Okay, I'm new to Jags, got an XJS builder last week, it runs good, although a idles a little fast (2000rpm), I'm a little worried, I want to just cruise a little with it, no long trips, etc., after viewing several of the posts on this forum I'm worried the car will break down! Someone says the best tool with a Jag is a cell phone, so many problems on this forum, I'm worried to take this XJS to the grocery store, did I make an exoteric mistake? I've wanted one for years and now that I have one I'm almost afraid to take it to out on the road. Are they really this unreliable? This one has 75K miles on it, the other owner must have driven it that many miles without to many complaints!

How worried should I be if I went on a 500 mile trip? Is the car, in reasonable condition going to dump me on the side of the road on I-15?? Why do they have such an unreliable reputation? Is it because of the 'Prince of Darkness' or some other issue? How can I have a mechanic check me out and give me a reasonable bill of health???

I feel intimidated to take the car out of the driveway now, everyone tells me Jags will **** the bed after a few miles! I want it to run reasonably, don't expect factory 100%, just cruiasability.

Any comments?
Dick C. (1989 XJS)

 

I think the xjs has an undeserved bad Rep. If the car is in decent condition then it should make a perfect cruiser. Just make sure that the maintenance is up to snuff and the failure prone items are addressed, cooling system, distributor, fuel lines to name a few.

The high idle needs to be addressed, check for vacuum leaks first.

 

Eh. I don't know if you can call it undeserved.

I would call it over exaggerated.

 

Vee is right. There's a basis in truth to the stories but they're overblown to at least some degree.

Dick, the typical used XJS needs a fair bit of rehab. Very few have been properly cared for. Be prepared for some expenditure of time and money.....and then you can enjoy the car. We can help you sort thru the problems

I bought my '88 XJS sight unseen and drove it home ...750 miles....and it never skipped a bit. Others haven't been so fortunate.

I spent a few months ironing out all the usual neglected areas and then enjoyed the car for 3-4 years with only minimal effort and expense. I made *many* 500-600 mile weekend jaunts with nary a lick of trouble.

Reliabilty IS possible but it takes some effort. These are "owner involvement" cars. You don't own an XJS, actually.

You have a relationship with it.

A well-cared-for Jag is a purring kitten that wil repay your efforts in more than equal measure.

An ill-cared-for Jag is a nasty, unforgiving bitch.

Cheers
DD

 

Well said Doug, captures the essence of the XJS experience perfectly

Cheers,

Allan

 

Wow, thanks for all the input guys, well now that I have my roller I'm going to go thru it and get it in shape. It runs good but idle is still 2100 and I can't find that adjuistment that is supposed to be on the coolant pipe at rear of left cylinder bank. Trouble with ignition switch, still starts but now and then when I let go of key it dies, windows won't roll up and down; have to take the lower panel down and reach up and wiggle wires on back of switch, then it goes okay (usually until the next time I try to start it).
Beautiful interior, good exterior, no dents or rust, a little fading on the roof, bumpers, etc. still clean and shiny. Near new Touro tires, wire spokes a little oxidized. All in all I'm happy for $850.00 it was a good deal!!
Dick C.

 

Idle is controlled by the AAV located at the rear of the LH bank. It works like a thermostat, but closes with temperature as the engine warms up. There is a screw in the side of the AAV this is the idle control, try adjusting it. if it does not adjust idle down to correct speed the AAV is in need of repair or replacement.

You can test it by removing it and immersing it in a pan of water on the stove, it should close as it reaches operating temp (can't remember exact temp off top of my head, but would expect around 90degC).

Windows - remove the window switches and pull them apart clean the contacts with some iso alcohol and a cotton bud, this should have windows work for a while again. There is a mod to install high current relays that will fix the problem for good.

 

this is the case with any higher end car, they are complicated for their day and need to be taken care of.
People buy them new and don't care for them because they are new, and this can be the case for the second owner too, but once the first or second owner has neglected it enough to where it has any problem, it gets sold. They can afford it if they can afford a 100,000 dollar car after all!

