RE: SOTW: Jaguar XJR (X300)

[ILoveMondeo]

sumnide82 said:

Well I'm off to pick up the shed of the week,
Hope the air bag light doesn't blind me on the way home.

Something is making the light come on so something can make it go out...

Can't expect not to have a little Challange or two when buying something cheap,
But he who dares wins...

And it helps having an MOT bay on site...

And if you have something with no MOT then there are plenty of nutty Europeans and Africans lurking on eBay that are actually genuine and value their cars differently to us fairy English- the bigger the car, the more it's worth!

are you back yet? how was it?

[QuiteQuietCerb]

i am the previous owner of the car and it is absolutely spot on! no need to change belts or anything did them last year. airbag light is the connection joint above the lft knee. take off the plastic panel under steering wheel. stick your hand the dash on the left of the steering wheel and make sure all connections are pressesd tightly its one of them 2 wires to 2 wires. any problems wheel it to reading and i ll sort it for you. enjoy!!

[Dominicc01]

Jaguar steve said:

Post 2011? Over a decade out there...

2000 model year in fact. Cars with conventional steel liners instead of a nicasil coating directly on the aluminum bores can be identified by the last 6 figures of the VIN number being one letter followed by 5 numbers. Several earlier nicasil coated cars cars will have had replacement steel lined engines fitted under warranty and can be identified by a metal tag at the RH rear of the block or by interogating the engine management software.

Oops. Yep - meant to say 2001 (slip of the finger). But realise I'm still out, because it was Sept 00. Confused myself because when I was thinking of getting one I was looking only at 2001 and later to avoid any problems with certainty (never did get one though. Too similar to the X300 and I needed a change).

[Dominicc01]

BlackPrince said:

Will probably (maybe?) be a lot less reliable than other SOTW but its worth it for those gorgeous lines imo

Nah, the AJ16 is as reliable as clockwork. Rust will kill it before anything else does. The gearboxes (Mercedes IIRC or maybe ZF on the X300 and Mercedes on the V8?) were more prone to failure on the XJR than the standard X300, and the XJR was more prone to blowing its head gasket, but generally these are probably one of the most reliable sheds you can get.

[myles1972]

The 'balls to expense' bravado in this thread absolutely cements my desire to buy an S Type R in the Autumn. Cheers guys, so much like in here today!

[johnpeat]

myles1972 said:

The 'balls to expense' bravado in this thread absolutely cements my desire to buy an S Type R in the Autumn. Cheers guys, so much like in here today!

I'd like to qualify that as "if you like cars, spending £1000 on one isn't a big punt" bravura.

If you were to buy it and discover it needs an engine rebuild and major chassis work and electrical work and you were stupid enough to spend the money on it, I'd point and laugh tho - not THAT sort of bravura...

[sumnide82]

Well I'm home
I'm happy
I've had a McBreakfast
I've met a nice man
I've given the nice man not a lot of money
I've been fast
I've been slow
I've been sideways
I've been to the petrol station
I've had the sunroof open
I've had my sun glasses on
I've not seen any sign of the air bag light
I've listened to the top 40
I'll get back whatever money I've spent
I'm looking forward to finishing off the tyres tomorrow lunchtime with a massive rolling burnout

[myles1972]

johnpeat said:

myles1972 said:

The 'balls to expense' bravado in this thread absolutely cements my desire to buy an S Type R in the Autumn. Cheers guys, so much like in here today!

I'd like to qualify that as "if you like cars, spending £1000 on one isn't a big punt" bravura.

If you were to buy it and discover it needs an engine rebuild and major chassis work and electrical work and you were stupid enough to spend the money on it, I'd point and laugh tho - not THAT sort of bravura...

Yeah, agreed! I'm getting as much motivation as possible from anyone who buys any car that has the potential for wallet ripping outlay, be it 1k or 100k. The more of these threads between now and September the better. I'll definitely have the S Type R if they continue!!

[myles1972]

sumnide82 said:

Well I'm home
I'm happy
I've had a McBreakfast
I've met a nice man
I've given the nice man not a lot of money
I've been fast
I've been slow
I've been sideways
I've been to the petrol station
I've had the sunroof open
I've had my sun glasses on
I've not seen any sign of the air bag light
I've listened to the top 40
I'll get back whatever money I've spent
I'm looking forward to finishing off the tyres tomorrow lunchtime with a massive rolling burnout

The spirit of motoring in full effect. Sideways is my personal favourite.

[Welshbeef]

sumnide82 said:

Well I'm home
I'm happy
I've had a McBreakfast
I've met a nice man
I've given the nice man not a lot of money
I've been fast
I've been slow
I've been sideways
I've been to the petrol station
I've had the sunroof open
I've had my sun glasses on
I've not seen any sign of the air bag light
I've listened to the top 40
I'll get back whatever money I've spent
I'm looking forward to finishing off the tyres tomorrow lunchtime with a massive rolling burnout

That's what it's all about hooning about in great cars. This one would have been £60k plus car new ad an M5 rival something which many petrol heads would aspire.
Good for you enjoy it souds like you got a good one
Enjoy it

[dbdb]

sumnide82 said:

Well I'm home
I'm happy
I've had a McBreakfast
I've met a nice man
I've given the nice man not a lot of money
I've been fast
I've been slow
I've been sideways
I've been to the petrol station
I've had the sunroof open
I've had my sun glasses on
I've not seen any sign of the air bag light
I've listened to the top 40
I'll get back whatever money I've spent
I'm looking forward to finishing off the tyres tomorrow lunchtime with a massive rolling burnout

Excellent stuff! Keep us updated!

