Russ68

Delighted to say that the S went straight through her MOT last week with only a couple of advisories, and that has hardly ever happened to me before! Given we only bought her in June with 6 months MOT, this could've been an emotional experience, luckily it wasn't! She seems exceptionally clean on emissions as well and massively under the limits of CO and HC, which must bode well for the engine and engine management, despite cover 130K. I need brakes all round and was quite stunned to find a complete set of front and back discs, with Mintex pads for under £150 delivered, which is amazing value for a car of this size and performance. My only issue is not quite having the funds to do all the tweaking I'd like to do now, but overall I'm delighted with my buy and can't quite believe I have so much car for so little money. I've averaged 24.4mpg over the 2700 miles I've had her, which is not too bad either :)

Hi all, A quick update, we tried various things to restore the cloudy polycarbonate headlights on the S-Type, and all to no avail / lasting result. So I bit the bullet and bought the electric drill 3M kit, and spent a couple of hours on it at the weekend, and what a difference to appearance and light output! Combined with Osram Nightbreaker bulbs and a height adjustment (as they were pointing about 6ft in front the car!), they have gone from being downright dangerous and ineffectual, especially on dipped beam, to excellent. I was considering an HID conversion, but I don't think that will be necessary now, all for c£33 (£19 3M, £14 Osram) and a bit of effort. I used the electric drill version from eBay and can strongly recommend it :) Cheers, Russ PS. I'll post a picture at some point so you can see what I mean...

I had mine up on the ramps on Monday when she passed MOT, and she looked really clean underneath, no evidence of rust in the vicinity of the sills, but I didn't take the covers off. I've read that the plastic screws need to be removed and then the cover slid horizontally with preferably 2 people. Can anyone whose done the job confirm this and give any tips as it sounds sensible advise to have a look at them ;)

Welcome Del, I've had mine since June and love it more and more, especially as she sailed through her MOT yesterday with just advisories :) If you haven't bought the parts already I recommend Berkshire Jag Spares, I found them via eBay and they helped me our with genuine parts at a discount. Consider buying a service kit, and sorry to say that you'll probably need coil packs and that you need to remove the inlet manifold to get at the left bank of cylinders, so I replaced the inlet gaskets as well. This shouldn't be an issue if you're looking to keep the car. Hope this helps, Russ

I reiterate Paul's recommend of the Osram Nightbreaker, I've just fitted these to both the Jag and one of the Land Rovers and they really make a difference. I just have them on the main beam at the moment, did you do the full beam as well Paul? Our cleaning of the milky lenses has not been 100% successful though and despite coming up quite well earlier in the summer, they've now frosted back up. Can a member recommend something that has worked well for them please, I'll buy a kit but would prefer not to get it from Halfrauds. Cheers, Russ

Very sorry to hear that John, onwards and upwards, hopefully you'll find something good / better ;) I drove a very nice 2.5 sport manual that was available locally, but I decided I'd prefer to hold on for the 3.0 and extra 40bhp, I don't regret this decision and while the 3.0 is quick, a little quicker would be nice!

I agree with Phil, if 20+bhp and a gain in economy was possible, this could be considered well worthwhile. With a panel filter and tweaked exhausts we'd be close to the original V8 output with less weight, and I have a manual, something the V8's didn't. My local chippers don't offer anything for the 3.0 petrol, so I won't be having mine done yet. But I'd be very interested in anyone elses experience, has John decided to take the plunge yet, or even better, does anyone have 1st hand experience? I found this online which seems largely relevant, I'd be interested in knowing if the poster; Adam / AdzBo was about for comment : http://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s-type-s-type-r-supercharged-v8-x200-15/v6-vs-v8-s-type-72948/

My local remapper said they couldn't do anything for the V6 petrol (only 2.7 diesel and the supercharged V8) , but these guys appear to offer a 35bhp upgrade for the 2.5 (and a 20bhp for the 3.0), both at £299. From a selfish point of view I'd say go for it and let us know how you get on, this seems some quite cheap horses, and if it works, we can all consider it ;)

Most places retest for free if within a certain timescale, the rules: http://mottesting.org.uk/mot-retest-information-fail.html say next day but the place I use allows more, best ask them and take it from there ;)

Did you change the coil packs as well and did you use oem quality? Gaps on genuine plugs came preset on the ones I just changed on my 3.0 Sport, perhaps you had a dodgy fit or connection somewhere?

