Hi. Now that I've made my "newbie" post and have been welcomed to the forum, I thought I'd throw this out there. I've purchased this car and want to learn how to repair what I can am capable of repairing.
Today I took delivery of a 95 VDP with 71K miles. Real pretty car and all. Previous owners seem to have done a good job maintaining the vehicle.
Prior to purchasing it, I brought it to the local Jaguar dealership for a pre-purchase inspection. Here's what they came up with, and approx cost that I was quoted.

Replace belts $230.
Re-glue 3rd brake light (back window) $124.
Re-glue back seat ashtray covers $31.
Replace front undertray (which is missing) $150.
Oil sending unit leaks $90.
Oil cooler bypass (o-ring) leaks $263.

And the big boy...Power steering rack leaks $2290. Yikes. The service manager said this is really minor leak at this time, and I should find a tech who can do it cheaper than them, and perhaps even try to source the part on my own, which is great advise.

I'll see about getting the manual, and read a lot here and ask questions. Re-gluing parts? Yeah, I got that. I don't need that undertray, I don't believe. I am concerned about the leaks and want to address that now, as well as getting the belts changed.
Thanks for any advice. I'll be listening and learning, as well as enjoying it.
Bob

 

Welcome aboard, Bob.



On to stuff they didn't tell you that may or may not be fouled at this point but bears watching - A/C Condenser iso-mounts and Radiator iso-mounts.
Cond. mounts have a history of escaping and then your condenser vibrates against the Grill Opening Panel until it is compromised and all your refrigerant escapes. Radiator iso's don't so much escape/disappear as they wear out. Also upper and lower shock bushings - you can see the front uppers with the bonnet open - and they are normally the first to give up, so if they are still good and you don't have rattles and bangs, the rest are likely good.
Boot lock - exercise the button (Growler) on the bootlid, try the key, and the dash switch. Particularly the key - once the electronic means succumb to the chaffed wiring at the right boot hinge, you'll want to be able to open it to mend that without pulling the number plate and fishing thru the holes for the latch - or if your battery dies...


Good luck and keep us posted!

 

This is exactly why I do all my own work, highway robbery. I need to open a Jaguar service center. I could charge half those costs and still feel like I was cheating the customer. The only one that blows me away is the undertray, does that include the part? That, if it does, plus install is a bargain, the rest is robbery.

 

$124 to re-glue the third brake light? I don't think so...

I concur with everyone else.. try and find a good indie shop to handle whatever is beyond your own capabilities.

The only time I'd take my car to a dealer was (1) if it was under warranty and (2) it was for something that they were paying for.

 

This is your new family, here to listen, help and advise / support as much as we can.

As you wil lsee from above, there are some great guys here, all willing to offer good sound advice, show links for "How to" threads and much more

Failing that we'll probably be able to point you in the right direction for a good Indy....

Best
Jim

 

Regarding Re-glue 3rd brake light (back window) $124, all you need is a $6 tube of DAP Auto/Marine Sealant 100% RTV Silicone. Clean the window and light bracket good with denatured alcohol and let dry. Dab a drop of silicone on each of the two bracket bosses and attach to window. I kept the brake light on the bracket during the process, others do not. Have a prop ready to support the light against the window for 12 hours and immediately support the light after making contact with the window. I used a folded foil front window sun screen and it worked perfectly.

My 3rd brake light has been up for 6 months and survived the Florida sun and heat. Heat is the big reason these brake lights fall. Most glues can't take the heat. This silicone product is unaffected by temperature extremes (-40F to 400F), and it's also a little flexible which helps the adhesive stay attached where other hard contacts might break.

So $6 and 30 minutes of your time. 12 hours curing time. Much cheaper than the $124 quoted.

I would attempt to tackle all the repairs/maintenance that you can and you'll save a lot of money and learn a lot along the way. My contribution is minor but many here offer so much help.

 

Bob, one more thing. Regarding the power steering rack leaking, it seems that leaking power steering fluid is fairly common with the X300s. Mine leaks a little but I just monitor it and top it off when it's getting a little low, say every 6 weeks or so, since I don't see the source of the leak and no sudden puddles under the car. Maybe yours doesn't leak that much either.

 

Hello Bob, welcome!

2 Belts: $30 retail, Relatively easy to install.

4 Oil bypass O-rings: $1 each, 1nut, 15 minutes to replace.

Steering rack seep, really not worth entire replacement at this point.

