Wessex

Hi Tristan. Glad you sorted out your early problems so cheaply. Seeing as the seller was so rude to you when you complained of the problems I'd be inclined to let him know just how easy and cheaply it was to fix the problems. Probably the reason he sold it was because he thought he was looking at a four figure sum to repair it. It's my wicked streak coming out. Enjoy the car. Mine gives me a recuring problem now and again but I've learnt to live with it.

Threaten the garage owner with court proceedings. Also get an estimate for the repairs. If he doesn't offer to put it right then take him to the small claims court. https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview You should have driven it straight back to the garage.

Jaguar X308. As reported on another thread, I had problems with gearbox fault, engine safe mode, trac not available, asc not available. The throttle position sensor was changed which seemed to improve matters for a couple of days and then on a round trip of around 40-50 miles the fault returned and wouldn't clear until the engine cooled down. Had the whole throttle body changed and the fault hasn't returned in over 100 miles. HOWEVER! I wonder if anyone has had this fault I have experienced? Earlier in the year I was travelling on a motorway around 55-60 mph middle lane when a lorry indicated to pull out. I took my foot off the gas pedal and flashed my lights. I immediately got a "Trac not Available" message, the orange tyre warning light and other amber warning light lit and the radio went off. Within a couple of seconds, everything went back to normal. Tried it again later same thing happened. Then all was fine. Lift off, flash lights - no reaction. Until today. Travelling at 50 MPH off gas and flashed lights and "Trac not Available" lit radio went off. A couple of seconds later everything back to normal. I will get the codes read to see if it points to anything but is this a one off or has anyone else experienced this event?

I had the intermittent problem on my XJ8 308. First week went into limp home mode. Trac not available, gearbox fault etc. Stopped and restarted and fault gone for a month then it returned. after that 6,000 miles of trouble free motoring until about 4 weeks ago it happened a couple of times in quick succession and then just before the Brighton trip it happened 4 times in quick succession. I had to pull out of the meeting and informed Steve. The common denominator seemed to be at the point I lifted off suddenly when driving at or near the NSL So, into my trusty independent Jaguar guru and he said it isn't a gearbox fault. it is a succession of fault readouts and they found the sensor in the Throttle Body faulty and replaced it. The performance of the car has certainly improved immensely. Was a bit slow on the uptake unless the accelerator was pressed to the floor or lower gears selected. Now it's as responsive as a young cub. Hope this is of help.

Glad all of your hard work resulted in a very successful day Steve. My car was taken into care on Tuesday and was diagnosed with a faulty sensor in the throttle body. It was replaced with a second hand sensor (new throttle body £1,500!!!) so we'll see how it goes. However, I have noticed a marked improvement in throttle response and a much higher MPG figure without too much trying.

Good morning Steve, It is with huge regret I have to pull out of the meeting this Sunday. When I bought my Jaguar in October last year I had a couple of moments when the car went into limp home mode. Stopping the car and re-starting it normally reset the problem and the fault went away until a month ago when it suddenly re-appeared again just the once. However, yesterday the fault returned again four times in quick succession on a 15 mile trip from Poole on a National Speed Limit road with no pull in area. It is now booked into my specialist dealer so I cannot risk breaking down on route or worse still during the convoy. I trust the event will be the huge success you plan for and I'll post the reults of her diagnosis for the benefit of the other forum users. Regards, Peter

Bless, another one gone. :(

When I took mine in initially for a service I asked for an underside report. It would appear that all is well in general. Apart from the bits that needed doing (and was subsequently done by Hollygrove Jaguars) everything else is sound. Mind you, I still want the sills and other box sections blasting internally with Waxoyl or similar. I've heard Waxoyl dries out and cracks. Well, if it was treated every year or so then that shouldn't be a problem. In order to beat the rust bug it's something I'm prepared to do. Now this might seem paranoid setting in but until last night I never bothered about driving on freshly gritted roads but for some reason I wish I wasn't on the road with my Cat last night. The sight of that salted grit on the road gave me the hebee gebees. :( Seems like you're in for the long haul Paul. Be interested in seeing the before and after pictures. Save your kidneys; Cats can survive without them, you can't :)

