Jaguar XJ X350

[Muddle238]

This year I'm getting sorely tempted to change my Rover 75 Tourer, a shed experiment that I've been running for the past five years, and scratch the V8 itch.

While there's nothing wrong with the 170k mile Rover, the BMW diesel is a clattery old thing and while reliable, isn't particularly refined. The things I like about the Rover; it's old fashioned styling, wafty ride, walnut everywhere, relaxing drive and so forth would all be present in an X350, but with the added key bonus of a V8.

Has anybody got any experience of the X350, any particular quirks they suffer from etc.?

I'm specifically looking at the 2003-05 model years to avoid the post-March '06 VED hike, I'm thinking more along the lines of the NA 4.2 V8, but open to experience or comments about the smaller V8.

I'm aware of potential air suspension issues, and also corrosion where aluminium meets steel rivets.

TIA

[bobsavage789]

I have a 2005 4.2 NA in Sovereign trim. Had it about 15 months or so. It’s on 95k miles (91k when I bought it).

I have a readers’ rides thread here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Main issues for me so far have been the heating playing silly buggers, and a new coil pack being needed. I’ve also had a rear wishbone replaced, and the other will need doing soon. Beyond that I’ve been very happy, and it’s a superb way of covering ground in supreme comfort with a nice V8 warble. I got a bit panicky when petrol prices skyrocketed, but ultimately a smaller engine wouldn’t save me that much money… probably.

Happy to answer any questions.

[Muddle238]

bobsavage789 said:

I have a 2005 4.2 NA in Sovereign trim. Had it about 15 months or so. It’s on 95k miles (91k when I bought it).

I have a readers’ rides thread here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Main issues for me so far have been the heating playing silly buggers, and a new coil pack being needed. I’ve also had a rear wishbone replaced, and the other will need doing soon. Beyond that I’ve been very happy, and it’s a superb way of covering ground in supreme comfort with a nice V8 warble. I got a bit panicky when petrol prices skyrocketed, but ultimately a smaller engine wouldn’t save me that much money… probably.

Happy to answer any questions.

Excellent thanks. Good thread, nice TVR!

Like all things, it'll be a case of buy on condition, luckily I'm in no rush and can afford to wait for the right car to come along.

In terms of maintenance, how straightforward is it to change fluids such as gearbox oil; it's a bit of a pig on my 75 auto, I leave those sorts of things to the experts. Also while I presume Jag main dealers will still work on them, are there any well-known specialists out there who cater for the X350, or older Jags in general?

[bobsavage789]

Muddle238 said:

bobsavage789 said:

I have a 2005 4.2 NA in Sovereign trim. Had it about 15 months or so. It’s on 95k miles (91k when I bought it).

I have a readers’ rides thread here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Main issues for me so far have been the heating playing silly buggers, and a new coil pack being needed. I’ve also had a rear wishbone replaced, and the other will need doing soon. Beyond that I’ve been very happy, and it’s a superb way of covering ground in supreme comfort with a nice V8 warble. I got a bit panicky when petrol prices skyrocketed, but ultimately a smaller engine wouldn’t save me that much money… probably.

Happy to answer any questions.

Excellent thanks. Good thread, nice TVR!

Like all things, it'll be a case of buy on condition, luckily I'm in no rush and can afford to wait for the right car to come along.

In terms of maintenance, how straightforward is it to change fluids such as gearbox oil; it's a bit of a pig on my 75 auto, I leave those sorts of things to the experts. Also while I presume Jag main dealers will still work on them, are there any well-known specialists out there who cater for the X350, or older Jags in general?

Gearbox is a specialist job, I’m afraid. I think it’s primarily because of the reflash required after the oil change. I had mine done in the summer at a transmission specialist and it cost me £420. I thought it was slightly high, but they came highly recommended.

There are plenty of Jag specialists around: I’m in Manchester and there are at least 3 of varying reputations near me. To be honest, I’ve just had my trusted non-specialist mechanic do most of the work so far: gearbox was the only thing he couldn’t do. The Jaguar V8 is a very reliable unit, which is good.

[Muddle238]

Marvellous, thanks very much.

[craigjm]

The electrics were an issue on the earlier cars, rectified by the upgrade for the 06 model year designated x356. Suspension can also cause issues on the earlier cars with the compressors being different ti the later cars and prone to failure. Rust on anything bolted to the body and filiform corrosion on the body where damage has been badly repaired or paint damage has not been properly dealt with.

Jaguar won’t change the gearbox oil as they say it is sealed for life. We all know that’s crap so Indy places will change it with the right equipment

Edited by craigjm on Saturday 14th January 00:13

[lornemalvo]

Presumably, cars imported from Japan are in better condition in terms of rust, especially underneath?

[P. ONeill]

As a former owner I don’t see a reason not to buy one, I think they have aged incredibly well. I find myself looking at them in the classifieds from time to time. Avoid the twenty inch wheels if you can, they really compromise the ride in my opinion.

[Muddle238]

Thanks all.

Got a couple lined up to view this week, will see what's what. Will be good to start seeing them in the flesh.

[craigjm]

Having a look on autotrader there are some pretty stuff asking prices being set. I wonder what they are actually achieving

[samoht]

lornemalvo said:

Presumably, cars imported from Japan are in better condition in terms of rust, especially underneath?

