LairdScooby

Congrats on the pass Chris! Always a good feeling! With yours car being a 2000 model, this should be the right screenwash pump : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252268529673 From the Jag WSM ^^^^^ installation you "Haynes it" - reversal of the removal procedure. Hope that's useful! 😉 😄

Some of the clowns working in garages probably have no idea how to read a tyre pressure gauge! Or even a tyre pressure chart for that matter! Many moons ago, i put my 827 Coupe in for a wheel alignment check and it came back that the alignment was ok (i knew it wasn't, just wanted confirmation) but the tyre pressures were too low. Errr, no, they'd found they were 32psi all round, correct for an 827 Coupe running 16" wheels with 205/55/16 tyres. They insisted they should be 34psi all round so i asked them to show me so they confirmed what i already knew, they were reading the pressures for the 17" wheels fitted to the 820 Vitesse from 1996 onwards - another big clue there as it was a 1995 car! Makes me wonder what tyres i would have ended up with if i'd asked for a new set of tyres to be fitted! After that, i invested £72 in a Trackace DIY Laser wheel alignment system and did the job myself, correcting the rear wheel alignment (that they had insisted wasn't adjustable on that model!) and a tiny tweak on the front. They would have charged me £36 per axle to correct the alignment so to my mind the Trackace paid for itself on the first use, i've since done several other alignments with it and saved its original cost a few times over now. Back to the tyres, maybe they read the pressure for the space saver tyre and thought all tyres should be that! That's the TP chart for 1999-2003, double check your car Stopper for the label on the drivers door jamb to find the correct pressures but very few seem to be the same pressure all round. Usually the fronts are slightly lower pressure than the back on RWD cars so 32psi all round seems a bit wrong to me.

You did indeed John, thanks - i have read it. I'm hoping to exploit the loophole that the car will be tested with halogen glow-worms in (that's how they seem in the Jag headlights!) and then swap to LEDs afterwards. However, the law as far as HID states that the housing should have been designed for HID light sources (or words similar) and my plan was to use the ater HID headlamps from a 2002 on car. However, the wiring is so different on the HID that i don't want to be messing about that way. Not that it's beyond my skill-set, i just want something easily reversable. I can't use the excuse the lenses and housings were first used in the same model during or before 1986 as i can with the other two.

Fixed the image links above Russ! Not sure which Disco you're refgerring to but the first ones used H4 bulbs, later models used something different but not sure what.

I'd avoid the 100W halogen bulbs Russ, two reasons, first is the Front Electronic Module is probably not designed to run them as they will take nearly double the current of the standard 60W H7 bulbs and secondly, the heat produced by them will be much higher - the reflectors and lenses are both plastic so at best would be likely to warp/deform and/or discolour, at worst possibly melt. If you feel like trying the LEDs i linked to, i do know they offer a money back guarantee if they don't work as you hoped. Seems you may beat me to trying them out! Just to give you an idea and comparison, here's a couple of pics from a few years ago - the car on the left has ebay Xenon look halogens, middle (mine) has LEDs and the one on the right has Nightbreakers. All three cars are similar models, all alignments checked and all headlamps good condition with clean glass lenses so it makes a good comparison. If the H7 LEDs are as good as those (those above in the comparison pics are H4s) then should be a good improvement - i currently have ebay Xenon look bulbs in my S Type so once i've got past the MoT i'll order a pair and then maybe a pair of HB3 LEDs for the inner full beams.

