Coolcity

I just bought the same disc on ebay for £28, though it was a one-off sale. Seems to be a lot quicker than the original 2008 disc. Those are still selling for around £10, so if I sell that it brings the cost down to around £20 (after sales fees)

Quick question. Can I use a different size temporary spare wheel than the size of the normal tyres? I know the stock answer would normally be no, but the reason I ask is because my car has 19 inch wheels and I need to buy a spare as my car didn't come with one, but all the spares I've seen (those bright orange things) for sale seem to be 18 inch. 🤔

Thanks, that's useful to know. I will take a closer look at those.

Surprised to hear of issues with Here maps. I first used them as a free app on a Windows phone around 6-7 years ago, and they were by far the best sat nav map I had ever used. I heard that a couple of years later Microsoft sold them to BMW/Mercedes. The app is now available on Android, called HERE We Go but I've never got around to trying it. I still have the original mapping on my 2009 XF but I don't do that many miles and not that much has changed in the past decade or so, so I've never bothered updating it. I may have a look for that £20 2019 upgrade disc that Apriliaman2000 mentioned about 18 months ago.

When I got the car they had awful cheap Chinese tyres on, I forget the brand but in the slightest bit of rain they slid all over the place. Dealer had swapped them actually before I collected the car as it had Dunlops on when I went to look at it - I didn't notice until a couple of weeks later. I got the P-Zeros as the local National tyre place had a really good deal on them, and cannot fault them at all, wet or dry, but I was told the Dunlops last longer. As for snow, all rear wheel drive cars struggle. I had a 3-series a few years ago and it was a nightmare in the snow, As luck has it, it very rarely snows where I am . I tried the Michelin Cross Climates and they were brilliant in the wet but typically, it never snowed all the time I had them so I cant comment.

I would get it looked at a.s.a.p. as it sounds like something that could be due to fail completely and that could be expensive. If it is the water pump - I believe they are known to fail - I would definitely get the cam belt done at the same time.

I've seen aftermarket kits you can buy, seem to be from £500 or so upwards. To be honest I don't do enough mileage to justify the cost, as long as I can play music from Spotify on my phone I'm happy, and I can do that with a £20 Bluetooth gadget. You're not going to get Bowers and Wilkins sound quality of course, but for the price I'm not complaining.

Yes, good point. I have read that but I was under the impression that it was quite an old article and decided to check if the law had been updated since, but I haven't got around to it yet. I was more concerned about the insurance side of things to be honest but I asked them if switching to LED bulbs made a difference to the policy and they said it didn't, which given that it's an MOT fail was a bit of a surprise. At least I can see at night.

I'm pretty sure this interior lights tip is shown in the manual somewhere. I'll take a look next time I can get at it, it's in the boot wheel well and the boot is full at the moment.

Interesting. I have the double beep problem when trying to lock the doors with the button on the handles, but it's intermittent. Sometimes I have to try again by leaving it for a second then pressing the button again, sometimes I have to try a different door. Driver's door seems to be the one that doesn't work most of the time, left rear seems to work every time, varies with the other two doors.

That is low. 7-8 months ago I bought mine, 09 plate 3.0 diesel XF and it had the DPF Full warning on when I picked it up. Took 150 miles of motorway driving to clear it but the warning came back every couple of weeks and eventually wouldn't clear. It turned out that the DPF filter was blocked which I put down to the low mileage. Mine had around 50k miles on when I bought it, but had only done 4-5000 miles over the previous 4 years so obviously hadn't been on any long motorway runs, and had probably been used just to run round to the shops in. I had the DPF filter removed and cleaned by these guys and it's been fine ever since. Never had any other problems with it and it's easily the best car I've ever had. Have not regretted the purchase even after having to get the DPF filter removed (and added new tyres), dealer was naff but the car is superb and feels pretty bulletproof. Only thing I would say is be very wary of a low mileage car with no service history. You would still be getting a very good car with twice that mileage on it as long as it's been well maintained. Never buy the first one you look at!

