Well as said in my introduction speech, I've bought a £700 1994 Jaguar XJ6!

It has 331,000 miles on the clock (however full service history and services every 5,000 miles since 1999!)

However the reason for the cheapness was a tiny little thing called an MOT!! Or an MOT failure more specifically!

Here is the list: (rather long, but for £700 who cares!)

N/S Front Tyre below 1.6mm tread depth limit
Exhaust middle box excessive corrosion resulting in leak of gasses
Exhaust back box excessive corrosion resulting in leak of gasses
O/S Front brake pad(s) below 1.5mm
N/S Front brake pad(s) below 1.5mm
N/S Anti-Roll bar linkage displays excessive movement at ball joint

Advisories

O/S Front tyre nearing 1.6mm tread depth limit
Slight play in O/S wishbone/pin
O/S Rear wheel lacks braking effort in hand brake test - 17%. It would appear the hand brake system requires adjusting or replacement

Quite a list but none of those items are fatal.

 

Not fatal like you said, but if you need any help, you should post this in the XJ40 section of the forum since that is the body type your Jaguar is.

Sounds like replacing your tires would be pretty self explanatory, and probably the brakes too.
For an MOT would they accept a patch for the exhaust system leaks? Not every state requires an inspection over here (mine doesnt so I wouldnt know) but I just picked up an exhaust system patch for about $9. My thinking is it would be a cheap temporary fix to pass your MOT, until you could get new exhaust parts.

Sounds like your handbrake just needs adjusting. I cant remember where they are on the XJ40's, but on my Series 3 its back by the inboard brakes.

Ball joints are a fairly easy fix. A little penetrating fluid goes a long way to help difficult nuts and bolts.

Good luck on your repairs!!

 

Nope, patching won't pass an MOT, As it won't fully stop the leak.

The exhaust gasses smell quite strong so I'm guessing it would fail the CO test in the emissions test, but don't know as it wasn't done because of the leaking exhaust.

So I think I'll just replace the whole exhaust (excluding manifold).

 

Nice low mileage car you have there. WOW.

Moving this to the XJ40 section. lol

 

Yeah I wasnt sure about the patch thing. But I thought it might save some money while pursuing other repairs.

Its nice to see a high mileage vehicle still on the road. My XJ40 had 260,000. Its no wonder you need a new exhaust system though. Its seen 16 years of use and over 331,000 miles

 

While you are replacing ypur cats make sure the front cats in the exhaust manifolds are passing the exhaust freely. They are prone to getting pluged and then you can have head or head gasket problems