cornishcat,

It sounds like you've got some investigations to do. Something so severe as to cause pull to left, gearlever moving and engine dying sounds like a combination of things, maybe even left rear brake jamming? First check for gearbox mount wear is to see if the edges of the fanblade have scraped the top of the fan shroud. If there's ANY chance that has happened, change the fanblade. A blade that lets go will punch a hole through your bonnet and cause a huge mess. Radius arm bush wear shouldn't cause gearlever movement or engine dying?

Don't get hung up about MY. It's just confusing. All part changepoints are done at precise VIN. Your car is between 179737 (intro of facelift) and 188104 (last car before plastic bumpers). Identify all your part numbers from Jaguar's parts website and then you'll have the part number and can decide if you want to buy from Jaguar (online or via a dealer). You should be able to get at least 10% off from your dealer if you're a member of the JEC. Alternatively, go to Manners or Barratts. They will have up to 3 options on parts:

- Original Jaguar (But it will be full list price. You can probably buy it cheaper yourself from Jaguar with discount.
- a cheaper OEM option. Unlike most places on eBay, if MAnners or Barratt's say OEM, you can trust them
- an aftermarket part. Your choice if you go down that route. I wouldn't unless it's absolutely unavoidable.

Good luck

Paul

 

Hi Cornishcat,

Congratulations on getting the car started and running after it's long layup.

I presume your car has the "barrel" style gauges as opposed to regular clock face type? If so then same as my '90 model. My experience is that temperature gauge should sit half way between C and N on normal usage and will creep towards N in heavy traffic on a hot day. Oil pressure 75 psi at tickover when cold (i.e., 3/4 way up scale) and drop to 50psi when warm so your figures don't sound too bad.

You have had enough good suggestions on things to look at re handling issues so nothing to add.

Regarding part supplies you sometimes have to think outside the box. Google the part number and you may find another car of similar vintage uses the same part and has better availability / affordability. For example, for my recent clutch and gearbox overhaul I found that the spigot bearing in the flywheel is same as for Triumph Dolomite / TR7 and the rubber bushes connecting gearlever remote linkage to gearbox are also same as for TR7. Neither of these items were easily available from Jaguar.

Good luck with the rest of it.

Cheers,
LeeP

 

It would seem that above all- a very valuable lesson has been learned, well a couple of lessons.

Firstly and most importantly is how we transport our vehicles. My car for the last 4 years of its life has done less than 500 miles a year, and although serviced every year and had no expense spared for its MOTs; leaving these big heavy cars sat around for long periods of time is hard on the undercarriage. When you then strap that undercarriage to a flat bed by its wheels and then have time conscious eastern European drive it 450 miles in under 5 hours- that same undercarriage is going to suffer a great deal. It looks like I have a broken wheel hub. I do plan to fit outboard brakes so looks like the car will be off the road for the winter, but ready for the spring.

I need to get going on the X Type as its taking up all the free space at the moment.

Will post a new thread when I start work but its safe to say- I am now an XJS owner.

 

That's another lesson also - when you are going to do a quick job that may render the vehicle immobile be careful where you start the quick job - they often aren't ....

A lot of the 'investment' XJS garage queens look pretty but as viable road going vehicles they're junk.

 

Well done, at least it's home!

Don't be concerned at the oil pressure gauge, that's absolutely fine, even high. Oil pressure is 2.75 bar at 2000rpm. That gauge is 4 bar at the mid-point, so you're showing really high oil pressure at the mid-point or above. Mine sits at the mid-point when driving and drops lower than the mid-point at idle, which is correct.

Water temp is reading low, which could be anything from a gauge problem (the earth connections on teh instrument cluster are known problems), a sender problem or a thermostat stuck open. Start by checking that the stat opens correctly by feeling the top hose which will suddenly change in temp as the stat opens.

The journey begins....

Cheers

Paul