Winter hack fail or genius? Broken Jaguar content

[AceOfHearts]

I am picking up my new car hopefully at the end of this week, so that I have something comfortable *and reliable* to use over the winter instead of the motorbike or TVR. I started with a budget of around £1300 to try and find a relatively tidy X or S type as after looking at sensible options (diesel Focus etc) I really couldn't bring myself to buy one, and know I would end up still using the TVR.

After seeing a succession of badly advertised and ropey cars I decided to see just what was closest to me to get a feel of what was for sale, which gets me to where I am now.

I have just put a deposit down on a broken X-Type. Losing water, engine management light. What can go wrong?

On the plus side the bodywork and interior are in much better condition than all of the others I have seen, it has loads of service history and an MOT until February. It also has a 3.0 V6 and a manual box I checked underneath and the transfer box has no leaks, and on our short test drive made no untoward noises. Plus it was less than half my original budget so I have some wiggle room for parts spending

The seller had no idea what was wrong with it apart from the engine light being caused by a lambda sensor (but I will check it myself before diving in and ordering anything). I had a good poke around whilst it was ticking over to find out where the water was going. I checked the oil which was clean and clear and spotted a steady dribble from the front bumper. Coolant! New radiator it is. Last but not least was a few crusty bits on the drivers side sill behind the front wheel, but I will give that a proper poke when I get home. Apart from that the rear brakes and ARB bushes were advisories on the last MOT so will get them sorted as well as giving it a full service.

Now I just have to get it home and complete before the winter really sets in! Easy

Anyways here are some pictures from the advert, and I will update as I plough through the work (yes the GB sticker will be going!)









First thing I have ordered is a Haynes manual and a used genuine radiator (£35). I will be trying to keep the parts spend down but will be doing everything properly. Wish me luck

Now . . . how to get a car 13 miles home with a broken radiator Watch this space

Edited by AceOfHearts on Saturday 9th April 21:12

[AceOfHearts]

99t said:

AceOfHearts said:

Now . . . how to get a car 13 miles home with a broken radiator Watch this space

Looks rather nice that, could be a real bargain. Not sure about the wood colour with those red seats though!!

F-I-L has a 3.0 S-type and I always note what a sweet sounding engine it is.

If the rad leak isn't too bad, just leave the header cap loose and you should be fine for 13 miles as long as you can avoid too much heavy traffic...?

Cheers thats a good idea, and yes i'm not too sure on the wood / seat colour either

Dash kits seem cheap though

Edited by AceOfHearts on Thursday 29th October 15:07

[AceOfHearts]

Cheers for all the comments

Yes the mats will be going, and I have seen this on ebay which looks good

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271711785489?_trksid=p20...

First things will be mechanical though. The sills don't worry me too much, repair panels are cheap and access seems good

[AceOfHearts]

HughG said:

Any way you could take the new rad and either change it there, or drive round the corner and change it at the side of the road? I don't know how much of the front needs to come off to do the rad on these, but it would be a shame to cook the engine on your way home!

As others have said, ditch the red mats, change the wood for Piano Black, a lambda sensor, rad, service, rear brakes & ARBs and a bit of welding to the sill and hopefully you'll have a cracking little motor.

That was my original plan, apparently the rad is easy to remove from underneath so hopefully the new one will arrive before I go pick up the car. I will see how things pan out

[AceOfHearts]

I'm sure the sills will need welding but I will document everything on here and show you what I find under the covers

The panels are very simple though and access looks good so I am not too worried, especially with what I have been dealing with on the Trabant!

This guy who sells (expensive) sill panels has some good photos with the covers removed:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-X-Type-Sills-Lase...

I have got a spreadsheet with all of my potential spending and at the moment I am still aiming to get the car perfect for less than shed money

ETA I am picking it up 8:30am Saturday (today)

Edited by AceOfHearts on Saturday 31st October 01:29

[AceOfHearts]

The Spruce goose said:

so structural rust gets failed at the mot, but this fix is not structural it is cosmetic.

The whole point of the mot fail is that it could be dangerous, or I am wrong so this fix is just a cover up?