You're welcome Steve

Hi Steve. Can you please add our names and Cat to the list please? Peter, Carole & Claire the Cat (XJ8 3.2 2000 Emerald) TIA

Hi Steve, Hollygrove Jaguar is just outside Ringwood on the west side of the New Forest. That's Hampshire about 5 miles fro. Verwood which is the Hants/Dorset border. About 85 miles from London. A lot nearer than you thought. He actually has an E-Type in at present belonging to a guy in Spain. That's how good his reputation is. National Express runs from Bournemouth to London and stops off in Ringwood en route. Not on commission Steve just thought I'd mention it as it's not Devon but perhaps half the distance your were thinking of. ;) Regards, Peter

Hello again fellow cat lovers! It's been six weeks since I picked up my car and it's been a bit topsy turvy to say the least. However the light at the end of the tunnel is shining bright and clear. Here's what's happened. First day after picking up the car discovered no heat from the heater. Rang the ranch (cowboys don't use garages) and spoke to the cowhand that sold me the car. Arranged to bring it in the following Saturday. They looked at the car and apart from cover the wings, roof, window and front passenger seat with oil did precious little else. There were hand prints all over the place. Considering they were just looking at fuses where did all this oil come from? I had had a gearbox fault come up on the dash and when turned off & on again it cleared. I mentioned this to them but they were just so none plussed. Told to bring it in the following week and they would have a "Jaguar Expert" look at it. The fact that the car had been abused meant that it would never go anywhere near them again. Perhaps that was their plan...... Anyway, started looking at other forums and found that there was a common fault with no fog lights, no headlamp levellers and Fuse 3 blown. Replaced but blown again. Disconnected the sounder and replaced the Fuse. Success!!! Fogs, levellers and heat. Incidentally, the sounder electronics are encapsulated in rubber. After 15 years it was the nicads that had shorted out through age not the ingress of water. I tried to dig into the rubber but ended up destroying some parts on the circuit board. I have bought another sounder and it blips on locking and unlocking the door but blows Fuse 3 when the ignition is turned on so when next under the wing I'll look for the fused feed and disconnect that and then see if the unit still blips. I then looked round for an independent to do a service and found one not to far away. Charged £215 for a service and I asked them to check and reports on any corrosion found. Just a small amount on the front off the sills where they met the wheel arch and a couple of small holes under the front footwell. Charged me £56 for this information and then quoted me £800 for welding! They also said the lower ball joints had worn and it would cost £200 per side for the arms and £245 to fit. £774 + £800 = £1574 plus other essentials they said needed doing around £420 for front discs & pads. The discs are a little lipped but there is still plenty of meat on the pads. A couple of other things and the quote came to a little over £2,150. After the initial feeling of panic had disappeared I rang Hollygrove Jaguar, I had been recommended to them, and they told me they press new ball joints in the suspension arm. £20 each side and £18 for new bushes. So £38 per side and labour. Cash price £340. Welding was investigated and quoted £480 Got that sorted this week before a trip up to Chesterfield last Thursday return Friday. The car never missed a beat. New suspension parts being fitted this Thursday. Had a nice payday from work so looking forward to owning her again. Buying a compressor and tools to give the rest of the sills, box sections and underside a thorough going over with Hammerite. Waxaoyl. Roll on the next few years before I have to sell her.

Well, if you are prepared to travel there is Hollygrove Jaguars near Ringwood/Verwood. They are a very very long established independent garage. They have just done some underbody welding for me. I was quoted £800 from another Jaguar/Porsche/Aston Martin indy outfit but felt ripped off. Hollygrove charged £480 and did it in two days. £60/hr as opposed to £80 at the other place.

