RE: Shed of the Week: Jaguar XJR
Discussion
I bloody love this era of Jags and would love an XJR if they weren't all knackered. Modern big saloons just are too, err, German. These look like you slide into them, select Waft-o-Matic and cruise off effortlessly at a fair old lick while smoking a cigar (I don't smoke but would if I had one of these) and people would most likely smile at you in your Jag.
I had one and a lovely thing it was, too.
A little word of warning, however; as the engines become overdue for overhaul/rebuilds, owners are finding that most of the essential things you'd need to rebuild the engine are no longer in the Jaguar parts inventory - pistons, shells that kind of thing. Owners are having to source bits from Mahle and similar and then do some engineering to keep the cars on the road. And Jaguar show no real interest in addressing the problem. It is sad but true that it is easier to get bits for XJ engines these days than it is for the AJ16.
I'm told that Aston Martin holds some spares in its stock of i6 DB9 engines which share the same basic engine design.
A little word of warning, however; as the engines become overdue for overhaul/rebuilds, owners are finding that most of the essential things you'd need to rebuild the engine are no longer in the Jaguar parts inventory - pistons, shells that kind of thing. Owners are having to source bits from Mahle and similar and then do some engineering to keep the cars on the road. And Jaguar show no real interest in addressing the problem. It is sad but true that it is easier to get bits for XJ engines these days than it is for the AJ16.
I'm told that Aston Martin holds some spares in its stock of i6 DB9 engines which share the same basic engine design.
ez64 said:
Offered to buy this tomorrow but it's already being collected.
respect for your consumption of brave pills.. this screams Walk On By.. would have been a hoot for the first few days, before bits started falling off. there's a reason why this mechanic is selling it for Shed money.psi310398 said:
I had one and a lovely thing it was, too.
A little word of warning, however; as the engines become overdue for overhaul/rebuilds, owners are finding that most of the essential things you'd need to rebuild the engine are no longer in the Jaguar parts inventory - pistons, shells that kind of thing. Owners are having to source bits from Mahle and similar and then do some engineering to keep the cars on the road. And Jaguar show no real interest in addressing the problem. It is sad but true that it is easier to get bits for XJ engines these days than it is for the AJ16.
I'm told that Aston Martin holds some spares in its stock of i6 DB9 engines which share the same basic engine design.
But you're so unlikely to need any internal engine components - the AJ16 is absolutely bombproof. There's none available because nobody ever needs to buy them and Scrappers are knee deep in strong AJ16 engines good for at least another 100k surrounded by a vaguely rectangular iron oxide rich crop mark where the rest of the car used to be. A little word of warning, however; as the engines become overdue for overhaul/rebuilds, owners are finding that most of the essential things you'd need to rebuild the engine are no longer in the Jaguar parts inventory - pistons, shells that kind of thing. Owners are having to source bits from Mahle and similar and then do some engineering to keep the cars on the road. And Jaguar show no real interest in addressing the problem. It is sad but true that it is easier to get bits for XJ engines these days than it is for the AJ16.
I'm told that Aston Martin holds some spares in its stock of i6 DB9 engines which share the same basic engine design.
Engine wise at least the X300 as well as the six cylinder XJS will almost certainly get noted in history as the most unborkable Jaguar ever made.
Brits do love a British car... the rest of us see something that was hardly desirable at any stage of it's life, and even less so now. Look at what this would have been pitted against when it was new, and the opposition was offering at the time. A Merc W140? The W126 was a hard act to follow, it was heavy (double glazing didn't help), and a certain Paris crash destroyed the reputation overnight - unfairly. The BMW E38? The cheesiest Bond ever drove one. Cheesy, but a great car. The Audi D2? Superb, but positively near-worthless now. All infinitely better than the Jag.
I would love to know how many they made, and where they sold well. I speculate the cars I've mentioned above sold more uniformly outside their native countries than the Jag.
I would love to know how many they made, and where they sold well. I speculate the cars I've mentioned above sold more uniformly outside their native countries than the Jag.
just passing by said:
ez64 said:
Offered to buy this tomorrow but it's already being collected.
respect for your consumption of brave pills.. this screams Walk On By.. would have been a hoot for the first few days, before bits started falling off. there's a reason why this mechanic is selling it for Shed money.
Edited by ez64 on Friday 14th September 23:48
otolith said:
BFleming said:
Brits do love a British car...
Balls they do, they still believe the German marketing and no number of chocolate engined Porsches, rusty, unreliable Mercedes, nikasil and swirl flap ingesting BMWs or emission cheating VAGs will convince them otherwise. 
theaps. Personally despite the list of faults you present about the alternatives, they were (and still are) superior cars to this particular Jag.BFleming said:
otolith said:
BFleming said:
Brits do love a British car...