I'm glad it's not just my imagination Russ although not happy Jaguar seem to have scored an own-goal with the standard headlamps on the S Type. I was expecting much better, the last Jag i had before the S was an XJ40 about 25 years ago, it was the Sovereign with the rectangular headlights and very good they were too. For the past 15 years i've had a 1994 Rover Sterling and that has good lights with halogen bulbs in, however i upgraded those to LED bulbs, took me a long time and several sets of cheaper ones (no doubt the reason your autoelectrician was reluctant, it can be an expensive hobby finding the right LED headlight bulbs!) to discover the secret to getting good LED headlamp bulbs. Usually my "go to" source of LED bulbs has most headlamp bulbs but i couldn't find any listed last time i checked. However while looking for something else the other day, i had a quick look and found : https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/products/led-headlight-conversion-bulbs-h7-4600-lumen-philips-z-es-main-dipped-glb477?_pos=1&_psq=h7&_ss=e&_v=1.0 These use the same arrangement of LEDs as those in my Rover (and also my "Dogmobile", a 1988 Volvo 760) so the beam pattern remains as it should be without glare in the "anti-scatter area" of the beam pattern where there should be no light emitted. In finding these i may have stumbled upon the answer to my query, the MoT is due soon and while i could get away with it on the Volvo and Rover having the LED bulbs in for the MoT, i'm not sure i'd get away with it on the Jag. Likely to be early March before i get a set to try, will be a "snug" fit as well! I'll update here as and when, i know what a nasty road the A27 back from Shoreham to Southampton can be, having done that route many times in the past. These days i'm further up the country and besides all the 4x4s, round my local area i have many USA spec cars with the original lights in that are still set up for left hand drive so their dipped beam is dazzling, even worse if they've fitted some el-cheapo Chinese LEDs or HID bulbs 😲

Hi All, a bit (as in very) disappointed with the dipped beam performance of my S Type headlights, i've cleaned/polished the lenses (used T-Cut as they weren't that badly opaque) and fitted new bulbs which improved them a lot, finally giving me a beam pattern. However, the amount of light they actually put on the road is minimal. I'm seriously considering upgrading to the HID lights fitted to later S Types, looking at the diagrams they appear to use different feed points from the fusebox and also use a relay to power the ballast, with the relay coil switched by what would be the dipped beam line from the Front Electronic Module. Has anyone done this conversion? If so, any pointers please? Alternatively, has anyone found any decent LED H7 bulbs that will fit into the existing space at the back of the headlight unit? Quite happy to (temporarily) refit the halogen H7 for MoT purposes as long as the LED bulbs give me the light i want/need on the road after dark. TIA,

You shouldn't have any problem using it, after all it's higher octane than E10 which has been forced on us by environmentalists and your fuel consumption should drop (and economy increase) due to the higher octane number.

It would be a nice touch though! Sort of surprised it's not present considering the rest of the interior lighting.

I would remove your existing headlights, buy the adjuster kit on ebay (make sure you get the one that contains 4 gear wheels per side, you'll need them!) and use a hairdryer to play on the edge of the plastic lens all round the light unit to soften the sealant, gently prying the lens away from the housing. Once you can remove the lens, do so and then you can strip the old adjusters (or the remains of) out and fitr the new ones. To fit the adjuster drive gears, i used a 10mm socket to support the new gear and a deep 5.5mm 1/4" drive socket to push on the threaded part with a little silicone grease on the end of the threaded shaft to ease it into the new gear. Once done, refit the reflector on the new adjusters, wipe any pawprints off the reflector with a microfibre cloth and put the lens in position ready to refit. Again heat up the sealant and work your way round heating, squeezing etc until the lens is completely refitted. After that i did a few "circuits" of the lamp unit with the hairdryer to make sure the sealant was even pressure on the lens and helped to spread it out/reseal. Unless you do this outside in the pouring rain or inside a sauna, there's very little chance of introducing moisture and is ~£500 cheaper than new lights. Don't forget the adjusters are a common problem on these so even if you buy some secondhand ones with apparently good adjusters, chances are they will go again. Much better to revive your existing lights with the adjuster kit which is made from glass-flled nylon or similar (don't remember the exact plastic but it's one of the engineering plastics) so will likely outlast the car! A timely squirt of silicone lube spray will help prevent the adjuster threads corroding and ease any adjustment necessary at MoT time. PS - while my lenses were off, i gave them several good rubs with T-Cut to remove the small amount of oxidisation on them then a few coats of Turtle Wax polish to help potect them. Next year i will revisit this task and once happy they are completely clear, will use this instead of clear-coat lacquer/varnish to protect the lenses from going opaque agin : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151172691767 If it does go opaque (doubtful as it rejects 99% of UV) the film can simply be peeled off, the lenses rebuffed with T-Cut or similar and a new piece of film fitted.