I haven't read all the thread to be honest but for what it's worth I swapped out the original halogen bulbs on my XF, which I thought were a bit naff, and replaced them with LED bulbs. MOT test passed and it wasn't mentioned. Techinically all you would have to do is replace them back to the original bulbs for the MOT test. I doubt that it's likely to be anything you would ever get pulled up for, but it could possibly void the insurance in the event of an accident. My understanding of the law is that you can change original halogens for HID type, but not LED type bulbs. It's apparently something to do with the beam pattern which was originally unsuitable for use with headlights, although it's no longer the case as better ones have been produced since the legislation came into effect. The main concern would be the insurance issue but even then it's probably not something an investigator would look at.

You're lucky, the Shell near us were selling STANDARD diesel at 177.9 the other day. I'm not totally convinced about this V-Power for diesel to be honest, I know the petrol version is a higher octane but as far as I'm aware the diesel is just the same as standard diesel with a few cleaning additives added. I know for sure that Esso's version, Synergy + simply has 2x the amount of cleaning additives but apart from that there's no difference. It might be cheaper just to use a bottle of STP Diesel Treatment or something similar every so often. Any thoughts?

Have you tried ebay? I've seen a few on there when I was looking for an up to date one for the XF.

To be fair, at the time I don't think anybody was saying that the X Type was a bad car in it's own right, the problem was simply that it wasn't considered to be a "true" Jag because it was based on the Mondeo. I think that analogy has got lost over the years and when people hear it said now, they just assume that it wasn't a very good car.

That's good to know. In many cases I believe it's pointless paying main dealer prices as they're only following the information that comes up on the diagnostics and replacing parts - something any independent can do. Happy to say I've had no further issues since I had the DPF cleaned.

I had a similar issue with Restricted Performance recently and eventually found out it was the DPF that needed cleaning. Details on this thread: Restricted Performance Got the DPF removed and cleaned for £190 + VAT, which includes a 12 month guarantee, by these guys - there are branches in other areas I believe: Blocked DPF Cleaning Service, the UKs fastest & most effective - UK DPF The thing about DPF cleaning is there are different types, and if the method used previously used the type of cleaning where they heat it to 1000 degrees or so in an oven, it will burn off the soot but not the ash so if you have a heavily blocked DPF, even removing it and cleaning it might not have worked correctly if they didn't use the most effective method. I'm no expert but this worked perfectly for me and the car drives like new now with no fault codes at all. Too much to go through here, All the info/history is on the thread link above, I know it's a long read but I can highly recommend this especially as it comes with a warranty. Have a read and see if it looks similar to your position.

That sort of stuff will clear the soot but not the deposited ash in the DPF. When it's totally blocked and the car can't regen it, then it will need to be removed and cleaned. Dealers will tell you it needs to be replaced which will cost £1000 or more, but they rarely actually fail and usually only need cleaning. I got mine done after having problems which were almost certainly due to the previous owners only doing low mileage (3k or less) every year for the previous 5 years. I got my DPF cleaned by ukdpf.co.uk and it cost £150 + VAT for the clean and £40 + VAT for removal and refitting. Job includes a 12 month warranty and the difference is incredible.

I've got one of those too.

Exactly, and knowing now that aspect of it is nearly as good as new gives a lot of peace of mind. It's far more enjoyable to drive now, breathes as it should and is super smooth.

DPF removed and cleaned using by these guys - Blocked DPF Cleaning Service, the UKs fastest & most effective - UK DPF - who as I mentioned happen to be just a mile away from me. Total cost was £189 + VAT (£!49 clean, £40 removal and refit) which, given that it restores the DPF to as good as new and is a guaranteed job, I'm more than happy with. Actual bill was higher as I had the car serviced as well as the last 3-4 services only seem to be oil/filter changes. Goes like a rocket now, and no errors whatsoever.

Yes, looking over the service record I realised that for the last few years the car had only done limited mileage, so obviously very unlikely to have done any long runs and definitely not regularly, so the question really answered itself at that point. Most likely ash build up rather than soot, which is why I prefer the flushing technique to get it cleaned out, and the procedure does come with a 12 month warranty. As such it makes a lot more sense to get the whole thing done properly, and I'll know everything has been checked over and put right if needs be, which should mean no more related issues. Price includes making sure the turbo is clean and clear and operating as it should, full DPF clean, check EGR valves and heater plugs, and fuel filter so I think that's not bad. It's worth it for the peace of mind alone and it's not as if it's something that's going to have to be done regularly.