Hi Andy, looks like something off of the Mike Brewer/Ed China show. I envy your skills and fearless approach. Had a conversation recently with a guy I've bought a couple of things from and his theory is that these areas are left unprotected on purpose to limit the life of jaguars. I think he had a point because Mondeos don't seem to have this rust problem or any other make over the last 15-20 years.

Looks like the salesman from the car lot in Bowerhill Melksham was but BSing me. Didn't replace the battery.

To answer my own question and to help others, I have come across this link. http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/t...0(XJR,%202001)

Having experienced a lack of heat (reported on another thread) I also had no front fog lamp, no front fog lamp warning light, rear fog lamps illuminated but no corresponding warning light. I have scoured the forums and the no heat pointed to the water heater pump. In fact Andy suggested checking fuse 17, the front fog lamp fuse as being associated with the pump as well. It turns out that it is Fuse 3. I found this from a post in www.Jag-lovers.org forum. Here is the link:- http://forums.jag-lovers.org/avsn.php?1587778n15 I went out and tried the headlamp levelling. Nothing. I pulled the Fuse 3 and first sight it looked ok. Putting an ohmmeter across the fuse terminals however showed an open circuit. It had actually blown at a point where it joins one of the terminals a reason why I missed it in the first place. So I replaced the fuse and still no heat, fog lamps or headlamp levelling. Pulled the new fuse and it had blown. OK so it's late this evening and dark so no sense in trying to do any more investigative work. I think I'll give my findings to the Garage and let them trace the short. Has anyone else experienced this problem and if so what caused the short?

I have just received the worse after sales service I can recall. I purchased Claire the Cat two weeks ago on a warm sunny Saturday lunch time. The guy was affable enough. It's a place that I wouldn't have normally bought a car from but this particular XJ8 was in extremely good condition; no rust, no stone ships on the front. Original windscreen with not stone chips or sand blasting effect so the car hadn't been driven too fast in it's life time. The price was right and there was a heap of paperwork to support servicing and repairs. 83,068 on the clock, the car had only done 6,000 over the last 4 years and had been owned by an old gentleman. So, the price being in my budget I bought it. Got it home and then later that evening realised that the heater didn't work. Also when I test drove it one of my requests to have fixed was the non functioning radio. Now it worked but the climate control panel was flapping about. I stripped the centre reservation down to find that the fixing lugs on the radio were partially snapped and the ones on the climate control had snapped off. Also the cassette shield was permanently lying down. Also the J selector plastic surround holding the wooden "ski slope" in place had split. I sourced these on eBay, I can't speak highly enough of Jay from East Coast Car Parts. When the radio and climate control panel arrived I first of all wired up the radio and ......nothing. The radio would tune but no sound. A little worried I sent hime a message and almost immediately he replied asking was my sound system the standard or premium one. Told me where the switch was to change to premium and suddenly Taylor Swift filled the car. Anyway, once I had fitted the new climate control panel the fitting of the radio is dead fiddly. I can see why the clumsy ha'peth had snapped the lugs. The plastic must become brittle and he just rammed the set back into place. So when I told him of the heater problem he said bring it in we have the water heater pump to fit but first of all give it a tap with the handle of the screwdriver as they sometimes stick. This made no difference so I arranged to take it in today. The mouthy guy who sold me the car drove me into Melksham, a 5 minute drive, and said it should be done in an hour or so and they would pick me up. I said don't bother just ring and we'll get a taxi back. So after 2 hours and no call we got a taxi and arrived back at the garage. The garage owner, not the mouthy guy, told me they had replaced a couple of fuses and managed to get the heat up to 80 degrees at the vents but on ticker over the temp fell off. I asked if he had changed the heat pump and he shuffled about a bit from one foot to the other. He hadn't. He said go for a drive and let them know if it was better, It was cold. With the temp control on high it was cold. It was at this time that I started to notice oily hand prints over the door and wings, on the roof and oil on the passenger seat. An oily hand print on the dash top. I pointed these out and began to wish I hadn't come back but to have booked it into a proper garage not this excuse for one. I also had mentioned the gearbox fault and they said they would read the codes. They hadn't so I insisted they did so and it apparently was down to a communication problem between the selector and CAN BUS or ECU. Then, I got hold of the MoT that they said they would post and didn't. Four Advisories. Slight corroded front brake pipe (apparently clean under the muck), Top suspension bushes wearing and the rear tyres were perished. They knew these problems but failed to tell me before I purchased the vehicle. I know I should have asked for the MoT on the day but in the excitement of getting behind the wheel of a Jag at last I forgot. Lesson learnt and passed on (if you are still following). Drove back to Ferndown and had four new tyres fitted vowing never to go back to them cowboys again. No names, no pack drill but I will not Bower myself to go over the Hill there again.