Yes, not guaranteed (so do check) but most are much cleaner than a typical UK market car.
They also (like the US) didn't take many diesels, so there are more petrol-engined large cars available.
They typically do lower annual mileages than us, so low mileage cars are easier to find too.
Also, an import from outside the EU doesn't suffer the £630 top rate road tax, but gets the £300 'legacy' rate like pre-2001 cars.

Downsides:
Can have to look harder/pay more for insurance
ULEZ eligible from 2006 only (whereas UK cars are often eligible before that)
Radio & Sat-nav typically don't work in this country (Radio 2 only)
112mph speed limiter (can be removed)

[ChocolateFrog]

Corrosion, mine had it round the windscreen.

Air suspension compressors can be rebuilt for £20 and 2 hours work, hardest bit was fighting corroded wheel arch fastners.

Driveline vibrations are not uncommon, never did find the source of mine but suspect the wheels were out of round.

[craigjm]

samoht said:

lornemalvo said:

Presumably, cars imported from Japan are in better condition in terms of rust, especially underneath?

Yes, not guaranteed (so do check) but most are much cleaner than a typical UK market car.
They also (like the US) didn't take many diesels, so there are more petrol-engined large cars available.
They typically do lower annual mileages than us, so low mileage cars are easier to find too.
Also, an import from outside the EU doesn't suffer the £630 top rate road tax, but gets the £300 'legacy' rate like pre-2001 cars.

Downsides:
Can have to look harder/pay more for insurance
ULEZ eligible from 2006 only (whereas UK cars are often eligible before that)
Radio & Sat-nav typically don't work in this country (Radio 2 only)
112mph speed limiter (can be removed)

They also have a different boot lid

[Patrick Bateman]

bobsavage789 said:

Gearbox is a specialist job, I’m afraid. I think it’s primarily because of the reflash required after the oil change. I had mine done in the summer at a transmission specialist and it cost me £420. I thought it was slightly high, but they came highly recommended.

There are plenty of Jag specialists around: I’m in Manchester and there are at least 3 of varying reputations near me. To be honest, I’ve just had my trusted non-specialist mechanic do most of the work so far: gearbox was the only thing he couldn’t do. The Jaguar V8 is a very reliable unit, which is good.

Not a requirement according to Mackie Transmissions.

It's the physical work that means it's more specialist.

[craigjm]

Patrick Bateman said:

bobsavage789 said:

Gearbox is a specialist job, I’m afraid. I think it’s primarily because of the reflash required after the oil change. I had mine done in the summer at a transmission specialist and it cost me £420. I thought it was slightly high, but they came highly recommended.

There are plenty of Jag specialists around: I’m in Manchester and there are at least 3 of varying reputations near me. To be honest, I’ve just had my trusted non-specialist mechanic do most of the work so far: gearbox was the only thing he couldn’t do. The Jaguar V8 is a very reliable unit, which is good.

Not a requirement according to Mackie Transmissions.

It's the physical work that means it's more specialist.

It doesn’t need a reflash it will reset itself in the first miles. What is needed is a pump to get all of the old fluid out

[anonymous-user]

When people talk about a "reflash" they mean resetting the pressure adaptations. This is separate to the TCU learning your driving style and changing shift points, which it also does. The gearbox ECU has a set of offsets from baseline for the line pressures for each of 5 clutches to get good shifts, and as the gearbox wears and fluid breaks down it will change them slowly over time. You can also get some idea of how worn the box is from how much higher than standard the pressures are running.

They cannot be reset by disconnecting the battery and while the box will over time adapt to suit the new fluid you will get far better results by resetting them and running through the adaptation procedure (which just wants to see three shift events and particular engine speeds and input torque levels), although if you just reset them and get on with things you'll end up just giving it some learning shifts anyway. Interestingly the car keeps a count of just how many shifts have been counted towards the adaptation figure. Either the JLR SDD software or one of the more functional aftermarket systems (autologic etc) can be used to do it.

Changing the fluid itself is not at all hard but is messy. The plastic transmission sump needs to be replaced because it contains the filter, so you just drain the sump using the built in drain plug, unbolt and swap the pan, use a £20 fluid transfer pump to fill it up, run the car until the oil reaches the right temperature (use SDD or a laser thermometer on the sump), undo the fill plug and then put more fluid in until it trickles out, then put the plug back in. This doesn't get all the fluid out of the box but the very strong advice seems to be to NOT use a full powerflush on ZF6 boxes, so if you want to get more of the old fluid out you need to repeat the change procedure again after giving the clean and dirty fluid time to mix.

If the box is shifting fine I'd just change it now, then at the next annual service, and then just change it at ever 3rd service to keep it fairly fresh. I probably wouldn't bother changing the pan/filter every time though.

Garages absolutely bend you over for any gearbox work, including servicing, because everyone in the UK is scared of autoboxes. A full ZF kit with the pan, new screws, and ZF Lifeguard6 fluid is all of £180 retail including VAT and the change itself takes half hour but they all want £400+ off you for it even though they're using aftermarket fluid and parts.

[Patrick Bateman]

Yet Mackie Transmission are a ZF agent and they use a hot flush machine.

[anonymous-user]

I think if you ask 10 gearbox specialists about flushing machines you'll get 10 different answers, and an 11th from the companies that sell the machines.

This doc gives step by step instructions for a DIY fluid change with pictures too

https://penriteoil.com.au/assets/tech_pdfs/154%20Z...