Very good point, also worth removing the trim panels for access to the whole switch and tapping the body of it with the handle of a large screwdriver until it operates (usually makes a "bah-doy-nng!" noise) and then resetting it by pressing the button on the top until it clicks. Had many cars where although the inertia switch hasn't physicaly tripped, the contacts have become dirty due to never moving and by triggering them 2-3 times and restting each time, this has cleaned them and normal service is resumed. On some cars, the inertia switch also unlocks the car so may prevent normal operation of the central locking. Could be worth checking for a +12V feed on the coil packs and injectors, a lost feed there will also prevent starting among other things. Lastly check you're getting a pulse from the Crank Poistion Sensor, without this the engine management will think the engine isn't turning and inhibit the fuel pump. You could also prove it's fuel related by using EasyStart on the air intake while cranking - if it fires with Easy Start then it's definitely a fuel problem.

Is that the one where you have to cycle the temperature from cold to hot and back again several times Peter to enable the HVAC controls to "learn" the temperatures again? Fairly sure mine is too early for that system and wasn't sure when it came in.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151172691767 This is the stuff i was thinking of John, a bit of a play with a heat-gun/hairdryer before fitting to help mould it to thecompound curves of the headlamp lenses wwould help fitting, also makes life much easier than spraying lacquer as many things can alter the thickness of the lacquer potentially resulting in light refraction the wrong way. The film option avoids this.

Any bulb that gives out heat will eventually blacken, particularly filament bulbs as minute particle of the filament burn off and coat the inside of the glass envelope. Similar things happen with the HID bulbs in much the same way as neon bulbs used to blacken with age - its a similar principle, high voltage exciting the gas and causing it to glow brightly (HID) or not quite so brightly in the case of neon. The electrodes that create the high voltage discharge within the bulb lose their surface very gradually, this is in the form of minute blackened particles - you can see where this is going! As for the US theory, the lamp units are sealed so can't draw moisture in and moisture won't blacken things. Most likely they have been too lazy to refit the dust cover on the outer bulb allowing dirt and dust to enter. When i stripped mine down (1999 car) the insides were as clean as when they left the factory, probably because they still had the original bulbs in that were nearly black! Between that and the broken adjusters, it's no wonder i couldn't see where i was going at night!

Sounds like you need new bulbs! They go black with age and with the reflections from the reflector will make the lenses appear black inside. They should not get dirty inside, there is a mastic seal between lens and body of the light units, a cover over the outer/dipped beam bulb and the main beam/inner has an "O" ring seal built into the combined holder/bulb. Removing the front bumper cover isn't too bad if you work methodically and nobody has added extra self tappers (like they had on mine) to keep the bumper in line with the front wing. As for the screw bodge, it might work ok now but it won't forever and will probably need new lights to be fitted when it fails. The remanufactured adjuster kits are available on ebay cheaply and are made from better plastics than the originals so are likely to outlast anything else.

Have a look at this, it might sort you out : Good luck!

A bit of a calculated risk John, the primary function of my work on the headlamps was to replace the shattered adjuster parts. The lenses weren't actually that bad, jus the beginnings of discolouration. As stated in my post, i plan on revisiting the job in spring : As you can see ^^^^^ Over winter the UV levels are much lower and i normally park facing away frm the sun anyway. I may look for some clear window tint film with a high UV rejection factor, shame in a way they don't make colour-specific film that turns clear when lit from behind. I'd probably fall foul of the MoT tester and also the C&U regs if i tried in any case although some very interesting decrative effects can be created with things like chrome-effect window tint film. But i digress! Clear window film with UV filters would do the job well and could eaily be replaced if it clouded over rather thn having to sand it off and then relacquer later. 😉 😄

Quite possibly, i haven't delved into that area of mine yet but on many cars out there in the wild, this can certainly happen! What model/year is yours?