What this means is by the time cars like these get passed on to the 3rd and 4th owners who could never afford them, they have a bevy of neglected maintenance that a 3rd or 4th owner can't usually pay for if they couldn't afford the car to begin with.

So coupled with the complexities that luxury or high end cars have in their day, the neglected maintenance earns them all bad reputations.


Point is there is nothing particularly bad about the XJS, it just gets ignored and then when it comes back to bite everyone cries about it. Take car of it like you should ANY car and you will only have the issues associated with ANY car.

Can the water pump go out in a 25 year old jag? Yes. Can the water pump go out on a 25 year old honda, Gm, Ford, etc? You bet.

Do EVERYTHING to take care of the car and make it as reliable as you want it to be, or can afford.
Mine drives me to work and school all week, it has some issues, but doesn't complain very much. I have taken it on a 700 mile trip before with no issues other than my 40 dollar fuel pump getting hot and noisy

 

I haven't ever changed the fuel hoses on my 2000 Ford Taurus with 180,000 miles and the car hasn't burst into flames yet.

My wife's 2005 Honda Pilot has the original fuel hoses. It hasn't caught on fire.

Try ignoring the fuel hoses on the 5.3L V12.

I don't think this car got a bad rap because the water pump was prone to failure. It got a bad rap because the car would burn down. That's not a problem you hear much of on the Ford or Honda websites.

 

how many fords or hondas run a v12 ?






BB

 

Don't be afraid to use your XJS, I drove mine across Australia (about 5000miles) with only a pin hole leak in a radiator hose (not the Jags fault).

The V12 was fuel injected in 1976, O ring injectors were not around then neither were fuel injected Hondas or Fords. Just replace the injector hoses and it will be fine for another 10-20 years.

 

Thanks to all for the great info! I've heard bad things about the fuel lines and was wondering which lines are suspect? Is it from the tank? Or on the engine itself?
Dick C.

 

Oooops warjjon, you answered some of my question....injector hoses. This car was sitting for a couple years and maybe fabric hoses need replacing.

I'm going to change the ignition switch, still having trouble with it starting and the dying when key turned to RUN. Think maybe some bad wiring.
Dick C.

 

Vee you are talking about two cars that are 1/4 and 1/2 as old as the average xjs. Age affects rubber just as bad, if not worse than heat. Aside from that the fuel hoses used on an xjs are not made of the same materials as they are today, that is an issue with the braking system too. This would be the case for all period cars made in the uk.
Either way you can't compare a 7 year old cars rubber to a 25 year olds and scoff at its need to be replaced.
The water pump was just an example. All cars consist of the same parts and most of those wear at the same rate. All cars have strengths and weaknesses. If you want to get technical you are supposed to replace your airbags and seatbelts every 3 years you water pump every 100k, you entire braking system needs to be rebuild about 100k as well and fuel hoses probably all need replacing at 150k... If you use the oem maintenance schedule. That goes for the majority of cars

 

To hell with OEM Scheduled Maintenance! No one is talking about OEM schedule. I'm talking about if you don't change your hoses every 5 years you run the risk of setting your engine on fire. ON FIRE.

If you don't change your Marelli distributor cap annually AND travel with a spare, you will set your engine on fire and/or run the risk of being stranded. (who ever though stranded would be a popular choice?!?)

The water pump, seatbelts, airbags BS all need to be replaced on all cars, so I'm not talking about that. I'm trying to illustrate why this car IS NOT the same as any other 25 year old car and that this car does indeed have flaws that are, as you said "particularly bad".

You can revise my two car comparison selections as "1984 Honda Accord" and "1986 Ford Taurus". Neither car sets its engine on fire when you ignore the fuel hoses or distributor replacement.

Jaguar earned this reputation based on years of issues, not mythology. It is solvable if properly monitored, but I doubt you'd learn of Marelli failures in the OEM service book you got when you bought the car. Pretending that every 25 year old car has issues that will almost guarantee an engine fire is not the standard in the used car department.

