Porto

Problem solved, however, not by the original garage that caused the problem or by the Jaguar dealer who fitted the new master cylinder but by my local Renault dealer, thanks to a neighbour whose daughter works there. It took five hours of detective work, the ABS was found to be working normally, as was the Brake servo but on examining the new master cylinder they found that it was not the correct one for my car and a pin or plunger or something did not fit correctly into the servo, so they cut 2mm off the end and problem solved. It's Renault servicing for me from now on.

It's a mystery Kenny and unfortunately most of the time my Portuguese isn't up to understanding what I am being told and I am getting different opinions from two different garages and the only result so far is that I have spent a considerable amount of money and my car is still undriveable. I was thinking of offering the very kind chap at the Jaguar dealer in the UK a free holiday as long as he brings his toolkit!

Update on ABS failure. Apparently, as suggested by the UK dealer, the problem was the brake master cylinder and they also suggested it was caused by manually bleeding the brakes. The bill was €574.91 + €140 to have the car delivered back to me. This afternoon, having been without the car for ten days, I decided to visit the shops. On reaching the end of the road I braked and the car slowed, I braked again at the junction and nothing happened. Fortunately as the car was moving slowly, I was able to stop it with the handbrake. I have spoken again with the UK dealer and he said it sounds as if there is a leak in the brake servo and pushing the brake pedal down more than once would have the effect I experienced. It is amazing to me that this was not picked up when they changed the master cylinder or on the road test, if indeed they did one. Reluctantly, I took the car (very gently) to the garage that I believe caused the original problem and they confirmed the servo is leaking because it hissses when the brake is applied. Hopefully they can source one in Portugal or I will have another ten day wait. This is not the end of the story, when I arrived back home (3km) from the garage, I had difficulty in reversing into my garage because the brakes had again stuck on, in particular the front left and the rear right and thats how they remain until the call comes from the garage - any ideas folks on the cause? I wish now I had kept my 2.0D!

Hi Ken, Many thanks for your appraisal of my situation regarding liability of the garage. I have already advised the garage that if the problem occured as a result of the proceedure they carried out, I would hold them responsible and as the owner is a personal friend, I hope that he will accept the final bill. What I was really hoping was that someone else may have experienced my problem and what had been the solution. In fact, after my post I telephoned a Jaguar dealer in the UK and the service manager said that it sounded as if when the braking system had been bled, the master cylinder seal may have been pushed out when the footbrake was depressed and this would cause the problem I had experienced. Had the fault been with the ABS, I would have seen a warning light on the dashboard that didn't occur. Hopefully he is correct in his diagnosis and I have now passed this information on to Jaguar Lisbon and hopefully now that they know that I have spoken to a Jaguar engineer, they will not try and sting me for a new ABS system - fingers crossed! Best regards Graham

Took my car in to my local garage to have new pads fitted to rear brakes and at their suggestion, also replaced the brake fluid. Left the garage and few hundred metres down the road the front brakes locked up apparently, according to the garage, due to an ABS failure. They plugged the car into a computer and were able to access all areas except the ABS. I have had to have the car taken by car transporter to my nearest Jaguar dealer 200km away. The insurance company will pay for the transport but I am afraid that I might be landed with a hefty bill from Jaguar Lisbon, unless anyone knows different???

The main reason for visiting today was to show you my new purchase, probably the last X-type sold in Portugal because it was first registered in April 2010. Unlike my previous X-type this one is the 2.2D Auto and I have to say, it is superb in every way and barely run in with 26,000km on the clock and a complete Jaguar service history. I have promised my wife that this will definately be my last car, unless of course Jaguar bring out a new version of the X-type.

Welcome Kevin, Fortunately, the majority of the people who contribute to this forum do not share the same arrogant and negative attitude as this poster. Good luck with sorting out your problem and continue to write your posts as you please. I'm certain someone will have the answer.

On the one occassion I used Kwickfit, I found them to be totally incompetent. In removing all four tyres with the steel lever bar on their machine, they managed to scratch every wheel rim because they did not use the plasic shield between the wheel and the bar. The response from the manager when I complained was that they had not received any complaints from other customers!!! Total cowboy operation.

I should first state that I do not have any shares in BP and never previously having owned a diesel car I assumed that the black smoke from the exhaust on kickdown was normal. This topic has been very informative and unable to source Millers diesel additive here, on Friday I filled my near empty (red bar) X-type with a full tank of BP's Ultimate and I am amazed at the difference in performance almost immediately and no more black smoke. It cost 24 cents a litre more than the diesel from my Intermarche supermarket but now that I have experienced the improvement in performance and a smoother running engine, I think I might buy some BP shares.

On the subject of the self-importance of car salesmen/managers at main dealerships, having experienced this first-hand from the likes of Mercedes/Audi/Jaguar and worst of all Landrover, I decided in future not to visit the dealership but have them bring the car to my office for me to evaluate. Once they were off their home ground the change in attitude was remarkable, so much so, that in the case of the Mercedes dealer, the once aloof general manager delivered the car himself. You may be thinking that I was someone very wealthy or important in my community, nothing of the sort, but my office being sited on the Sandringham estate might have had something to do with the change in attitude.

Some years ago, I stopped at a Little Chef on the way to the Channel Tunnel very early on a Sunday morning, the carpark was huge and empty. When I came out after breakfast, a French car had parked so close to me that the only way into my car was through the passenger door. Mine and the French moron's car were the only two cars in the carpark!

Hi Simon, I have had a quote from the Jaguar main dealer here in Portugal and they reckon that they can do the job in one and a half hours, but having been told that the bumper has to come off, I think that even an experienced mechanic would struggle to do it in that time. so I may just put up with the damage and if I win the Euromillions tonight, I'll buy a new XF! Cheers Graham

Hi Peter, Unfortunately, even a lump hammer and a crowbar are a bit technical for me!

Hi Gents, I have sustained a crack in the rear R/H chrome bumper strip and would like to replace it myself. They are available on Ebay but as a non-mechanically able individual, are they eay to remove and refit? Advice would be most appreciated. Regards Graham

Hi Mick, Well done on solving the problem yourself, I looked on YouTube and it seemed quite a reasonable job and that was the opinion of my garage owner, until he tried to release the nuts holding the bushes in place which could only be achieved by undoing the subframe and lowering it. It took just over an hour to complete the job and as you say the price was excellent.