XJR - couple if niggles. Any advice

[Bacon_VII]

Hi all,

About 6 months ago I bought myself my first Jag, namely a 2002 XJR 100. Its absolutely lovely, but it has got a couple of niggles that I wondered may be common on the XJ's af similar age.

Niggle 1
The washer fluid bottle leaks. Its obvously got a problem somewhere, and jusdging from where the puddle on the drive is, its either the bottle itself or he joint to the hoses. Are these easy enough to get hold of ? and do I need to take the wing off to get at it, or is it simply a removal of the under tray job ?

Niggle 2
Unfortunately, about a month ago the heater seemed to pack-up. The climate control/AC and fans are all fine, its just that on a cold day by the time I've drive to my destination I still can't get any warm air in to the cabin even though the engin is nice and warm. Are these prone to a common failure (thermostat or valve) ? Are they easy enough to fix ? Who's good to contact for spares ?


Any advice very much welcomed.

Thanks.

[a8hex]

For Niggle 2, does the engine come up to temp?
When the thermostat on my X300 died the engine just went cold, I've got a pre-heater so I could bring the engine up to temperature start the car and within no time it was cold and the heater was cold too.

[Bacon_VII]

a8hex,

Thanks for the reply. Yes the engine does indeed come up to temp (according to the gauges). I was wondering if I have a failes thermostat and or valve, such that no hot water ever gets as far as the heater matrix.

Thanks.

[a8hex]

Sounds like it, but I can't help you there, sorry.

[Piersman2]

The lack of heat will most likely be the soloniod/pump that sits in the engine bay and directs water into the inside heater matrix. Apparently prone to sticking. On my old 1998 XJR I stripped it down and checked it's operation. Then I started on flushing the heater matrix out. I was gonna replace the matrix and had bought one, but I never used it before I sold the car.

To be fair though, even when everything was working ok it used to take an age for that xjr to get hot air, and it was never piping hot. My new one isn't much better, seems that the X350s take almost as long to heat up.

Best I had was an old XJ40, I could nip out , start the engine, and have the car completely defrosted and warm within about 5 mins.

These newer ones just can't do that!

[Stevieste]

The heater on mine only takes about 2 miles to start getting hot.

[TurricanII]

There's no chance the puddle is from your aircon outlet under the car is there?

[Bacon_VII]

I'm reasonably sure its not, on the basis that if I fill the washer bottle it partially empties itself over a couple of days down to the level the the low warning is display on the dash and the puddles cease to be. I'm figuring its got a crack in these somewhere.

Thanks.

[varsas]

I assume your coolant is up to level? (heater is the first thing to go due to low coolant, as it's at the top of the system)

Do the hoses get warm?

Are you sure the engine is up to temp? Leave it running after a drive, does the electric fan come on?

Does the system actually switch over to hot? I am not familiar with these cars, but in my XJ-S you can tell when it switches from 'cooling' to 'warming' as the main central vent is cold only, and the windscreen vents only ever let hot air out. On my BMW the system stops momentarily when switching between the two modes. Anyone know how this owner can tell for sure?