Check (or simply replace "on spec") the Crank Position Sensor. These can fail suddenly resulting in a sudden FTP with no fault codes shown. About £15-25 on ebay for a pattern one, around £100 from Jaguar but as Fords use the same sensor, shopping around can find you a bargain!

A little bit of information that may or may not be helpful, without any power on the DCCV, they will both be open. If the heater controls have been set to cold all over the summer then it might simply be that the valves have stuck in the closed position so setting temperature to hot and getting the engine hot then finding the valves (being careful not to hit anything else) give them a gentle tap with a hammer may shock them free. If that works, cycling them hot/cold a few times during normal driving will help them remain free to move as they should.

I did mine recently while i had the headlamps apart to renew the adjusters which had disintegrated. I just used T-Cut on the lenses to remove the discolouration (it wasn't actually that bad on mine) then finished off with 3 coats of Simoniz liquid wax to protect them. The kits you buy with various abrasives etc in are nothing more than a convenenitly packed set of abrasives, maybe a cloth and/or applicator pad so if you choose your weapons carefully, you can buy those things (or like i did, have them already) and get the same results. The only bit missing from mine was the UV resistant lacquer which i plan on doing in the spring.

Thanks, that was one of the options i preferred during my initial searching, seems they only do the back boxes though? https://www.adamesh.co.uk/s-type-performance-exhaust---25l-30l-1138-p.asp Really looking to get a complete cat-back system (although as it's converted to LPG i'm tempted to get a decat system) for longevity although the back boxes would be a good start. 😉 😄

Hi All, as per the title, i'm looking at getting a stainless exhaust for my 3.0 S-Type but as you can imagine, internet searches return a maze of possible solutions from all-out race exhausts to those that are standard replacements but seem too cheap. Has anyone had a stainless exhaust built/fitted, found one "off the shelf" or similar and can give some recommendations/experiences so i have a few starting points for further investigation please? Looking to retain the quietness but with a slightly sporty, deeper note - nothing wild or "boy racer". I did find one on YouTube that seemed to meet what i was looking for but the maker of the system and/or the builder/fitter seems nowhere to be found. I'm not in a hurry to do this, probably about 6-9 months time (when spring/summer is here again) as the more time i have to investigate, the more chance i have of getting what i want at the price that i want to pay. Thanks in advance!

Sorry to hear you're selling John, hope you get a good price for it!

As someone who has had autos for many years (decades in fact) i can assure you the method you used isn't crap, unless your car is near new with very low mileage and has previously had the ATF changed regularly, the method you used is in fact the best method. Using the flushing method you describe and cite as "the best way" introduces all new fluid in one hit. That new fluid will be much thicker than the older, worn, thin stuff currently residing in your box. The additive in ATF commonly called "seal-swell" will also have worn out, allowing the rubber seals, "O" rings etc to dry out and become brittle. When you dump a full load of new, thick fluid in, this can cause pressures to rise considerably and those brittle seals etc don't always cope. Introducing it in a series of "part-changes" as you've done means the new fluid comes in gently, allowing the seal-swell to work on the seals and revive them before the next lot of new fluid comes in. This is a much gentler method on the gearbox and less likely to pop any seals as you drive. Normally 3-400 miles between each part-change is ideal, depending on the state of the fluid when you started your series of part-changes, you'll need to do 3-4 part-changes and then do one a year to maintain the fluid in a good, clean condition. I did once (about 18 years ago!) try the flushing method on an old Volvo 740GLE, seemed fine until i gave it the beans one day about 3 weeks after (bearing in mind i'd been doing about 250 miles a week in between so the seal-swell should have done its bit of reviving) and caused a harsh change between 2nd-3rd which even happened on a gentle throttle after that. Needless to say i p/x'd the car soon after and never again tried using the flushing method!