Does anyone know how to remove the rear parcel shelf on a 1998-2003 Jaguar XJ8? I have a rattling noise on the right passenger side under the rear parcel shelf tat stops when I press down on the shelf. Don't know what it could be but it rattles when I go over bumps and I can hear it if I pound down on that side. I searched the Jag forums here but can't find ant threads related to this. It got worse after I had new rear shocks put on and I suspect they did some pounding down there and loosened something up under the parcel shelf since they told me they had a tough time loosening some rusted bolts on that side. Thanks if anyone knows how to do it. I need to check what's under there making that noise which is driving me crazy and I don't want to break or crack the parcel trying to remove it incorrectly.

 

Well, somebody on the X308 forum will probably know, but this is the forum for the later, (aluminium-bodied) cars from 2003-2009), so I suggest you post in the X308 forum.

However somebody on here may know, so you might be lucky. I suspect you might have to take the seat squab out first.

 

Ok thanks for the response, I'll try over there too. Hope I don't have to do that, but it is a Jag

 

Does anyone know how to remove the rear parcel shelf on a 1998-2003 XJ8 or know of a thread on how to take out the rear parcel? Ihave a rattle over bumps when driving, on the right passenger side rear under the rear parcel. I wedged a thick piece of duct tape in the right passenger corner temporarily that pushes the parcel shelf down in that corner narrowing the space under there for whatever is loose under there, and the rattle has diminished tremendously. If anyone can help I'd appreciate it. The rattle over every bump is very annoying.

 

You first have to remove the back seat, then the seat belts and after that you have to remove 2 plastic push-pin and the shelve will be free to go. be warned it's pretty tight to remove it without removing the 1/4 panel ( where the lights are) interior trim

 

Thanks for the help. I'll try to tackle that this weekend. I had a hunch it wouldn't be as easy as just pulling out from top

 

Any ideas of what could be loose under there?

 

You don't need to remove the rear seat back or the seatbelts - you can tilt the seat back forward enough to remove the push pins and lift the parcel shelf.

1) remove the rear toe kick covers, unbolt the seat cushion and remove the seat.
1a) remove the loose change, happy meal toys, and animal crackers laying under the seat the from the previous owner's children (this may not apply to your car)
2) Very gently release the seatbelt covers where the seatbelts retract at the top of the seat - the tabs on these break very easily
3) raise the rear headrests
4) unbolt the bottom of the seat back and then lift the seat back upwards to release the top of the seatback from the body - this takes some patience
5) tilt the seat back forward while un-spooling the seatbelts
6) remove the pushpins holding the parcel shelf
6a) ask yourself why Jaguar hid these pushpins behind the seatback to begin with
7) remove the (3) covers and bolts from the child seat clips on top of the parcel shelf

You can now tilt up the parcel shelf enough to find what is rattling and silence it. The parcel shelf is a sandwich of 2 pieces held together by clips and the beeper for the rear back up sensors is also under the shelf. The sub-woofer dust cover is also there and may be loose. I used silicone to glue everything to everything else to be sure that nothing rattled any more.

Re-assembly is easy but don't force the seatbelt covers back into place. Gently guide the clips in the grooves into the seatbelt retractors using your fingers or a screw driver until the lock in place

 

There is the right way, as in removing the seat back, and the "other" way such as cutting a hole in the parcel shelve instead of removing the gas tank.
A 1999 Jaguar do not have neither back-up sensors nor child seat tether. We don't want Gbme1 looking for parts that he don't have...right?
Once again, I like to fix things the right way so, if it was me, I would find the source of the rattle and fix it instead of "silicone gluing everything"

 

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll try to sort it out ASAP and will let you know how it goes. Wanted to check it out myself instead of shelling out a few hundred bucks for something that seems minor but is definitely annoying.

 

Thank you for the corrections on the back up sensor and the child seat tethers. The steps I listed allowed me to silence the rattles I had under the parcel shelf with the least amount of work. My steps do not put the reader at risk of damaging anything or of injuring themselves.

I will leave it up to individuals to decide what procedure to use for any necessary repairs.

I used the zip-tie method ( the wrong way) to change my tensioners and pocketed all the money I did not spend on the lock down tools or on paying a Jaguar dealer to do it per the manual ( the right way).

Conversely, when I changed all of my front bushings I rented the special Jaguar tool to remove the spring (the right way) because of the dangers of injury were too great if I did not use that tool.

Balancing the 2 allows me to maintain my car at a minimal cost and still have time for other things

 

Are you sure about that Fraser? Mine says that this is for the "Modern" steel bodied cars XJ, X308, XJR 1997-2003

 

Thanks to Luc and Rocklandjag for your directions on taking out the rear parcel shelf. I took out the rear parcel shelf today by removing the rear seat cushion and tilting the seatback forward and I only found the bundle wiring from the side interior light floating loose in there. I secured the bundle of wires with electricians tape and tacked it down securely to the body with some duct tape and put some new foam cushioning in between the parcel and the body. Put everything back together and the rattling is now gone! What a relief! Thanks guys for your help :-)