I found a 2004 Jaguar XJ8 with 31000 miles for sale. It currently has "air suspension fault / vehicle too low". I have searched and waited for a low mile Jaguar show up for sale for a long time . I do know the air suspension issues with the 2004 and later Jaguar. Since the Jaguar is for sale by a dealer and they are 800 miles away in Houston Texas, I cannot test drive and personally do the inspection and see if 1. compressor problem 2. rear needs to be replaced 2. front needs to replaced, or 3. both front and rear need to be replaced.

I am posting three photos. By just viewing the photos, is it both front and rear appeared to be low or it is the front? or if all corners all low, i hope that only the compressor needs to be replaced and not the suspension itself.

Please help.

 

The whole car is sitting low, but does not appear to be bottomed out...(yet)

 

since its only has 31K miles, it is possible the compressor went bad and not the suspension itself?

I know its a long shot by diagnose the issues only with photos. I am hoping compressor only ( less than $400.00 DIY fix) instead of $1,600.00 for t spring or much more for air suspension replacement.

 

It is impossible to say without reading the codes & test driving the vehicle.

It points to the compressor being worn out, but you have to ask why is it worn out at such low miles.

My concern is, if the compressor seal has worn out at only 31k, it would point to the compressor running too often, because of a leak.

It could be a leak only at normal ride height, & when the car is parked it lowers & the leak closes up (this has been reported before) but while you drive around the compressor is running all the time to compensate for the leak at normal height. When you park up it leaks & the car lowers to match that one leaky corner, & then it stops leaking, so it doesn't bottom out.

Maybe...it's impossible to say from here...

 

If and I do say If, its a compressor issue, then it may not even be $400

We have many issues on the site with these and quite often it may be the ptfe seal inside the compressor.
Our member bagpipingandy sells these as a repair kit for around $30 iirc

He is also a bit of a guru to do with any issues relating, so worth contacting perhaps?

Good luck

 

Nice car... which dealership is it? Also what is there asking price? Ask for an additional $2500 off...

 

You could always try saying you'll take the car if the suspension issue is resolved.....see what they say, nothing to lose.

For an Inspection in Houston Texas, I'm sure we have some very very good members there that may be willing to assist
Again, always worth a shout

 

The dealer is asking $8,200.00 with the known suspension issues and dropping headliner. Its for sale by Peacock Cadillac in Houston Texas. They provided me with the car fax showing two owners before it got traded in. It's a Vanden Plas with GPS system. It was initially list $9,000.00 but dropped the price a week ago to $8200. I am sure they will sell it for around $7,900 plus dealer and processing fee ($400.00). I would buy it and fix the air suspension or covert to spring if its a local car. I would cost additional $7,00.00 for shipment.

If its just the air compressor, I am all over it. This will be my third Jags.

It would be nice if a very good good member here lives nearby and inspect the car. In an event that I purchased the car, I would send a gift to a member that helps in the form of paypal $$.

However, I agreed Cambo51's logic sense that most likely there is an air leak in the suspension that killed the compressor as well.

Any member here decides to buy it, I am all good.

 

Seems to be a good price. I wouldn't have him fix it. If the dealer fixes the expensive problem (four new air bags) at a cost of $2000 - $3000 cars price will go up $2500. If they get away with just the compressor ($400) car price goes up $2500. I'm too much of a gambler to allow the dealer to make that money.

I'd try and get the car for $8500 out the door. If I need to replace all four units and the air compressor I'm out around $2000 if I do the work myself and use rebuilt lifetime warranty Arnott units. I now have a low mileage car with lifetime air bag warranty. If its just the compressor I'm out $100 and can drive until the suspension fails and then pay the $2000. Either way I'm ahead of having him fix it.

 

I just went out and looked at my own car, and in all honesty, that car doesn't look all that low. Bear in mind that the car keeps itself level and if one end is too low, will lower the other to match it.

Reading the codes is what is needed, but at that sort of miles, I'd say it could be the compressor, because I had to have one at around 35k miles, but have had no problems since and am now on 89k miles. The compressor is well known as the short-life component of the system

I suspect the early cars had duff compressors from new and Wabco improved them under pressure from Jaguar when the warranty claims piled in. Nothing has ever been said, mind !

If it were me, I'd ask the dealer to get it fixed if you can't test drive yourself. 800 miles is a long way away if it all goes belly-up.

 

Any local members help out ??

I've put out a call into the Regional section, to see if anyone can assist

Good luck

 

Unless they've already inquired of Jaguar they're probably thinking they're looking at $4,000-5,000 to do it all. A professional shop won't likely touch the headliner for less than $500.00 and many won't do so and guarantee they won't break the rear window. In addition they may be thinking up to $1,000 a corner for the air suspension .

