Russ68

Oh dear Jonathan, that doesn't look good! Is that the fuel tank it's right next to as well? An extra complication for any welding in that area, it'll likely have to come out. Perhaps call round any local welding specialists including mobile welders, for someone willing to take it on, this is clearly not a job for a main dealer 😉

Hi Sharon, It could be steam from leaking coolant. Have you opened the bonnet and seen where it's coming from? Similarly, it could be oil dripping onto something hot like an exhaust manifold. You best check it before damaged is caused. Good luck, Russ

Hi Dominic, I had both sills done on mine a few years ago, with a few other bits, for a fraction of that price. £5-600 from memory, inc the price of the sills which are ~£100. So I'm sure you're aware you're paying top dollar and possible more than the current market value of the car. If you're going into this with your eyes open, the choice is yours. At £80ph, that's over 30 hours to make £2600, which seems a bit excessive. But perhaps yours in in a particularly bad way underneath? Good luck!

I'm not saying you're wrong, DVLA has her listed as normal and a 51 reg car made in 02 is way after the early models, so not pre prototype for that reason. Unless she was an early one to have the 4.2? Your V5 doc lists the type approval number. You could check this, if it's type approved, it's unlikely to be anything weird I suspect. https://www.jaguarheritage.com/archive-services/certificates/ Finally, check your number with Jaguar Heritage, they'd pick up if there was anything unusual I'd imagine 😉

Yup, engine out as the chain is at the rear. A very involved job! But forewarned is forearmed, it would need to be a giveaway price to take one on with a known chain issue, and I'm not looking for another project so that's not happening! Also, chains have been upgraded since 2019, 4 years ago, which you'd imagine has weeded out many of those that are going to have issues. As background I've owned 1996 MGF, (so early K-Series with the plastic guides), since 2003. I dropped in (or rather dropped the body over!) a later 2001 engine and have had no issues with it since then. So a known a doesn't necessarily kill a car completely 😉 Well done on the XE S ownership, you're a lucky man! A post April 2017 S would be ideal for the cheaper tax, but I'd have to significantly stretch my budget based on the prices I'm seeing. The V6 seems to have reviewed better than the 4 pot petrol, but I'd love either one, of any age TBH! 🙂

Yup, I've just read up further and the chain and guide materials used in the pre 2019 diesel Ingenium diesels are at fault. TBH, I'm still not phased by this. I'm an experienced mechanic and would be surprised not to detect any issues in advance. The actual parts for the upgraded chain and guides are only ~£300, and a weekend's work for me to complete the work. Were I to take a punt on the diesel model without a retro fitted timing chain upgrade, it's something I could factor in doing at some point. Although I've also been looking at the XE S with the supercharged V6, that looks like a helluva car!

Yup, it appears that poorly serviced early diesels can have problems with the timing chains at the rear of the engine. But it's far from a universal issue, and forewarned is forearmed, I'll know to check for it. I've refined my wishlist down to a £30 tax D180 model I can remap to ~230bhp, which should give similar performance to my manual S-Type but at a fraction of the running costs. Or ideally the P300 (or P250) petrol variant, with £180 tax (after premium tax is finished), cheaper running costs and better performance than the S-Type. I've driven a remapped 180 with the 8 speed auto and it's a very competent car. But I didn't love it, 'goes like a sports car, sounds like a Transit!' springs to mind 😆

At a guess, I'd say Perl was an abbreviation of Pearl / Pearlescent. Although how you'd get a pearlescent finish from a spray can is another matter!

Hi there, I’m in the market (<£10K) for a new (to me) Jag with (occasional) use rear seats and an early R-Sport seems a compelling proposition. After running a 3.0 Sport S-Type manual and considering XKR/XFR, the tax and running costs seem very reasonable and performance ok for a 180bhp 1500kg car. I’d be tempted to go do a remap and immediately go for premium tyres and new brakes unless these are 100%. Any thoughts/comments on remapping? I’ve seen 210 and close to 500NM from Celtic, and 234 and 509 from TDI which seems worthwhile. All of my performance cars have been petrol and I generally go for a stainless exhaust and look at induction to unlock gains. Is this still the case with the 2.0 R-Sport? I’ve driven plenty of diesels, but I’ve never needed or wanted to modify one. So this is a bit new to me 😉 Thanks in advance!

Just to wrap this up. Simon was right. I inspected a fine XKR yesterday and did the test, the rear seats are indeed impossible! Headroom more than legroom. Shame as the car was great! For anyone who is in the market; Paul in Weybridge has the cheapest X150 on eBay that needs a good home. So now I’m looking at the XE R-Sport which appear a compelling proposition if it has to be a (<£10K) Jag with rear seats 😉

Thanks Alfie, it may come to that! I've been thinking the XFR is where I may need to be, reviews and road tests really rate the beast! Interestingly, it's the Mrs pushing the XK, she has exquisite taste, and has rightly noticed the XKR/XR8 is stunningly beautiful piece of automotive art, whereas the XFR..... isn't! Second car is a moot point, I have an S-Type, MGF and Discovery all needing work! Luckily I have space to put them. An option which has just occurred to me is an XK8/XKR at the lower end of my budget, leaving £££ for an XFS as a daily driver which can transport my dear old Mum to the pub for Sunday lunch 🤔 Can anyone recommend any good multi car insurers? 😆