With the paperwork were two keys and two remote fobs. These were very intermittent so I replaced the batteries. No improvement so I stripped the fobs down and found there were black deposits on the contacts from the rubber pushes. I cleaned the contacts and rubber contact faces with an alchohol based glass cleaner, reassembling them I found they worked each and every time - almost. Sometimes I have to wiggle the push slightly to get a positive result. If others have rectified this problem, what solvent did you use?

Hello Numke. You hear such a lot of urban myths talked about supermarket fuels. My Peugeot 308 diesel EGC returns 54 mpg and I'm a driving instructor and it is used mainly to give lessons in. I fill up at my local Morrisons but even filling with Esso I still return the same mpg. Envious of your job. :)

Thank you Numke (what a mouthful; I've shortened it. I hope you don't mind :) ) Well the day arrived and I picked up my X308 this morning. 2000 with 83,068 miles. I really got on well with the sales person (Bowerhill Trade Centre at Melksham, Wilts) http://www.bowerhilltradecentre.co.uk/used/jaguar/v8-xj-series/xj8-3-2-auto/for-sale-in-melksham-wiltshire/aetv25991617/ and he went through the list of jobs I wanted doing. With a handshake I drove off in the car and realised that there was only enough fuel for about 15 miles according to the computer. i gingerly drove to the first garage I came to and filled it up. 69.9 litres. Set off for my step daughters house just down the road at Westbury then a drive back to East Dorset through some pleasant countryside. The ride was both smooth and quiet. I had a cassette adapter and listened to Taylor Swift on my iPod. The car has the Alpine radio system in it with the sub woofer. Didn't play it loud; that's for later. There were no rattles, tapping or knocks. Just bliss. That was until I got home and I tried out the climate control system. The fan would increase and decrease in speed as I increased and decreased the temperature control but it only blew cold air. Rang the garage and was assured if I brought it back it would be attended to. The car came with 3 months warranty and I purchased an extra 9 months. Reading through the paperwork that came with the car it would appear that it had only been driven 1,600 miles per year over the last 4 years according to the MoTs. 10 Jag main dealer stamps. Last service 2011 . The engine oil is still golden and clear but I will be getting it serviced before the onset of winter. My mistake, I should have got them to do it. The chain tensioners were replaced in 2006 and about the same time it went in for a gearbox fault. Sluggish in reverse as though the brakes were on. A new gearbox at £3,500 was recommended. Not sure if it was fitted but it reverses just as freely as it drives forward. I plan a trip up north in November so I hope the long run will blow away some of the cobwebs that probably gathered over the last sedate 4 years. I know those reading this will all have had the experience of owning one of these beautiful cats but to me this is a new mind blowing experience. Thank you for letting me share it with you.

Having bought my first ever Jaguar, collect this Saturday, I was surprised when the salesman told me that he had ordered a new battery even though the battery in the car started the engine first time with a lively spin. I didn't question his reason for the change. Now reading that an aged battery could cause these problems is a new one on me. Forever prepared to learn from those more knowledgeable than me. It looks like I will have to ditch my assumptions that the battery was solely there to start the engine and after that the alternator supplied the necessary amps once the engine was running at normal speed speed supplying the amps required at a pressure of 13.8 volts. Thanks.

