As a new first time owner it's been a steep learning curve.
Never have I owned a 21st Century car with so many inherent faults, and yet I reckon that there is a good car in there somewhere trying to get out.

First thing: the car is a 42,000 mile 3.0 X-Type SE from 2001.
Extras: touch screen sat nav, Xenon dipped beam lights, reverse sensors, self folding mirrors.

As it is intended as a family car (all wheel drive, loads of air-bags, big boot, easy to drive auto) my first priority was a major service and general health check.

At 12 years old it is advisable to change the fluid in the transfer box, mine hadn't leaked, but it had been sat around for over a decade, new brake pads and new rear brake discs were installed (although I don't think it needed discs, but the new ones were only £20 each).

When checking out a potential X-Type, newbies (including me) should note the hand brake on these seems to come up way too far, some don't even hold the car stationary fin drive, and to make matters worse, its not a drum/disc combo, the handbrake grips the disc. Or rather it should, problem is the standard cable seems a tad too long, the auto adjust mechanism never quite catches up with the slack, and Ford/Jaguar never thought to add a threaded adjuster.

Have a look at the battery too, if its a Bosch 96 good, if the black battery box is held together with zip ties, and the battery held down with more of the same, then that would be bad.
A new battery even from somewhere like Partco costs about £85 new battery struts and cross piece are about £15 in total, but genuine m6 nuts are £6 EACH.

If you go in to settings menu on sat nav, you can find out what year disc you have, mine was the original 2001 version, the seller lied to me, said it had been updated.
Easy Nav UK sent me a 2011-12 version for under £10, arrived in less than 48 hours and worked perfectly (Jaguar wanted £170 for the same DVD).

When checking over a Jag, remember to ask for the audio code too. I didn't, that cost me £15 from X-Type Spares in Newcastle UK, a great source of cheap parts, with whom I am becoming very well acquainted...

Other faults, oh yes, seems a lot of them, incl mine, suffer from rust along the edges of the bonnet, that will not be a cheap fix,. It appears as bubbles under the paint, I imagine there is a welded seam there.

The hood catch always seems to look scabby. Luckily its a very easy fix, it is held on by 6 easy to see bolts, there is a little plastic clip that slides off and all I did was attack the rust and loose paint with a wire brush, then a bit of battery acid to clean out the pitting, then after a good rinse and a wipe over with thinners, apply Hammerite Smooth Black.

Looks great, I don't know why everybody else doesn't do it.

Now another common characteristic is clicking from the J-Gate, a brilliant thread already exists here that deals with that by Cats Paws. It's actually quite cheap to fix with micro switches available from Maplins, trouble is Jaguar used two different types simultaneously, one with a button, one with a lever, and Jaguar will only sell you the whole assembly for £260 plus tax, plus labour. Basically if whilst driving you release the foot brake and hear a click, it's a solenoid operating, it thinks you're still in PARK. It's so common one jag specialist thought it was supposed to do it.
Oh by the way, the micro switches cost £2.10.

Now sometimes locking the doors can be hit and miss. The front passenger door particularly didn't want to unlock on the button when all the rest were fine. There is a rotating catch in the door, sometimes it sticks a bit, a good squirt of 3 in 1 with PTFE has cured that.

Also, the doors didn't always lock. That was a real head ache, I had to manually use the driver's door key hole.
Then I noticed that the "gate" or dust cover on the ignition lock wasn't closing when the key was removed. That again seems to be another unique Jag trait, tried graphite spray, gt85, and WD40 to get that to close, but got there in the end.

When you use the screen washers, if you have Xenons you also squirt the lamps. Now sometimes the covers in the front bumper fall off. A good source is whccarparts on eBay, £27 painted and delivered is good value. Now actually fitting them was another headache. In the end I had the engine running, lights on, drivers door window open, pressed the washer button and legged it round the front before the buggers had a chance to retract. Luckily the cruciform clips were intact, but still the covers worked loose.
Arrrgh!

OK what else can go wrong.
Light failure. With Xenons its never simple, my local garage changed the bulb, a week later it stopped working again.
A quick lesson in how things work later and I ordered a new Ballast and Ignitor from eBay's Xelix Trading, £160 delivered, and about £200 cheaper than Jaguar for the exact same parts by the same manufacturer. You need Hella 35w Ballast 5DV 008 290-00, and Hella Ignitor D2S D2R 5DD 008 319-10.

And clips, oh yes, Xenons have automatic levellers attached to motors by flimsy little plastic clips that ham fisted mechanics will helpfully snap. From eBay again I got some reinforced plastic ones for £36, they fit fine, and may outlast my ownership the way things are going...