I'm in the market for a new (to me) Jag, I really wanted an XKR, but occasionally needing to take out more than 1 adult out might be a dealbreaker My budget dictates early models of either vehicle 😉 So I've been researching with interest my XF options, and the 5.0 XFR seems to be absolutely fantastic! Even Clarkson liked it and he hated the S-Type! I'm coming round to the idea that I need to own one just for the experience! Even if I then pass it on and 'settle' for an XFS which appears to be 1/2 the tax, 1/2 fuel, more torque and TBH, more than adequate performance. If the owners of either XFR or XFS were able to give their thoughts and comments I'd really appreciate it. My head is saying I'm mad for considering XFR when the XFS is almost as good, but what petrolhead wouldn't want to own the XFR £70K rocketship! I've also seen there is an early 4.2 XF SV8, are these worth considering too, or in for a penny, in for a 5.0 £ 😆

Thanks Simon, I’m close to 6 foot, so do not expect space behind me! With luck there will be a memory seat option so we can program in the best position. It’s likely only to be short trips to the pub for Sunday lunch etc 😉

Hi there, I'm about to realise an ambition to finally buy an X150, at the moment it's in the balance between an early XK8/XKR but that's another matter! What will be a dealbreaker is if the following scenario won't work: 1) I pick up my dear old 5'1", 78 year old Mum, who clearly gets dibs on the front seat, but with the seat as far forward as possible without crushing her against the dash! 🥰 2) My 5'7" wife then is then able to sit in the back, short journeys only, minor to serious discomfort expected 😆 All I've heard about the rear seats is they are pretty useless for an adult. But with the front far forward, and for a short journey, surely this is doable? Please reassure me if you can! I'm hoping to nip to the local JEC meet in a week or so, hopefully there will be an X150 with a willing owner there to let us see just how bad it will be! Thanks in advance, Russ

Indeed quite interesting! Sorry to hear about your health issues. Like me you're not a Jag only guy, I have a couple of Discoveries (mainly the wife's), and an MGF I've had for 20 years. I'd argue the S-Type was my favourite, I just need to get it back on the road and I'd like it a lot more! Hopefully yours will sail through the MOT and be useable again very soon, they don't seem to like being stood! For interest, I had a top notch automotive electrician have a look at the Jag and our Disco TD5 which were both discharging batteries. Turns out the Jag was basically OK, but it has a very long shut down procedure which means it's still drawing 2A 30 mins after you've turned it all off! Interesting, but probably not why yours ran flat: The Disco was not so good with issues with the towing module and air compressor destroying the relatively new battery. Apparently any aftermarket additions are the 1st place he looks for unwanted current draw killing batteries. Along with the obvious, interior lights and other kit left on etc 😉

Got it! In that case I'll go for 6000K too Dave, makes sense. I know I selected 3000K for some kitchen downlights recently, but that's a slightly different application 😆 Have you fitted them yet or still on the to do list? It seems like Chris is getting on very well with his, so I hope they'll bring our S-Types up to modern standards, which is very much needed!

Fab! Thanks for that Dave. I like you get options for 3000K and 6000K with this brand, the 3000K much closer to halogen in colour. Would a 3000K bulb be as effective as the 6000K and is this what you will go for / have gone for? I know the 6000K is white rather than those boy racer blue ones you used to see, these are probably up around the 9000K mark and have no place in a Jaguar 😉

Thanks so much to Chris and Dave for doing the legwork on this issue 👍 It look to me like the H7 twenty20 Compact is a direct fit for my 2001 as well, and while £50 for a pair of bulbs seems pricy, this is only compared to halogens, and if it's a direct fit from a tried supplier, it's cheap at half the price! They also show an H7 twenty20 precision option which is fan cooled and currently on offer. At 3600 lumen they actually produce less than the 4000 lumen Compact, so generally the Compact is the better choice right? https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/h7-twenty20-precision-led-12v-477-headlight-bulbs-pair.html They list an H3 Twenty20 compact for my main beam too, along with a pricier Osram LED version. I'd be tempted to stick with the Twenty20s if these have proven good upgrades. I'm glad I deferred sorting this out as the tech seems to have caught up with what I need. I can now get upgraded lighting without a ton of rewiring or exchanging headlamp units. Given the amount of work I want to do on the car, this is great for me! 😀

Rear sensors were an option on the X200, I have them on mine. So it may be worth looking how Jag did it, there might even be wiring and suchlike you can pick up on. Not sure about the fronts though, as I think front sensors were only options on the later, facelift models 😉

Fair enough! 380/235K is a pretty decent mileage! I hope you find the chain and get it sorted, good luck 😉

Just out of interest, why do you think you need a new chain? Timing belts need scheduled replacement, but chains can go on indefinitely if they're in good condition. What checks have you done to indicate your chain is worn beyond it's useful life?

Hey Dave, Thanks for the advice re the wheel nut, it's mega mangled so may be beyond this type of help, but I'll give it a go, sounds like a clever use of chemistry 👍 Yup, it had to be a Sport manual for me, they are rarer, but in 2015 when I bought her, there were still a few about. Now I have 2 with my manual SE donor as well 🙂 The MGF is great, but not a patch on the Jag for build or execution, I've had it since 2003. It will be fab when I have them both back on the road again. Cheers 😉

The paint codes are on a sticker inside the front doors, in case this help 😉

Pacific Blue is memory serves, the donor SE I have is a lighter metallic blue 😉

Thanks Dave, I also have a headlining to replace and a rusted and mangled wheel nut to remove and a couple of panels to respray. Hopefully all doable 🤞 I've secured a complete donor car, an X200 manual SE, mine is a sport, which should help keeping her on the road long term. I've had a few cars that give me that grin you mention, including my MGF which I still own, but my 3.0 S-Type with the manual gearbox exceeded my expectations, which were quite high in the first place! Grace, space and pace indeed 😁