[dbdb]

ILoveMondeo said:

fk it..

I'm going to by an XJ of some description at the end of the month when I get paid.. that is if sanity doesnt set it between now and then...

Any of them are great cars! - Just make sure you check everywhere for rust - that's what kills them.

[AndyLeysh]

sumnide82 said:

Well I'm home
I'm happy
I've had a McBreakfast
I've met a nice man
I've given the nice man not a lot of money
I've been fast
I've been slow
I've been sideways
I've been to the petrol station
I've had the sunroof open
I've had my sun glasses on
I've not seen any sign of the air bag light
I've listened to the top 40
I'll get back whatever money I've spent
I'm looking forward to finishing off the tyres tomorrow lunchtime with a massive rolling burnout

Love it, shedding defined, should be on wiki!!!

Best of luck and keep us posted, please!

Brilliant thread BTW.

[johnpeat]

sumnide82 said:

I'm looking forward to finishing off the tyres tomorrow lunchtime with a massive rolling burnout

It's not spanish is it - so that might be slightly tricky?

[Jaguar steve]

Dominicc01 said:

BlackPrince said:

Will probably (maybe?) be a lot less reliable than other SOTW but its worth it for those gorgeous lines imo

Nah, the AJ16 is as reliable as clockwork. Rust will kill it before anything else does. The gearboxes (Mercedes IIRC or maybe ZF on the X300 and Mercedes on the V8?) were more prone to failure on the XJR than the standard X300, and the XJR was more prone to blowing its head gasket, but generally these are probably one of the most reliable sheds you can get.

Several different gearboxes in the 1995 - 2003 XJ range.

3.2 Six cyl cars had either a 4 speed ZF automatic with hydraulic control or a 5 speed Getrag manual option, six cyl 4.0 and supercharged cars had the same ZF box but with electronic control and sport option and a 5 speed manual option. I believe around 100 XJRs were supplied as manuals.

No manual option on the V8. The 3.2 and 4.0 n/a cars had a 5 speed ZF box and the supercharged cars were fittted with a stronger Mercedes 5 speed auto.

V8 gearboxes are only prone to premature failure as Jaguar claimed they were sealed for life and needed no oil changes. Several have gone pop at 70k miles and up because of lubrication failure. Changing the oil and filter is a tricky procedure - there's no dipstick or conventional filler hole - but should be done every 40-50k or so. The gearboxbox will then be reliable for substantial mileages. I've driven one car with 182k on the clock on its original gearbox and know of others well over 100k.

[defblade]

sumnide82 said:

Well I'm home
I'm happy
I've had a McBreakfast
I've met a nice man
I've given the nice man not a lot of money
I've been fast
I've been to the petrol station
I've been slow
I've been to the petrol station
I've been sideways
I've been to the petrol station
I've had the sunroof open
I've been to the petrol station
I've had my sun glasses on
I've been to the petrol station
I've not seen any sign of the air bag light
I've been to the petrol station
I've listened to the top 40
I've been to the petrol station
I'll get back whatever money I've spent
I'm looking forward to finishing off the tyres tomorrow lunchtime with a massive rolling burnout

Admit it, that was more like your day

Enjoy!

[Leptons]

Welshbeef said:

A short MOT with the airbag warning light on at a time when the MOT rules have changed to specifically to deal with faulty airbags. So it could be spares or scrap much sooner than you may think.

Good luck though

Please stop repeating this drivel. It is a visual inspection for the light coming on and going off again.

There are ways around it!

[sumnide82]

Failed MOT this morning on 2 tyres. Of which I have 2.

Still no sign of the air bag light.

The photos and advert of the car do not do it justice, its in great order.

13 months MOT, 5 months tax, 300 + bhp, change of a grand.

Boom.

[Dr Imran T]

AndyLeysh said:

Love it, shedding defined, should be on wiki!!!

Best of luck and keep us posted, please!

Brilliant thread BTW.

indeed, one of the best SOTW in some time.

RE. the actual car, my only gripe with this car though is the rather small cabin - well it is small considering the car is longer than an oil tanker.

Still, a lot of car for the money and it's great too see a PH'er get this car.

[Welshbeef]

Leptons said:

Welshbeef said:

A short MOT with the airbag warning light on at a time when the MOT rules have changed to specifically to deal with faulty airbags. So it could be spares or scrap much sooner than you may think.

Good luck though

Please stop repeating this drivel. It is a visual inspection for the light coming on and going off again.

There are ways around it!

If that's true then fair enough I've just seen threads on here and there seems to be significant uncertainty about it.