As you can tell, dealers don't service these cars much anymore!

 

I new here also and have not yet introduced myself I will get on that tonight. I had a horribly leaking steering rack and changed it out about a month ago. I bought a rebuilt one from Coventry West (local to me) and put it in myself. I was really impressed with the rebuilt rack because it truly looked brand new. I do all of my own work and consider myself an OK mechanic and would put this job at about a 5 on a 1 to 10 scale. It took me about 10 hours but I also replaced 3 lines and the power steering pump. If I had to guess I would say that the rack would take a solid afternoon. No special tools needed except for a pickle fork to break the tie rod ends and a really good set of line wrenches. If you strip a pump line that would really suck.

 

Rock Auto had the rebuilt rack for $275. about year ago.

 

Yep, was just looking last night on a whim, and they are pretty commonly available around $300-350, with a 3 year warrantee

...of course you (or someone) still has to install it. But it shouldn't be anywhere close to $2000+

Even if the shop took 10 hours, and they wouldn't I suspect, at typical US shop rates of around $85/hr, you might be looking around $1000. But I think even that might be high.

I could be wrong as I've never had a shop replace a rack, but that's my suspicion anyway.


.

 

I, like al, have seen the rack range from $300-$350. Service information calls for 3.5 hours on rack with transfer of parts (3.3 without transfer of parts). So let's assume the cost of the rack is $325 and the labor rate was the average mentioned above ($85), the cost of labor would be about $297.50. Leaving the total to be around $622.50. Plus whatever they'll charge for the fluid and shop supplies.

 

I suspect the dealer was quoting the rack replacement using a *brand new* rack and pinion, about $1500 or so just for the part. That might at least partially explain why the quote is so high


Cheers
DD

 

Replace belts $230.
Re-glue 3rd brake light (back window) $124.
Re-glue back seat ashtray covers $31.
Replace front undertray (which is missing) $150.
Oil sending unit leaks $90.
Oil cooler bypass (o-ring) leaks $263.


I got an oil sending unit at Jaguar for $29.00 and it took longer for me to jack the car up and find it than it did to replace it. A deep socket is easier to do it with. Thats a good deal on the undertray, I've replaced the fasteners on mine with nuts and bolts. I had the power steering leak on mine for years and had it repaired, it was the high pressure hose at the bottom, the hose was about $125, i think the labor was an hour becasue it was original

 

Thank you for this information. Great advice and things I can look into before they crap out on me. Awesome!

 

I should've read this yesterday. I had a bottle of Gorilla glue handy yesterday, so I tried that. I kept the light in place with some blue painting masking tape (and some paper to keep it up. I left it there for @ 3 hours and it did not take. Perhaps it was the chilly weather we had. I'll use your method. I should do it at 6:00pm and let it sit overnight. Thanks for the solution!

 

Gator, thanks again on this. Yes the Service Mgr at the dealership was quite honest with me the other day. He explained how it likely happened that said what you did here, to simply monitor it and track how much I'm adding.
And yes, I'll look around for a rack on the market. I have a great mechanic shop for my wife's van, and I'll talk to them. Perhaps they'll be open to installing the part if I buy it. If not, I'll determine if it it's something I can do. Thanks.

 

Let me just say thank you all for your excellent advice. Wow. I'm encouraged by this and will start working on these issues.

Little side story here. My son and I changed the oil on Saturday morning. It took us a while to figure out where everything was, get organized, and get my stuff together to do the job. (I'm no rookie at changing oil in a car.) My ramps wouldn't work as I might have damaged the valence. We had to jack up the car with the (never used) jack in the truck, and a hydrologic jack I just purchased.
We had to take off the front tire to get to the oil pan bolt. Once drained, and put the bolt back on, We poured @ 4 quarts in when we realized I had not changed the filter. (DOH!!)
We were in a rush at that point, so we had to leave the old one on there. We had to get her cleaned up for the wife and I to go out of town for a HS reunion last night. It was a reeeeaaallll nice trip!
It looks like I have to take some parts out in order to take the oil filter out. No big deal.

 

I normally remove the oil filter from above, and without removing anything else ....admittedly there's not a lot of room, and minor bloodshed is likely, but it is possible to finagle the filter out towards the front. If a PO has overtightened the beastie, it is also possible to use a strap wrench if necessary.
I'm always careful to ensure that I don't cross-thread the replacement filter ....:-)

 

How much was the pre-purchase inspection?