exhaust on his XJR. Apparently, it's the back boxes which are the main contributor to resonance/droning so best to keep them but make them less restrictive. If I had an XJR, I think I'd go the whole hog but the Daimler isn't quite so sporty so maybe I'll practise some restraint
06-30-2023, 04:37 AM
), we've gone past 101,000 miles in the two months since we got back. In that time, I got the brake lines repaired and the mechanic fitted the reconditioned rear subframe and bushes which I bought back in May. That's truly sorted out the rear end, and the brakes all round are now in good shape. What it has thrown into focus, however, is the state of the front end. The new anti-roll bar bushes and droplinks had improved things but the state of the front subframe bushes is letting things down. I gave the mechanic a break after he did the rear subframe but he's now ready to do the front. I'm hoping to get it done later this month and will report back.