It's not like Jaguar told owners in their service manuals that the dizzy had issues and fuel lines were scheduled for replacement every 5 years.

I haven't even brought up the overheating issues, which can be debated. Marelli failures don't quite seem to be debated much on these forums. They are taken as fact from what I've been reading over the years.

 

I have owned my Marelli XJS for 4 years and I have never replaced my rotor or cap. I do periodically remove and clean them, like any moving part. I also drove my Marelli XJS from Perth to Sydney a Journey of nearly 7000km with nary an issue, a burst radiator top hose where the last guy nicked the hose with a screw driver, again not the cars fault.

The "Marelli Issue" There is no history suggesting this was an issue when the car was new, I suspect it is because 2nd and 3rd owners scrimp on maintenance. My car had not had the front 4 plugs changed in I don't know how long, the front 4 cylinders were not firing properly, this causes the ignition spark to find its own path to ground possibly through the rotor.

Also Ford recalled over 80000 Fusion and Escapes over engine fires.

Any car will burn if a fuel hose leaks in the engine bay. It is poor maintenance that causes this, not an inherent fault with the entire brand, if this were so EVERY V12 Jaguar would have burnt at some point

 

To check the ignition switch use a multimeter to measure the voltage on the wires at the back of the switch

Big Brown Wire = 12V supply
Big White/Pink = Accessories
Big White = Run
Big White/Yellow = Start

When you start the car the White/Yellow will have 12V when you release the key the plain White wire will keep 12V to the ignition system. If this wire has 12v when the car dies you will need to look further down the line. I think this wire goes directly to the coil pre-Marelli. Could be your alarm/immobilisers if fitted.

 

Yes, I will check these as best as I can, as I am new to Jags I don't know about these Marelli issues, how can I learn more? My seller told me I had Morelli ignition, I just nodded and said okay as I didn't know what he was talking about. I have a spare ignition switch which I only need the part that has the plug in on it, I'm going to plug it in and see if the engine will stay running, I hope it does. Please be advised that this car was sitting for a long time, it's in great shape, interior is perfect except for no headliner, Touro tires look brand new, Pirelli spare, no dings, rust, etc., just needs some TLC in the engine compartment and dashboard. I only paid $850 for it so can't expect it to be perfect, just want it to run and be safe! Worried about fuel line fires now.
Thanks for everyones replies and help,
Dick C.
Colville, Washington state

 

If you periodically remove and clean every moving part on your car, then I certainly applaud you. If you think that is standard practice for 99% of cars and 99% of car owners, then I would disagree.

I also applaud Ford for recalling the Fusion and Escape. I wish Jaguar had decided to do the same to correct their inherent design flaw over a 15+ year run of the 5.3L V12 engine.

I will not be able to convince you that the design for the engine is flawed, in regards to the fuel delivery.

I am not aware of another modern make and model that has such a propensity to go up in flames. Not the Merc, not the BMW, not the Saab, etc etc.

My original point was that this car does have design flaws that have been unaddressed over it's production run. Luckily forums like this exist to educate the owners so that simple preventative maintenance (that was never recommended by the manufacturer) can be addressed.

 

A Marelli car will have 2 ignition modules on the radiator support I have circled them in yellow.

Just go through everything bit by bit, brakes (these have probably been neglected) engine. replace all the spark plugs, it's a PITA to do as you have to remove the AC compressor (not completely just unbolt it and move it out of the way BTW DO NOT REMOVE THE BOLTS THAT HOLD THE REAR BRACKET TO THE ENGINE) I would also replace ignition leads with good quality new ones, NOT the ones off eBay I used these and ended up having to replace them again as I had more than one with excessive resistance causing misfiring. You will almost certainly have a few issues to chase after you do this as the wiring can get a bit crunchy, just be careful while you are in there.

$850 wow they are a lot more expensive here in Australia, $2000 will buy you a wreck.