Hello Kenny, thanks for the welcome. The reversing sensors are not fitted. It is a pretty basic model really. I would have like a few more bits and pieces but the real essence is to experience luxury travel in a Jaguar. And the virtual rust free body. I suppose there are less things to go wrong. The non functioning radio I mentioned will not turn on. It's not just codes Peter. They have agreed to look into and fix the problems I mentioned so I'm happy with that. They also said they would replace the battery as, even though the car started alright, I'm led to believe that a weak battery could cause problems. OBC throwing out false codes? Lastly, I have worked out that my engine is the NIKASIL version. Apparently it was the high sulphur content in the petrol pre 2000 that caused the problems with the lining especially on cold stop start journeys. But, since 01/01/2000 sulphur content was lowered and as my engine was built in April of that year then there shouldn't be too much of a problem. Mine started first turn of the key and there wasn't any hint of smoke when starting or accelerating after engine overrun. I'm a firm believer in that if the engine was going to go it would have done so by now. Also my glass is usually half full. Bearing that in mind then what petrol suppliers should I avoid? Has there been problems using supermarket fuel as opposed to Esso, Shell or Texaco to name three? Five days to go!!!

Hello Peter and thanks for the welcome. I arrived at the car trader's office and had a good look around the car. No oil leaks and the underneath was sound. The body work was virtually blemish free but with a slight mark on the rear N/S bumper edge and a slight bubbling of paint just by the rear window seal. Took the car for a drive, first time driving a Jaguar. Engine starting from cold no rattles. Uncanny silence in the car as the engine ticked over. Selected D, eased off the handbrake and eased it down onto the road from the kerb edge. Drove up to a roundabout and turned left. A bit of uneven road coaxed a couple of little knocks from the front N/S. Out onto the dual carriage way and the gearbox changing seamlessly. Let go of the steering wheel and the car continued in a straight line. Gentle brake and no veering. Engine whisper quiet. Any thoughts of a 15 year old car being worn out quickly disappeared. There was certainly many years life left yet. Got back and explained the knock. A mechanic took the car out and returned confirming the knocks. Agreed it could be anti roll bar bushes, track rod end or ball joint. Promise to fix it. Other issues, passenger seat belt lazy in retracting, radio not working, interior mirror looked faulty. A bit dull looking through it but an edge of clear at the top of the mirror. No reverse sensors or cruise control which was a bit disappointing but nonetheless very pleased with my find. Under the bonnet it was clean and hadn't been cleaned/power sprayed for the sale. Engine oil clean. All of the service history documents were present and the car has been well looked after by an elderly gentleman who had also been a member of the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club. i'm under no illusion that things may well go wrong but I decided on buying the car and plan on keeping it for a year at present. More if I can persuade the wife who, by the way, was adamant she wanted nothing to do with it to saying she really like it and was looking forward to having a drive and planning trips out at weekends. The colour is a pearlescent green but changes shade to a blue purple hue in sunlight. Roll on next Saturday when I collect her. This week is going to drag!

Hi, my name is Peter from Dorset and I'm about to hopefully purchase my first Jaguar today following a booked test drive. It's an XJ308 W registered and has covered 83,000 miles. The surprising thing is that I initially bought insurance for another XJ308 which was a year younger but the car suddenly developed an engine management fault and was withdrawn from sale. The dealer was asked to phone me yesterday but failed to do so which I thought was a bit suspicious so I've looked elswhere. Anyway on contacting the ins broker I was told the extra premium on my ins was £35 not because I changed the registration details but because the car was one year older. Oh well, at £275 including breakdown cover, legal protection & protected NCD is good value. It's taken me some years to decide to buy one even just for a year to have the pleasure of driving one of these luxury cars. I'm looking forward to the experience and sharing them on the forum.