Latest thing is wheel nuts. Jaguar went with a two part assembly. A solid nut encased in a shiny metal shell. Looks good until you use the cheap tyre iron supplied to get one off. You need a good 19mm hex socket you do.
Otherwise the shell made of shiny I don't know what, can become detached from the main body, at first it just rattles, and can be moved on the wheel by hand, then it gets crumpled by pneumatic spanners wielded by tyre changing specialists who will tell you it was like that before they even touched a bolt. Then it just spins on the bolt as you try to undo it, and then, if you are stuck at the side of the road, in the rain/snow, then you weep and curse Jaguar for being so stupid.
I've just ordered a full set of 20 from X-Type parts.

Just waiting for the anti roll bar to start knocking.
And the auto box is doing strange things, shifting down just a bit tool eagerly.
I'll keep you posted on whether that's another common foible.
Thanks for reading hope it doesn't put you off, it may help if you are mad...

 

As a guy who has had this car pretty much since new. I would not want to step on any toes but you should not be buying a car that is 12 years old regardless of miles on it as a family car. Let this go and look at the XF with all wheel drive this one is out to pasture.
Sorry but a car this old will have issues and should be passed on.

 

Geesh this made me nervous as someone who bought one which is in route to me right now....

I guess I shouldn't worry because mine is an 06 x type 3.0 sport with just 23k miles.... Right?

 

Sorry to hear you've had such a plethora of issues.

Mine is also a 2001, when I bought it it had done 37 985 miles. I'm now at 47 592 miles, and so far the big things have been:
- Transfer case rear output shaft seal was leaking, fixed & changed the fluids.
- MAF sensor died, changed with C2S2670.
- Steering was a bit whiny, added Jaguar additive C2S48887 to the power steering fluid reservoir and now it's completely silent and feels smoother.
- My handbrake was also going quite far up (though it still held), so much in fact that the MOT guy said I should have a look at it. It was also making a slight sort of humming noise sometimes from the right rear corner while turning, and the mechanic immediately knew what it is when I described it. He said the handbrake thingy has some sort of a thingy that should fit into a slot in the caliper, but sometimes it may not be properly aligned so it won't open completely, and this in turn prevents the auto-adjusting feature on the handbrake from working. It turned out to be exactly so, and the result was no more humming noise and now the handbrake "catches on" when lifting it just a few centimeters.
- When fixing the right rear brake caliper, they noticed it was leaking slightly so it was changed as well with C2S18003.

Btw, I seem to recall seeing some sort of metal thing on eBay that was an alternative to some part in the headlight washer system, and which some say has fixed issues. Can't recall more as mine has no headlight washers but maybe someone else can.

Also, the wheel nuts are two-piece because Jag wanted to make them pretty and shiny. I've had no issues with mine (and I've been to a pro shop once, and they put them on so tight with pneumatic tools that it took me quite some time and effort and swearing to get them open again. I've heard from gurus that it's a good idea to use a 3/4" or 19.05mm socket while the nut itself is 19mm, rather than a 19mm socket.

 

Hahahaha... mines been doing it so long I forgot it was a problem! I hear it's also a Land Rover problem.

 

Yeah it's a bit of a love/hate relationship at the moment, my last 3 cars were Toyota Celicas, one from the 80s, one from the 90s and a 2003 T-Sport. Easy cars to run, but not really suited to a family. You're right, an XF would be preferable, but the misses, who was going to go over halves with me and could have brought the budget up to 12K or so backed out, leaving me with total spend of about 4K.
Car cost £2600, low mileage, very shiny, clean engine, Jag service history too. Previous owner had a personal number plate, and with the extras, the first two owners appeared to have not skimt on servicing, care etc. Even the weak point on the drivers seat, where the seat belt rubs holes in the leather, just needed leather cream to tidy it up.
I completely take on board criticism, at 12 years old its the oldest car I've bought, but my 1993 Toyota had 224,000 miles on it when I sold it in March 2013, and drove like new, so I thought 43,000 miles? it's still a nipper.

Live and learn eh?

Everyone has been really helpful on this Forum, the point of my thread is not necessarily to put people off, although re-reading this there is now a red flashing sign appearing behind my eyes saying SELL! SELL!, but as I get deeper into X-Type ownership, I'm finding that a lot of the problems are actually fairly cheap and easy to fix, if you know what to expect and buy your parts wisely.
So to any new buyers out there, you probably will come across some of the same infuriating things I have, and have yet to find, but if we pass on the suppliers of good quality spares, and identify issues early, it needn't end in angst.