I flat out ask them if they know which of the air shocks, if any, is defective and see what they tell you.

I had to replace the right front on my newly purchased 2004 last year and with the forum discount from Arnott I purchased a rebuilt air shock with a lifetime warranty for $300-350 including returning my blown one for a rebate. The actual job of replacing the old with the new took about 2 hrs. (including doing some homework) but the other three would have been much faster. I also bought one of Andy's seal kits just to be on the safe side so there's another $40.

Do the math. 4 X $350.00= $1400. Add to that possibly $40-45 for Andy's kit and maybe $200 for negotiated labor if you can't do it yourself (it isn't difficult if you have reasonable size compressor and a decent air gun). Barring a really blown compressor or the possibility of a leaking reserve air tank I'd venture that you could get all four corners replaced, a new seal in the compressor, and the headliner professionally replaced for $2500.00 with a few dollars to spare.

Of course how to get a low rider some 800 miles back home would be a trick as the ride is awful and very rough but at the right price for an otherwise nice looking car it might be worth the effort.

 

If it were me, I'd either have them fix the problems as a condition of the sale, or drop the price by $2500. If it were a simple fix, they would have already done so when prepping the car for resale. Go for what the worst case would be and make your offer or walk away based on that assumption.

 

Tough to diagnose via photos but the right side of the car appears to be lower than the left. So it could be that the compressor cannot provide enough air to inflate one of the air shocks. I do agree with RDMinor's thoughts on worse case repair running $2500, but suspect there is one bad shock or air line connection and possible a worn out compressor. I would try for a lower price based on the $2500 but would will willing to roll the dice that the repair will be less and that the dealer will not accept a $2500 discount

RyeJag

 

I did a search on Autotrader.com with the following parameters:


2004-2007 my
500 miles from zipcode 37203
75000 miles or less.


I came up with 39 candidates. To me, the suspension issue would be a deal-killer unless it's fixed as a condition of sale. You may want to check out the results I found.


Jaguar cars for Sale in Nashville, TN 37203 - AutoTrader.com

 

In the first place, you can assume that the reason the vehicle was traded in was at least due to the air suspension issue. It's also a fair bet that the former owner previously brought it into a dealer service shop to correct the fault, but they simply could not repair it (economically).

In this particular case, forget about repairing the air suspension system as you can be sure that it will be far more trouble than it's worth. I much prefer the coil/spring suspension system myself (as the rear of the vehicle seems to 'bottom out' often with the air suspension).

If you do purchase the vehicle (and everything else appears to be fine----air conditioning, radio, drive train, windshield wipers work.....etc.etc., I would strongly recommend ordering an Arnott C-2290 coil/spring conversion kit directly from Arnott Industries, and have a reputable service shop (Goodyear Service Center) install them (as the vehicle will have to be aligned afterwards anyway). The conversion alone will set you back around $2,700, but this is what will be needed.

Generally, with every used car that I ever purchased, it always seemed that the tires had to be replaced as well. If you're going to get a set of 'W' rated tires (150mph), that's going to set you back an additional $1,200.

No one is going to sell a sharp looking low mileage Jag such as this unless the car has some expensive service issues with it. In fact, the 'air suspension fault' may not be the only major thing that is wrong with the vehicle. This is exactly why the former owner was forced to part with it.

What I described above is what I had to do with my 2005 Jaguar XJ8L (that I purchased from a Florida dealer on eBay last March) as it also had 'air suspension faults' along with poor tires. I paid $10,300 for my vehicle, and it had 78,400 miles at the time. Altogether, I had to sink $6400 in repairs, but at least the car is in excellent operating and cosmetic condition.

P.S. After I received my 2005 Jaguar XJ8L with the 'air suspension fault', I took it to a local Jag dealer. They installed a $1000 new air compressor that didn't correct the problem. Afterwards, I found out from the dealer that the previous owner most likely had the front passenger air shock replaced (and those run $2300 each). It's no wonder why that Florida woman decided to trade it in. In short, don't do what I did (attempt to correct the air suspension fault), but rather what I say.

 

So far the team agrees with me and ask for $2500 off and stay firm with that amount if everything else checks out.

 

I don't think it matters anymore? https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...6/#post1112023

 

sorry members, the car was sold a day later at the asking price. thanks all.

I found a 2004 with 45,000 miles, one owner with no issue for $6,500.00. Its a standard model. I will fly to pick up on Wednesday and drive back to TN on Thursday. I will post photos.

 

Thanks and good luck

Topic closed.