I have the Sport and I'm not entirely happy with the handling, but I put this mainly down to a random tyre selection with a different manufacturer on every corner. I'll be changing these in due course as tyre selection, condition and pressures largely define the handling. Based on what Mike says I'll have the geometry carefully checked when these are fitted. I also have an MGF with well sorted suspension including polybushes and SPAX adjustable shockers, and I fully intend on bringing the S-Type up to a similar standard. IMHO it's not worth changing out a serviceable component in order to upgrade it, but replacing a worn component with an upgraded one makes complete sense!

I haven't tried them, but I am interested. I know some of the other contributors have fault readers, and hopefully they'll share the benefit of their experience with us ;)

Hi Steve, I envy you the R ownership, I'm loving my 3.0 sport but I'm starting to consider upgrading to an R at some point, or an XKR perhaps. From my limited experience of this forum, I'd suggest this is not the place for the advice you want, although I could be wrong. I understand pulley and chip is the way to go for the power you want, 550bhp is possible I understand, but if there is any specific prep you need to do on the stripped engine, I'm not sure. Depends slightly on what's worn, broken or at risk I guess ;) Good luck, Russ

Good luck Mannix, I've been looking for a set of staggered R wheels for my sport, so what do you have on at the moment and are you selling them? PM me if you prefer ;)

Berkshire Jag Components are very good, they supplied me an OEM belt which fitted, plus a full service kit inc coil packs and plugs that were all spot on. I found them via eBay, but the tel # is: 0118 978 7896, I think Tony is the main man but couldn't swear to this ;)

She's a beauty Kikih :)

I'm a bit scared to look under the sill covers now :s

Yup, I'm sure you're right Andy, but mines a manual, and does indicate 40+ at a steady 80 on the instant MPG, but it's not really a 'real world' figure on UK roads. But possibly / probably better than what to expect for extra urban which does include acceleration and idling: Extra-Urban Cycle This cycle is conducted immediately following the urban cycle and consists of roughly half steady-speed driving and the remainder accelerations, decelerations, and some idling. Maximum speed is 75mph (120km/h), average speed is 39mph (63 km/h) and the distance covered is 4.3miles (7km).

At a steady 70, which is rarely achievable, I'd be surprised if it wasn't 40+, at least according to the instant MPG, mine gives c40 at 80mph, but I'm only averaging c25mph overall...

There have been a couple of other threads re fuel economy on the 3.0 recently which are worth checking out. Mine is thirsty on slow stop start stuff but surprisingly good at a high steady speed. As Andy says, ensure everything is in good order, inc fuel system and tyre pressures. Gearing is right for a petrol, and I find mine better using the cruise control as an electronic throttle rather than sawing away with the right foot all the time ;)

I bought a service kit which included a paper filter to do the 1st service on my sport recently, but I intend on going down the K&N route on replacement. I'll never need another as they can be cleaned, any power benefit will be cheap and appreciated, and as Paul says, you'll often get a good induction noise, but I think this is more prevalent on the cone filters than the panels. Given there is very little modification worth doing on the S-Type, spending £40-50 on upgrading induction is money well spent in my view ;)

Plenty on eBay ;)

Crikey! That looks nasty for a car of this age, I recall seeing something similar on another V8 and wonder if they had a particular issue with metal or build quality? eBay supplier here for a pair of sills, not sure if you need both? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-S-Type-Sills-Weld-On-Laser-Profiled-Repair-Sills-P-Side-D-Side-/131591205031?hash=item1ea37270a7 I had a Land Rover boot floor done recently when I bought the panel and had it welded in, try to get recommend to a decent local welder if nobody can recommend a specialist ;)

Hi Paul, I once had to drill x 4 32mm holes in the roof of a Discovery to fit roof bars, and not much has phased me since! So if the placement is clear, drilling the extra hole is no problem. Do they come with instructions? Apols if this was covered earlier in the topic. Thanks :)

Thanks Paul, I have the MK1 so think a hole is already there, but I'll still need to do some drilling presumably? And too right Phil, this is why I preferred to trust the advice of a member who has seen one. It's up to £23.99 in the link, so I'll keep an eye on it, but ultimately a few extra £ for something so iconic is neither here nor there, but I don't like being ripped off though so will aim to pay closer to £20 ;)