frankiethebear

hi all, been a wee while since I've been here due to 10 months of fabulous and trouble free motoring from the XF. Trouble free until today, that is. I was driving home to Dundee from Perth when I noticed that the headlights were a bit dim. It wasn't until I hit a bit of dual carriageway that didn't have overhead lighting that I noticed that both headlights were actually out. I got home ok and got out to check. I always keep my light switch on auto, just in case my rapidly advancing old age causes me to forget to either switch them on or off... Anyhoo, my oem led's work ok, the full beam works fine as do the sidelights. Unfortunately its the main headlights that have gone. Now, I don't know if there is a fault alert on the dash or whether a message is flashed up to notify me of a problem, but there is nothing. As I said, everything else is working perfectly, it's just the headlights that have gone with no warning message. It seems very unlikely that both bulbs would go at the same time, so I'm thinking maybe a relay or the like has gone. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know because I feel that if I put it into a Jag dealership I may as well put Wifey on Gumtree as I'd need to sell her to pay the bill. I quite like Wifey and I'd hate to have to punt her on Gumtree or Ebay as I'll never get what she's worth, so to prevent me being cold in bed at night, please help! Being serious though, this is a major problem for me as I need the car not only for commuting, but also for visiting clients as part of my daily duties. Please help if you can. thanks Frankie

just been out to car to check. I'm using 99.9% 2-ethylhexyl nitrate. improves cold starting reduces engine knock and performance and economy. Can be used with either normal pump or biodiesel. Frankie

Hello all, I'm running a 2008 2.7 XF and currently getting 35.5 mpg. This is with supermarket diesel but with cetane booster from powerenhancer. i also ordered a diesel service pack2 from the same company of receipt of the car. Cost was about £34.00 for the pack consisting of engine oil additive, fuel system lubricant and some other stuff thsat you stick in the tank (very technical, I know). The cetane booster is a clear fluid that cost around £12.00 for a litre. Adding between 50 and 100 mls per tankful basically gives you the same results as V-power. The fact that I'm getting 35.5 mpg from a 2.7d tells me that these things work and can save a lot of cash in the longrun as well as keeping your motor up to a good standard. I have also fitted a plug and play diesel box that cost £120.00. The one I chose was a bluespark 2 and is on the factory standard setting. Happy with the performance and economy, so I haven't felt the need to change the settings on the box. i'll get the name of the cetane booster I use and post it here. I have tried to proprietary brands of these things, but the ones I ordered therough the online site are less expensive and work. The mpg figures in comparison to others on here tell me that. Byt the way, I have 2 x mile journeys to and from work, from Dundee to Perth daily. frankie

thank you kindly dear chaps. I was beginning to get the fearties and imagine all sorts of problems and was planning to start doing the lottery on a regular basis. Thermal contraction sounds a perfectly reasonable answer, so thanks one and all. it was just a bit unnerving hearing it. thanks the bear

hey dumdum, i reckon you should have had a positive outcome by this time. I've used millers ecomax too, but only until i found the archoil stuff. i know its just anecdotal, but i find their products vastly superior to anything else i've tried previously. i don't know if its just me but i find that products i have read about and have to source myself seem to work better then the products you can buy via other general outlets.like i said, could be just me

i tend to use archoil's diesel service pack when i get a new car. it comes with three fluids, an oil additive to help reduce friction, a diesel additive to decarbonise pistons and chambers etc and another diesel additive to reduce the combustion. makes a huge difference to the fuel combustion and effectively eliminates a smoky exhaust as well as boosting fuel economy. have a look here powerenhancer.co.uk i go for the diesel service pack 2 and ive also purchased a cetane booster. Adding these things won't be everyone's cup of tea, but i do believe it makes a difference to my car. it also means that i can fill up at the local supermarket with their own diesel, put in the additive to the tank and i end up with essentially a tank of premium diesel for the price of the cheap stuff and the car loves me for it. have a look at the site as there are more products on offer. Also the reviews are very good, assuming they come from genuine customers! their products do appear to be taken very seriously by other companies. i admit to being a bit sceptical at first, but the stuff they sell is vastly superior to the additives you can buy in H*lfords!! hope this helps frankie

hello again, i have a 2.7d luxury xf without a usb connection to the hifi. can anyone tell me if the wiring for a usb is part of a generic wiring loom or would i need to wire a usb/iphone module up on my own? the module can be picked up on ebay for around £25.00, but before buying one, i need to know if its an easy job or not. so, basically, is the wiring already in place? ta frankie

hi guys, whenever i turn off the engine after reaching operating temp, i can hear a loud crackling sound coming from the exhaust at the front of the car. i'm pretty sure its not the manifold, but i've no idea if this is serious or not. anyone have any ideas for me? thanks frankie

hi all, the 2.7 diesel luxury comes with a blank plastic plate where the usb containing music files would normally be alongside an i pod connection. Question is, is the connecting wire already present as part of the original loom or would a usb and i pod socket need to be wired to the hifi? I can get the actual jaguar usb module for about £20.00, but i don't want to get one if the wiring isn't already there. I'd also like to ask the same question about the reversing camera that i don't have! Is the wiring and software already on board or would i need to go through the wiring and software process myself? Again, the reversing camera is available on ebay. thanks frankie

