I bought the Jag after looking through the various online motor sales pages and eventually came across a 2000 X308 in emerald green. Slight bubbling just behind the rear screen but apart from that it looked and drove well so bought it.

During the first week I got the gearbox fail, trac fail etc. going into limp home mode. Stopped the car. Restarted it and all clear until a week later when it happened again. It has done it twice in quick succession then no further occurrence. Thinking that the battery charge had been left to run low now at peak charge.

The car had a new MoT and the advisories were perished rear tyres and ball joints worn. Took the car for a service at a local "specialist" dealer. Quoted £215 for the service and £57 to do a code read and report on quotes for repairs. Codes cleared and car back on the road. Quoted £800 to carry out some welding to front of sills and under the front footwells. Quoted £800 to fit new lower arm ball joints!!!

I was advised to give Hollygrove Services | Hollygrove Jaguar Service Centre nr. Bournemouth a visit and get a quote from them. £500 for the welding and £350 for the lower arm ball joints. Initial impression was that it was a scrap yard but looking under the skin they had some beautiful cats under restoration. The cars outside were donors.

Car now looking and driving lovely. I valeted the inside and gave the car a full body wax. I then dipped the oil and found the level was only halfway between the min & max mark. Having only done 350 miles since the service I was a bit perturbed about this. Oil used was synthetic 5-30 Mobil One. I was going on a trip to see my daughter in Oldham later that week a round trip of about 550 miles so bought 5 litres of Castroil 5-30 synthetic and topped up the oil to the max level. Went on my trip checking the oil during the odd stop and on arrival. Repeated the checks until I got back home. The level never budged off the max mark. I can only think the "specialist" garage had used the capacity of the earlier engine because the dipstick was replaced later as the oil capacity was increased.

Memo to myself. Check oil level after a service and don't trust anyone to get it right every time. Over the years I have checked the old level after services on other cars and the level has always been correct. Also check for drips. There wasn't any although I once had a Ford back from service once when the Oil Filter had been fitted cross threaded and leaked oil on the path.

Well since owning the car after the first week or so and having the codes cleared the gearbox has behaved impeccably. Shifting through the gears on hills etc has never faulted it. The only niggle is that when starting from cold after an overnight stop I have to let the engine idle for a few moments before selecting 1st/reverse or the box engages with a slight kick. Only does it the once then engages perfectly after that until the next morning. May need an oil change in the Spring.

Reading the history with the car it has had the tensioners replaced, a new gearbox in 2006 at 47,000 miles (83,000 when bought 10/2015) and according to the MoTs has only done 6,000 since 2011 with the gearbox only covering 36,000 miles.

Strangely enough, there was a laminated advert in the pack when it was sold by a Dealer in Bristol at around 2011 and it stated it had been fitted with the non-nikasil engine from new. I have checked the history and apparently the VIN number indicates it was fitted with a non-nikasil engine but it was registered in May 2000 and the non-nikasil engines weren't used exclusively until August 2000.

If anyone can shed further light on this I would be grateful. I'm not bothered which type of engine it is because it doesn't use oil and the performance is stunning considering the car weighs around a ton and a half.

So that's it. A car that would be used for weekends and cruising to shows in the Summer has done 4,000 miles in 3 months! Still reconsidered that the car needs to be driven not just washed polished and admired by passing dog walkers.

 

You're obviously somewhere local to Ringwood. If you want a good alternative to Hollygrove, have a look at Classic & Performance Cars Sales - Ringwood, Bournemouth, New Forest. Keith, who has looked after my car since it was out of Jaguar warranty, was at Hollygrove but moved to Classic Connections a few years ago so I followed him. Excellent guy, very helpful and friendly.

 

The engine number is the definite indicator of a Nikasil engine, not the VIN.

 

@Nigel Thanks for the information Nigel. I live in Verwood so not too far from Ringwood.

Hopefully I have finished spending for a while but I'll certainly let them quote me next time anything big needs doing.

@Mark. I understood that as well but I was told by a local "specialist dealer" that a vin number whose last serial numbers were prefixed by an F had the steel lined cylinders. However on ringing Jaguar at Poole, they could not be anymore specific so I'll just be content that the engine is

A) Not using oil and
B) Has enough performance to keep me smiling when I'm driving it.

 

If you look at the engine through the left front wheelarch, the number is on the side of the engine. It's in date form. The first non-nikasil engine ended in 0008181043, if I recall correctly.

I think the consensus is that if a Nikasil engine has not already failed, it will be fine, as there is much less sulphur in gasoline today.

 

+1

Remember that Nikasil without sulfur is a very long wearing combination. IIRC, it was used in F1 engines for its superior wear resistance.

You will be OK.
Vector

 

Thank you Vector. I was also reading that Porsche used the Nikasil lining with great success. The understanding was that the Porsche engine ran hotter than the Jaguars and so didn't suffer from the sulphuric acid problems that cooler engines had. Now that the sulphur content is extremely low and has been for the last 16 years then these engines with their lower friction coefficient should be better.

Like I said, I'm happy and not having sleepless nights about it.