Forexample, my wheel lugs haven't left me stranded yet, although one lug nut shiny shell does look crimped and ready to let go, but I now know the warning signs, and are gonna change them before they let me down. I just wish I'd had all this knowledge in one easy to find place before buying.

Still to do: Investigate high revving when putting foot down
See why Sport Mode Button lights up but makes no difference to shift pattern
Find out why Auto button on Climate control does not respond when pressed
See if superceeding handbrake cable part makes any difference to lever travel.
Find a reliable local Jag specialist.

 

Had mine since new in 2005 and with 65,000 miles completed, I've still not had a major issue! Only failures have been one external temperature sensor and one O2 sensor.

 

Astromorg you are either blooming lucky, or I suspect a mechanically sensitive driver.

Of course I don't know how the previous owners treated mine, some cars, like my old Toyota will apparently run forever if treated properly, others just store up problems, and weaknesses in design flare up at the least sign of abuse.
Any car including new ones, are a bit of a gamble, I really hope there is light at the end of the tunnel with mine, but its forums like this that let us owners know, as something else falls off, that others have been here before, and maybe it ain't so bad.

That thing where the gate on the ignition keyhole stuck open and wouldn't let me lock up on the remote, I thought the radio receiver was mullered, but it was on here that someone else had EXACTLY the same thing happen, and an expensive trip to my Jaguar dealer was turned into a can of WD40.

I don't think my car is that unusual, well ok, to have it all happen to the same one is a bit crappy. Will try to post photos soon of the genuine parts that have come off, so that if people need to order stuff from ebay etc, they at least can compare and be sure they're getting the right bits, that's always been my worry.

 

Just remember one thing... There are TONS of these x types out there and on a forum the only time someone posts is when there is an issue. When was the last time you saw a thread started that said "my car is perfect I have no problems"? My point is that you only hear the bad not the good and on a statistical basis there is significantly less bad than good we just don't see it.... I know for the 2006 year I have the reliability ratings are a 9 or 10 in all categories and its evident on these forums as I have yet to see anyone with an 06 post up a major issue.

Hopefully you don't take my post the wrong way I just want folks to remember that not all of these cars have issues just some....

 

Mine is an 07 with around 40K miles. So far some of the issues I've had:

1. Fuel pump replaced (check engine light was on, was diagnosed as a fuel pump issue.

2. AC condensor sprung a leak and had to be fixed.

3. My battery needed to be replaced after 5 years.

Other than these 2 issues everything else has worked fine and the car is reliable as a daily driver.

My previous cars were an Acura TL and a Mercedes C Class and the overall maintenance costs are pretty much in line with what I experienced with my previous cars. The Acura tended to have more issues with the exhaust system for some reason and the Mercedes had issues with transmission (towards the end) and small mechanical things.

I've had the car since new. Bought it Oct of 2006. It's the only car I've kept over 4-5 years so far. The C Class I actually bought after the Jag (wife was the main driver) but sold it summer before last (the choice was to sell the jag or benz). Anyway, putting that in to show our trust in the general reliability of the x type.

I guess it depends on how the car was maintained.

 

To the last two guys, I completely agree, perhaps I should have called this topic faults that MAY lie in wait.
However everything it's had so far, somebody else has had too, but you're right, forums (and human nature) always concentrate on the negatives, when it reaches 100,000 miles I won't be saying "what a great alternator jaguar used, it never failed to deliver 15v at 30amps" and I'll say this, when you own a jag, don't you just notice how many more of them there seem to be on the road than before you bought yours?

Still waiting for my nuts to drop [sic] through my letter box, and next month when finances allow, I'll get the auto box processor module checked over for water ingress in case that's the why sport mode don't respond, and gear shifts seem VERY responsive to throttle peddle.
Please, if anyone else has had problems that later seemed fairly commonplace, please let us know. Cheers

 

Quick update. My wheel nuts arrived after two weeks, and of the 16 that came off (with a 600mm braker bar and 19mm socket) 2 were completely mullered, the outer cases would not have survived another winter, 12 had rattley covers but were otherwise servicable, and 2 seemed absolutely fine.
The 2 best ones were cleaned, wrapped in tissue and put into a spare lock'n seal pot, and stowed with the spare wheel just in case.
Wheel nuts were torqued to 70 ft/lb and will be checked in 100 miles. There was notable corrosion around the washer part of most nuts and I heartily recommend you check them, especially at over ten years old.
Next, get the auto box reprogrammed. Hopefully straight forward and cheap, will let you know result next week.