OK, so due to the added DPF issue I've had an assessment done locally, partly because the garage I went to does DPF cleaning by removing the filter and flushing it clean, which removes both the soot and the ash, and partly because the owner of the garage runs a Range Rover Sport with the exact same engine. And it's only a mile away instead of an 80 mile round trip. He says it's a fairly common issue with these, the turbo actuator gets blocked and in turn that leads to the DPF becoming blocked. The car has only done 54k, but has done only 3k a year or less for the past 6 years and not much more than that for the rest of the time, apart from the first 18 months so there's no doubt that the previous owners have just been tootling around town with it and have probably never been over 30mph, so we know the DPF needs a full clean at the very least. With that in mind I've decided to get it done locally by this garage who obviously know what they're doing, so I know it's all done right and properly. They're going to check the turbo and EGR valves, just make sure everything is cleaned throughout and that it's running according to spec. I spoke briefly to the dealer I got it from and they said they think it only needs a good dose of cleaner flushing through it and that will clear it (I'm not even sure if they were talking about the turbo or the DPF), but I'm not happy that won't be anything other than a temporary fix, and I'd still have to get the DPF professionally cleaned anyway. I asked their mechanic over the phone "What about the EGR valves", and he sounded puzzled and said he didn't think this model was fitted with EGR valves. I honestly don't think they have a clue what they're doing, they're just fitters. Even the door handle fix had to be outsourced to somebody else because they didn't know what to do as they'd never done one before (actual job took less then 10 minutes). If I take it in I'd likely still need more work doing, I wouldn't know what they had done or checked and it's more hassle than it's worth, especially as it could be doing the engine and turbo more harm until the job's been done properly. The DPF isn't covered by warranty as it's classed as a consumable, so I've nothing to gain by taking it back to the dealer. I might as well get the whole job done properly and get it running as it should be, for peace of mind if nothing else. Then I know it's right and it's not going to break the bank (quote was around £350) so it's going in next Wednesday. I know this isn't ideal but it could turn out to be a ton of hassle that apart from anything else I don't have time for, and overall I'm still happy I've got a decent car for the money so why make it any more complicated than it needs to be for what at best would be a negligible saving and at worst could end up costing me a whole lot more time and money. I'll post the results here when the job's been done.

NEW DEVELOPMENT I posted on 31 October that the DPF Full light had come on. Notably in red - every time I've heard this mentioned in the various DPF threads I've read, an amber warning is always quoted but mine is most definitely red - "DPF FULL - SEE HANDBOOK". I'm aware that some cars have an amber warning light but as far as I'm aware the XF only has the text warning. This was accompanied by an amber engine warning light. Both went off after a steady 65mph motorway run of around 80 miles. It actually went off half way through the run, I stopped the engine for a minute before setting off back and the warning had cleared. But the Restricted Performance issue still appears if I "boot" it. Yesterday - less than a week after clearing it - the DPF Full warning came on again. Last night I did the same run again, and again the fault cleared after checking it at the half way point, about 40 miles, but the engine warning light stayed on. If I stop again and wait for a minute and restart, the engine warning light goes out. So now we have a red DPF warning that has reappeared after just 150 or so 'local' miles, fumes in the cabin (which I initially put down to the regeneration process), and an amber engine warning light on. "Service Required" light is on too, even though the last service was done less than 3000 miles ago. Is it reasonable to assume then that the problem all along could be a DPF that's now blocked and needs (at the very least) removing and cleaning, and could this be the cause of the Restricted Performance (RP) issue. I'm thinking along the lines of if it's blocked, it can't cope with the extra gas flow that comes from higher speeds/running with the turbo active and therefore that's what is causing the RP issue. Does that make sense or am I barking up the wrong tree? On running a diag using ICarsoft LR V2.0 I get the following fault code: P2463 - DPF Filter pressure sensor B circuit range/performance But no other fault codes. If I drive it and trigger the Restricted Performance warning I get the P22D2 & P22CF codes - Turbocharger: turbine inlet valve stuck open.

Yes, based on my limited experience but on the fact that the Turbo fault is the only one that has come up every time, and the fact that the warning and limited performance only happens when I accelerate hard enough to fire up the turbo, I'm far more inclined to think it's the actuator rather than the EGRs. That said, I've noticed the idle is erractic a couple of times, just for a few seconds, and sometimes there's a slight exhaust smell in the cabin, which I put down to the DPF burning off initially but it's there now at low speeds. Both those would point to the EGR side I would think.