Not quite sure I understand? Cutting out rust and welding in new sills is a proper fix.

[AceOfHearts]

Big thanks to LewG today, who took me to pick up the Jag this morning and provide a bit of support.

We topped the coolant up and left the pressure cap off and it didn't use a drop of coolant on the entire journey home which was nice, but the drive was not without issues. I knew the car was running lumpy when I went to view the car, but due to the leak could only take it for a spin around the sellers estate.

On the open road it had a pretty heavy misfire though, which was keeping the car in limp home mode so it had no power and wouldn't go above 3k rpm. When we got home we plugged the diagnostic reader in so I could start doing some research into fixes. Thankfully I don't think it came out too bad with only 5 codes

P0301 - Cylinder 1 misfire detected
P1316 - Misfire excessive emissions fault
P1313 - Misfire catalyst damage fault bank 1
P1646 - o2 sensor bank 1 upstream
P1647 - o2 sensor bank 2 upstream

From looking at this the first port of call is definitely to sort the misfire, as I suspect the other fault codes could all be related to this. Cylinder 1 is annoyingly at the back of the engine and requires the inlet manifold to be removed, but I will replace the coil and put in a fresh set of spark plugs and then go from there (apparently the coils are a common issue)

Only other thing I noticed was that the car is a little 'bouncy' so could be due some new shocks in the future.

Positive notes however are that all the electrics inside seem to work and the air con is even cold! Also the misses got home today and gave it the thumbs up which is always good

Hopefully I will be able to crack on with it on Monday but still have 2 x 12 hour night shifts to get through before then

[AceOfHearts]

Had a quick half hour on the car this morning (am about to go to bed)

I removed the engine cover and started searching for any damaged vacuum lines and sprayed a little bit of carb cleaner around to try to spot any leaks. Found that the tuning valves on the left hand side of the intake manifold were letting in quite a bit of air, so i removed them and the o-rings were very flat. Have a couple on order now so will replace them, but in the mean time I cleaned them up and reassembled with a bit of o-ring grease. Car is driving 90% better now and pulling ok, but still has a slight stutter when setting off and at light load, but things are going in the right direction and it no longer drops into limp mode



After a quick drive around I checked the codes again and the only two that came back were the two o2 sensors, so they might actually need replacing. I will wait and see how it is after the service and other bits are done though.

I have also been on a bit of an online spending spree this weekend and got a few little treats for it.

[AceOfHearts]

Thanks for the glowing review I will have to remove the intake manifold for the plug change anyway so I will give the throttle body a good clean then.

I did a track day in the TVR today but cooked the brakes after lunch so came home a bit early. I had about 30 minutes of daylight left when I got home but unfortunately none of the service bits and bobs have arrived yet, so I got busy with another very important job; getting rid of the clashy and horrible fake wood dash!

Before(including scratched ashtray lid and gear lever surround)



After



I have Friday and Sunday off so hopefully the engine parts will have turned up by then and I can really start cracking on

Edited by AceOfHearts on Tuesday 3rd November 22:06

[AceOfHearts]

Yes just did it in a couple of hours last night in front of the TV. Its 3M carbon wrap from eBay. Was about £10 i think.

[AceOfHearts]

C7 JFW said:

AceOfHearts said:

Yes just did it in a couple of hours last night in front of the TV. Its 3M carbon wrap from eBay. Was about £10 i think.

I like what you're trying to do with the car, but that wrap is worse than the wood.

Stick-on metallic silver would be better if you're looking to spend that amount.

You should have seen the 'wood' up close The dipped vents we did on the Trabant looked more realistic!

I will post up some finished interior pictures at the weekend to do some before and afters

[AceOfHearts]

Unfortunately I am still waiting for the main engine parts to turn up. So far all that has arrived is the radiator, mats and new coils. There was a break in the weather this afternoon though so I made a start on the radiator swap. Managed to squeeze the car on the drive next to the Trabant and set about removing the under tray.