 

Had my 11 year old baby almost a year now...nothing has failed...sure it has an oil pan seep but its so small I could care less. I have done all the preventative maintenance to keep it running and no issues so far...just quirks

 

Hi Bracester just out of interest, which model do you have? As stated mine's the 3.0 SE auto, some of the issues I'm having may just be specific to that.
With regards to the issues I've had with the gear box/throttle response, it's suspected that when the battery was changed in the past, the CPU lost it's programming. Seems abit odd to me that you could lose all the programs simply by changing a battery but again if that is the case then I'll pass this on together with the cost of getting it all reset.

 

I have the 2.5 Auto model. The issues I mostly read seem to be random and how people are treating their cars. On my older car I know to take it easier, sure I live in Cali and sometimes it demands I hammer the accelerator on the highway but its very rare when I do...I just cruise...

My baby gets maintenance done way earlier than needed but that is my habit. For instance I do the manifold/plug/gasket maintenance about 20k early and my oil changes are done at 5k rather than the recommended 10k...just my habit

 

I'm with you on that, get the jobs done early. As a biker I do most of my own maintenance on my err bikes, but the thought of changing the back 3 plugs scares the bejeez out of me. Thanks for the response, its getting late over in the UK, I'm hitting the sack, hope she stays well behaved!

 

Anditover

Following your first post I decided to check my 2005 X-Type.

It appears that there are tiny bubbles at the very edge of one side of the bonnet that may be what you were describing.

You mentioned that it could be very expensive to fix. Could you please elaborate on this as if I have the same problem I may wish to deal with it soon rather than later if it would reduce the cost.

Regards

Vikingdon

 

Anditover - re: "....the rear three plugs scares the beejeez..... etc" - well, it did me too!! However, I took the plunge two months back and everything came apart (and more importantly went back together) pretty much according to plan. Mine is a 2004 so I expected all sorts of problems with seized bolts and so on - but no such trouble.

While you have all this stuff apart, give the throttle body a clean because the valve can be affected by gunk build up and stick - that problem has left me at the side of the road twice now which is why cleaning it is now part of my routine maintenance regime for the car.

Best of luck!!

 

Thanks Danny, I may try it later this year. Had a major service done and on picking up the car one mechanic said the plugs had not needed changing, checked bill a few days later, saw I'd been charged for spark-plugs, queried it and was told, ah yes actually they had been... As I never saw the ones that came out, if they came out, I figure I may take a looksie.
Problem is my garage is full of bikes and is too small to work on the Jag, and OK if I give it an afternoon in front of the house, over here in England, you can bet your grandma it'll start raining. But yeah, fear is the greatest obsticle.

Vikingdon, sorry to scare you, truth is I don't know myself yet what the cost of repainting the bonnet will be. It does seem very common and I will be fixing it when funds allow. Likely culprit is a welded seam that somehow doesn't get properly sealed, or there's a gap in the sheets that allows water ingress, either way paint shops will be able to sort it I'm sure, but may need correctional rewelding to seal the joint along the edge, and other costly preventative treatments no doubt.
Maybe some other owners have already addressed this and have an idea what the cost/difficulty is.

Today I took the wallet emptier to an auto transmission specialist. They were a great bunch of lads who joked that because it was the 13th of the month I qualified for a bigger bill. As it turned out, I paid £72 for an analysis and reset that showed there was nothing wrong.

One thing to share.... the JATCO auto boxes are used in all sorts of cars including VWs, generally sound, but service interval for a fluid change is 40,000 miles.
They are going to charge me £144 which is £60 + vat for the ATF, and £60 + vat for an hours labour. Seems reasonable, and if you get charged/quoted too much more than that (about 225 US$) then I would try elsewhere.

So next month new ATF, then get some quotes for the bonnet. If my wallet will stand it, after that I'd like to source a tidy wooden steering wheel, and get Bluetooth installed for music and calls.

I'm doing this so you don't have to...

 

Let us know what advice you get on the bonnet seam that is rusting - I have similar. I didn't look too closely but I had a vague notion that i would just sand it down, treat with rust inhibitor and repaint at some point this summer. I did that with some wheel arch rust t.hat began to bubble up a year or two back - cheap and cheerful fix but nobody would know unless they looked right up close. At the age and mileage of my car, I have convinced myself that a few minor paintwork blemishes just adds 'authenticity' .........................!!!!