Balls they do, they still believe the German marketing and no number of chocolate engined Porsches, rusty, unreliable Mercedes, nikasil and swirl flap ingesting BMWs or emission cheating VAGs will convince them otherwise. theaps. Personally despite the list of faults you present about the alternatives, they were (and still are) superior cars to this particular Jag.As I recall at the time, this generation of Jag XJ (during Ford ownership I believe) had a better reliability record than the German competition and always fared pretty well in comparison tests. Anyway, what's wrong with British car enthusiasts getting all excited about one of its own?
I was really enjoying this weeks Shed of the Week and the general love for this old car, but there's always a German car owner somewhere on Pistonheads ready to put the boot in -sigh **!
Jaguar steve said:
But you're so unlikely to need any internal engine components - the AJ16 is absolutely bombproof. There's none available because nobody ever needs to buy them and Scrappers are knee deep in strong AJ16 engines good for at least another 100k surrounded by a vaguely rectangular iron oxide rich crop mark where the rest of the car used to be.
Engine wise at least the X300 as well as the six cylinder XJS will almost certainly get noted in history as the most unborkable Jaguar ever made.
Because this is PH and I'd hate to disappoint, I'd point out that this XJR is designated the X306Engine wise at least the X300 as well as the six cylinder XJS will almost certainly get noted in history as the most unborkable Jaguar ever made.
. What you say is true, but not the whole story: the supercharged AJ16 engine suffers much more stress and heat soak than the NA AJ16, not least because the Jaguar team (for perfectly valid reasons) compromised on air flow and cooling, both in the the engine and in the M90 supercharger.
And while the supercharged engines are indeed largely bombproof, they can and do go wrong. Not everyone wants to rely on unprovenanced scrappy bits to rebuild an engine and some bits require replacement on all AJ16s at one point or another (as you acknowledge).
I think you would acknowledge that finding uncracked cast iron exhaust manifolds at the scrappy, from any AJ16 engine, would be a miracle. So custom manifolds will be needed on any and all AJ16 engines at some point. (This is not a problem for me as I have retained the engine to perform a transplant and will need custom manifolds made anyway, probably in steel.)
And the AJ16 engine won't work without its matched (programmed) ECU, unless you go after-market. This ECU has an inherent design flaw - it is very vulnerable to water ingress and consequent frying. Fried ECU = useless engine, unless you can get a replacement ECU re-programmed. So far as I know, there is only one person in the UK who can do this.
I would encourage anybody who is interested to get an XJR6 but to be aware of the possible limitations.
And yes, I have a spare engine stripped down to component parts for spares, plus a couple of clean ECUs in case my current one needs re-programming.
greenarrow said:
BFleming said:
otolith said:
BFleming said:
Brits do love a British car...
Balls they do, they still believe the German marketing and no number of chocolate engined Porsches, rusty, unreliable Mercedes, nikasil and swirl flap ingesting BMWs or emission cheating VAGs will convince them otherwise. theaps. Personally despite the list of faults you present about the alternatives, they were (and still are) superior cars to this particular Jag.As I recall at the time, this generation of Jag XJ (during Ford ownership I believe) had a better reliability record than the German competition and always fared pretty well in comparison tests. Anyway, what's wrong with British car enthusiasts getting all excited about one of its own?
I was really enjoying this weeks Shed of the Week and the general love for this old car, but there's always a German car owner somewhere on Pistonheads ready to put the boot in -sigh **!
BFleming said:
otolith said:
BFleming said:
Brits do love a British car...
Balls they do, they still believe the German marketing and no number of chocolate engined Porsches, rusty, unreliable Mercedes, nikasil and swirl flap ingesting BMWs or emission cheating VAGs will convince them otherwise. theaps. Personally despite the list of faults you present about the alternatives, they were (and still are) superior cars to this particular Jag.My Mum has bought a newish generation Audi A6, hand on heart, my 2003 XJ has much better toys/interior as standard. Quite disapointed with it really!
Drive a proper Jag that has been well looked after and it gets under your skin.
alec.e said:
Drive a proper Jag that has been well looked after and it gets under your skin.
Yeah that is a common problem, usually you can get a tetanus shot for that. That said, I'd have had this one if I had room for it, it was worth more in parts than as a whole car and honestly, it would've been fun for however long it lasted until it went pop. Proper shedding.
Jaguar steve said:
Scrappers are knee deep in strong AJ16 engines good for at least another 100k surrounded by a vaguely rectangular iron oxide rich crop mark where the rest of the car used to be.
True that as scrap X300 are worth next to nothing. I got £100 for a rotten runner. I keep reading here that the engines are bomb-proof. so feel a little annoyed to have had an AJ16 go bang. I got £500 for that one afterwards. I am one of those people who are often the last owner of a car. Get a good one though and you are laughing. I had one for over seven years, paid peanuts and, bar a crank sensor, nothing broke. Nothing. Running cost, apart from fuel, was as cheap as for any other old runabout.These cars can get under your skin. So much for so little and you get to swoosh around like the lord of the manor.
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