Hi all. Had a slight rub against something, still don't know what, that has just touched the top layer of laqc...lack...lacqe... the clear shiny stuff sprayed over the paint...and I'm looking for someone in the Perth/Dundee area that comes highly recommended and doesn't wear a stripy jumper and carry a bag marked SWAG to carry out a wee touch up. It's not a major job and no one has noticed it yet, but I know its there and that's enough for me to get it done. Does anyone have any reliable person that they go to for such jobs? PS. I know how to spell lacquer!! Thanks guys Frankie

hello, Dundee.

Trevor, that is a stunning looking car. looks extremely good in white. frankie

I should have stated that I was offered part worn tyres with between 5.6 and 6.2 mm tread on all four. this is why i'm asking what may be regarding as a time wasters question. thanks frankie

hi peter, thanks again for the info. i will look into terra clean and see what i think before acting. frankie

Hi all, I've been checking out various places for tyres for 2.7d xf. the car came to me with 19 inch lenso granzo alloys and 245/40x19 tyres. i'd like to keep the same size on the front, but can these be fitted with 275/35x19 on the rear? I haven't come across this mix before and i would like to know primarily, if they would fit on the rear without rubbing or risking damage to the suspension. cheers frankie

kenny, is there any real advantage to be gained by putting 255 as opposed to 245 on the rear? i need to replace the rears and if it there was a real improvement in handling and grip i would replace the 245 with 255. cheers frankie

forgot to say that i haven't looked for the egr on the car yet, so cant really comment on whether its an easy job or not.

hi peter, thanks for the heads up, don't want to cause problems within three hours of joining! As i said, ive only had the car for a week, so hardly surprising the have been no issues, but i'm talking from experience with a lexus 220d. on the 220 it was a very easy problem to fix, simply undo 4 bolts and two nuts and bingo the egr comes straight off. i was surprised at the condition and the amount of carbon i found. so it was straight in with the flat bladed screwdriver and 10 minutes later and a blast of wd40 and it was as good as new. refitting just the reverse of stripping, totally idiot proof. Its a problem that so many people overlook, but so handy to keep an eye on it as it can save a lot of money and stress in the long run. the dpf is another matter however. I bought an archoil engine, fuel system and dpf service pack and used it as directed. the difference was almost immediate, almost because one or two of the products take time to work, but work they do. There was an improvement in all aspects of my daily drive with the car sounding much quieter and an invisible emission from the back. The service pack cost around 50.00 but worth every penny in my opinion. I checked and double checked and checked again on how the products work and didn't take their own info as gospel. I come from a scientific background so i was able to make some sense of the various data available from various sites. I did this because i won't ever use anything in the car without knowing as much as possible beforehand. Everything i read made sense and apparently is true, so i went ahead and don't regret it. The best place to get the brew is from Powerenhancer.co.uk. they are very open to communication and have a good working knowledge of how their products work. I would have no hesitation in recommending them to all and sundry because for me, their stuff does exactly what it says on the tin. regards frankie

i always swear by macquairs(spelling?), found it to be very easy to apply and loks fantasticas well as being quite long lasting. got mine from halfords. Its a bit more expensive than the normal ones available, but really very well worth it and it's what the car deserves. they always should look their best and this helps.

Normally getting the engine hot is enough to start the dpf regeneration process. In a manual running for around 20 minutes at between 3-400 revs should be enough to get everything hot enough. It could be that the problem has already been fixed, going by some of the other posts, and it could be a simple reset. Would going to an independent invalidate your warranty? I don't know as ive only had my xf diesel for a week and still getting to know it and all its idiosyncrasies. With my previous car i bought a dpf service pack consisting of various lotions and potions and it made an instant difference and improvement to the car. It was a lexus 220d and the make and model were rather prone to issues with the egr clogging up and dpf problems. I'm new to the site and i don't know if i'd be breaking the rules by advertising, so if you want to drop me a line i'll give you all the details. the pack costs about 50.00, but it worked for me. cheers frankie

hi all, I've just got myself an XF 2.7 diesel after having a lexus is 220d. I used to swear by archoils engine oil and fuel additives as they work for me. Has nyone one used archoils diesel service packs or any other of their products in a 2.7? if so, can i have some feedback? i feel that it made a real difference and improved the lexus all round, but curious to see what the respected products used in jags' ta much frankie