I am not much of a mechanic, but I do want to certain fixes myself such as as replace brake pads, remove seat and panels for replace carpeting and upholstery. I have found one service manual, but the is WAUY to technical and written for professionals. Best would be a book from Haynes, but they did not cover this vehicle. Anybody has a anything on this?

 

Have you looked at the factory manual? It's available on cd for not very much and IMHO is not too technical. You can get it from the Jaguar Heritage or I think a few of the parts houses like Coventry West.

 

Thanks. I have looked at this publication, but I am not sure if this is doing it for me. Does anybody own this publication and can share their thoughts? I am looking for guidance in general maintenance such as air/oil/fuel filter change, brake pads, uninstalling of interior panels etc.
I hate to waste the $50.00.

 

@newguy

I have the big, thick repair operations manual, or ROM as it is often referred to (over $100), the JDHT CD (~$25) and an alldatadiy subscription (~$26/yr). And of course I have the internet. I would estimate that whatever I do on my XJS, 90% of the time is spent researching it, and the final 10% of the time is spent actually doing it.

I have found large discrepancies in all of the above sources for my '92 car. If I had to only buy one, I would buy the JDHT CD. Once you have worked out how the menu system works, it's pretty straightforward. I used to have Haynes manuals for my cars (not XJSes) when I lived in the UK so I know the sort of thing you are asking for, but to my knowledge it's not available for the XJS.

Is your XJS a 6 cyl or the V12 ? Depending on the answer, you could look for another Haynes manual that covers the mechanical parts of your car (X300 6cyl or XJ12).

Interior trim removal is actually quite straight forward. The seats are held in by 4 bolts. and a wiring connector. The center console is held in by about 4 screws (its a while since I had mine out). The door cards have 2 screws (one under the armrest, the other hidden by the chrome trim piece at the end of the door handle) then the usual snap in fittings all the way around. I don't have rear seats so can't comment on them. The wood trim on the dashboard pulls off, except the piece thats in front of the airbag on the passenger side..... that requires you to go under the dash and unbolt it from below (There was another thread about this recently...) I haven't done this because my '92 car has no passenger airbag. Carpets are mostly glued in place, and come in many different sections. Whole replacement sets are available, with autoberry being a good source I believe . Used seats in good condition are pretty unheard of, but you can recover the original seats. I have done this and posted my results in another thread recently.

 

Excellent feedback - I am going for the JDHT CD. I also appreciate Sarc's instructions on taking of the wooden trim pieces, as this would have to be done as well. Mine seem to be burl walnut, but the sun did a trick on them - I have now about three different colors. As they are still in good shape I am looking for a descent refinisher. Any thoughts on this?

Did I already say that I love jaguarforums.com?

 

You can either have the wood refinished (There have been threads on this here..... do a search) or Pauls Jaguar has some NEW wood kits.... Nearly Sold Out - NEW 1993.5-1996 Jaguar XJS Wood Facia Kit - Just GORGEOUS! | eBay

Note : This is only the dash wood, so you'll have to assess whether this will match your existing door and ski slope pieces. He also has full wood kits which look gorgeous.... I guess it depends on your budget what route you go