I happened to find this piece of plastic laying on the grass, which seemed to follow the Tyre tracks of my XJS.

So this was either dropped by a bird or else it must have broken off the Car, which is in the garage and its raining and the weather looks bad for some time.

Its a piece of thin hard solid shiny plastic and it has got some sort of serial number on it and since the label had got wet its very hard to read.

It could start off with AM5 or could be 4M5 there is another digit but I can't make out what it is.

The next number is:17K243 (I think again hard to read)

Then A8A?

Could it be off the front spoiler?

This piece of plastic, wherever it came from is made of very hard shiny brittle plastic.

Any ideas?

 

Wheel arch baffle (piece of) maybe?

Greg

 

Boy that's a good one,
I had the entire front off my 1990 and the type of plastic clip thingy in the first picture does not look familiar at all.
The only plastic I recall being being of the hard brittle type was as Greg said, the inner wheel arch, but I believe they have a texture and I don't recall that shape on.
them

 

It could be Greg, so that's one place I'm going to look but could it be something to do with a headlight surround?

 

doesn't look like XJS to me

the clue i think is in the date code scale, can you see the month and year on it

as far as i know, this type of dating code was never used on the XJS , for any part , but you never know

BB

 

Hi Gunner01

I thought it might have broken off the Spoiler, or something to do with the spoiler, or maybe something to do with the headlights?

It looks like part of something that might go round a headlight but I'm not sure if there is any sort of plastic shroud surrounding them?

I can't get the Car out at the moment or even get the bonnet/hood up, where She is.

 

Hi BB

It's really hard to see any numbers, as they were printed on a label that got wet, while this piece of plastic was laying on the grass.

So until I can get her out of the garage, this unidentified object remains a mystery.

 

you misunderstand

there is a printed date stamp moulded into the plastic, this is made of a grid of dots, indicating year and month , all modern plastic parts are dated this way

you can see most of the date stamp is still intact on the broken edge of the part, this is not a white printed label , its just under the remains of the label

BB

 

Hi BB

I See what you mean!

The Photo shows the numbers I have found stamped on it, so hope this helps solve the mystery.

 

usually a grid of x & y

x could be year , 09 , 08 , etc

or could be month

and y could be the years 2002 / 2007 etc , could be 02/ 07 , depends on the grid layout

so the code could read where the rows of dots end on the X/Y 09/2007 for example.....

BB

 

The rest of what I can see are just empty grids, with no other numbers in sight.

So the mystery continues, until I've had a proper chance to look around the car.

Anyway Thank you for your help which is appreciated and I will let you know what I find.

 

Parts dropping off Jaguar??????? Do you think this is the work of god Lucas or has another deity attacked. Might there be a saint of loose nuts? (Saint Planters or Saint Freud)
Parts falling off cars is relatively rare; finding them is rarer!

I remember changing a tire next to an Insane Asylum and knocking the nuts down a sewer grate. One of the inmates told me to take one nut from each remaining wheel. I said to him "that's rather clever." "He said we maybe crazy, but were not stupid!"

 

OB,

I know the diagram relates to a late facelift car, but you can see that it implies that there seems to be a large polypropylene panel somewhere between the grille and the lower undertray.

The shape of your bit seems like it could be the end horizontal bit of this panel broken off from its triangular strenthening fillets that hold it to the vertical section.

Hope this helps.

Paul

 

Sorry OB,

That to which I referred only seems to have been fitted to late big-bumper cars. See here:

Cooling Duct-Upper/Lower - Parts For XJS from (V)179737 to (V)226645 | Jaguar Heritage Parts UK

So unless it fell off the 4 litre that you had, it seems it's not this bit!

Paul

 

i would suspect the number you have are the years,

so , to the right of the numbers are the month dots, if there are 6 dots ( 12 spaces filled by dots for up to 12 months ) to the right of the number 10 , then that would be June 2010 , if you see what i mean

manufacturers make a grid for the life of the part, and fill a dot each month of manufacture , eliminating the need for more complicated date coding

i respectfully suggest its not from your particular 1989 car, and is a part of someone else cat that may have been spat up into your under tray or suspension, and then fell on your drive

if concerned about you own car, a quick look with a torch underneath should confirm the above, as its not a small part....

BB

 

Hi Paul

You could be onto something! as when I took the front spoiler and undertray etc out from under the front Bumper/Fender of my other XJS.

I came across a 'solid plastic panel' that seemed to be made of very brittle material.

I've still got it in the Garage (somewhere) as it hasn't been refitted yet but you 'could' see it in place on my grey XKS looking straight down, just in front of the 'Rad'

The only problem being, as she is in the Garage, I cannot get the Bonnet/Hood up at the moment, as I would have to back her out to do that.

Which I don't want to do, as it is chucking it down and also blowing a gale!

Though I'll have a look as soon as the Weather improves.

The last time I had my grey car out, I had to jack the back and front up, just on one side, to fix my 'droopy' exhaust.

So wonder if jacking the body up may have caused a piece of this very brittle plastic to break?

I cannot remember whether or not, the Wheel arches also have a plastic lining, as a new one of those would probably cost £100 per arch.

 

Hi BB

I hope you are right about it being from someone elses Car but I cannot get under the XJS as the Bonnet/Hood is tucked underneath the workbench, so I would have to back her out of the Garage.

Which I will have to put on hold until the wind dies down as its blowing a gale and don't want to risk my homemade door blowing down onto the Car.

 

Orangeblossom,

The piece of plastic in question to my eye looks more like a piece of trim off a newer car. Looks like it has several molded hooks on the back side which is common on newer ish trim and the front side has a finish that your would expect to see on this type of trim.

Here is what I think is actually happening in your yard. Your neighbors are bored and have decided to start dropping random pieces of auto trim on your yard behind your many XJS paths. They by now know your patterns so they start popping the pop corn say 10 minutes before you go out the house and sit back and enjoy your frantic search for the missing XJS part- instant entertainment.

You will know I am right about this when the neighbors start having block parties and all the chairs are facing your house-LOL !!!!!!

 

Hi Paul

You still could be onto something!

As while there is no item (1) fitted to my Grey XJS (1989)

I'm pretty dang sure, that I have seen something that looks like item (2)

If so it may have cracked off under stress, while I was jacking her up to fix the exhaust.

Its not off my 4.0L litre one, as She has been it the garage since last Summer.

 

April 1st is on Wednesday!

Good conspiracy theory though!