What a colossal PITA! About half the bolts came out ok, the rest I had to drill or grind off. After that was over all I had time left to do was get the top and bottom hoses free and disconnect the wiring to the fans. All that is left is to remove the 8 (rusty) bolts holding the radiator support beam in place and then it should all drop out the bottom. If I have trouble with the support beam though I suspect the bumper will have to come off to get access with power tools. I have left everything soaking n Plusgas tonight though so will carry on in the morning. I won't get much time though as we are off to Santa Pod in the afternoon for fireworks

[AceOfHearts]

Ill give it a hoover out and get some pictures tomorrow

[AceOfHearts]

HughG said:

DodgeRam Van Man said:

AceOfHearts said:

so I got busy with another very important job; getting rid of the clashy and horrible fake wood dash!

It's not fake wood, it's lacquered real wood veneer. Maple I believe, in the X-Type.

Doesn't stop it being horrible....

It really did look very fake. I wish I had got some close up pictures before wrapping it now!

[AceOfHearts]

[AceOfHearts]

Bit more progress with the Jag today. Managed to get the radiator swapped out, I wish I had just put some Radweld in it now

Had to take the bumper off in the end to get enough access to free everything off. The new rad is in now though and almost ready to be filled. I will make sure all is working fine though before refitting the bumper and undertray (plus I need to order lots of new fittings after having to cut about half of them off!)

Old rad out


Lower half looks pretty bad


New vs old


End of the day


Annoyingly I am still waiting on the spark plugs and service parts. I will chase them up if they do not arrive tomorrow as its starting to hold up progress.

[AceOfHearts]

Six Fiend said:

While the inlet manifold is off for the plug change it might be a good idea to change the upstream O2 sensor. Three of four on mine went in quick succession.

Mine had no electrical issues and never broke down. As you're finding, parts are cheap and plentiful

Like what you've done to the interior.

Thanks

The upstream o2 sensors are both coming up as in fault on the reader, but I am not sure if that is still due to the mis-firing and vacuum leak. As you say though for £25 or so it is probably worth changing the rear one whilst it is all apart for the plug change.

[AceOfHearts]

Finished of the radiator today and got the bumper back on. Refilled the system and ran the car for 15 minutes and no leaks,so that's 1 job done! Thankfully I had enough coolant in the garage so that saved some money too.

All of my other parts have now arrived at the post office so progress should now be swift.

After I had finished the cooling system work today I had a bit of time spare so decided to refurbish the headlights (whilst the bumper was still off) and repaint the bonnet latch plate. All free jobs and smarten the car up a bit

Before



After



Side by side



Latch plate

[AceOfHearts]

Six Fiend said:

AceOfHearts said:

Six Fiend said:

While the inlet manifold is off for the plug change it might be a good idea to change the upstream O2 sensor. Three of four on mine went in quick succession.

Mine had no electrical issues and never broke down. As you're finding, parts are cheap and plentiful

Like what you've done to the interior.

Thanks

The upstream o2 sensors are both coming up as in fault on the reader, but I am not sure if that is still due to the mis-firing and vacuum leak. As you say though for £25 or so it is probably worth changing the rear one whilst it is all apart for the plug change.

Have you also checked the crank case breather pipe? The originals split and don't seal. There's a modified part available - like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-JAGUAR-X-TYPE-2-...

After doing all my O2 sensors and checking for the leaks ect mine ran okay but started to suffer an uneven idle and also a hesitancy under power. MAF sensor sorted that out. Ran perfectly afterwards. With slightly fruity custom made back boxes I really enjoyed it. It belongs to the brother of a PHer now

Yes checked the crankcase breather and also the brake servo pipework which both seemed in good condition before finding the leak around the tuning valve o-rings. I notice that there are clips either end of the one you posted up though which I don't have on mine so I will put a couple of jubilees on for peace of mind.

[AceOfHearts]

velocefica said:

What did you use to refurb the headlights?

Just 600 wet and dry (wet) followed by 1500 (wet) and then machine polished with Megs ultra cut polish and finished with Megs ultimate compound.

I only spent about 45 minutes on them so they are not perfect, but they are close