Flew down to Orlando and picked up my "new" '07 XJR last Thursday.
~ 1,500 miles later, its now home in Pilot Mt, NC

This is a three owner 88K mile EBay car, which I bought for $11K with the assumption that it would need some maintenance and TLC. My previous daily driver sedans have been German for the last 25 yrs or so. Most recently, Audi A8, BMW M5, Mercedes E350, etc.

Being a Brit by birth, I have always wanted an XJR. So begins the adventure...

Impressions:

- Gorgeous car; lots of looks/compliments on the way home
* Jag racing green? with 19" 5 spoke wheels

- V comfortable freeway cruiser; quiet and smooth

- Kind of loose limbed; not a buttoned down or taut handler
* I'm hoping this is worn suspension components
* Handling is OK once the car takes a set, but feels sloppy in general driving

- Brilliant engine; smooth and powerful
* Exhaust is a little loud inside car at lower speeds; boyracerish...
* Way too aggressive throttle tip in, plus ~ 2" of slop in throttle pedal take up make smooth driving in stop/go a chore
* Lazy transmission; shifts noticeable due to exhaust noise
* Good kick down power, though transmission slow to pick up her skirts

- Definitely needs some work
* Warped disks
* Check engine light
* Loose front end (upper wishbone balljoints look duff)
* Vibration at freeway speed (I had tires balanced as part of pre purchase inspection; didn't help much. LR wheel small inner lip bend; spare also bent). I'm wondering about prop shaft ctr brg support?
* Slow coolant leak (no fluid on ground, but I can smell it evaporating on hot engine, and uses ~ pint in 500 miles
* Intermittent low speed clunk (the rear sway end links look duff; also maybe prop shaft cs brg surround is shot?
* Rear sun screen broken (just one arm lifts without screen attached)
* Some wind noise around drivers door mirror?

- Interior is in nice shape; creme with black piping
* Switchgear and instruments belong in a '90's Ford minivan
* Displays and layout look like a mercury marquis or something
* Pretty good front seats
* Fair (alpine) stereo
* Rear seat headrest screens and DVD player (in trunk?)
* Stone axe DVD nav system (worth getting an updated disk? I used my garmin coming home)

- Adaptive cruise control is brilliant

- Car came with $#%&$# black window film, which has got to go
* Looks like a low rent gangster car
* Hard to see out of at night

So, jury is out until I do maintenance and repairs (using this wonderful forum). But, I love XJR looks and engine performance. About 20 MPG coming home. My girlfriend helped drive, and is smitten (a chic car?) Plus, this is way more comfortable on the highway than my M3; much quieter too!

 

Congrats on the purchase! It's a beautiful car. From experience, the vibration at freeway speed is most likely caused by uneven wear on the tires that has gotten bad. The wind noise is most likely a seal issue at the top of the driver's side windshield. The black (or chrome) seal that goes around the windshield tends to come apart with age. One thing I would recommend checking is the air suspension (compressor, air struts) as these are notorious wear items in the X350/358s, especially around 80k. Congrats again!

Chris

 

You've got quite a few jobs to do soon on that car. I get the impression it was not cherished by its previous owners.


You need to deal with the CEL, and also the coolant leak. There will be codes stored related to the CEL, so get them read. Best to get them cleared off, then drive for a bit until the CEL comes on and then read them again. This means you only see the codes related to the CEL, and not historic stuff. The coolant leak is almost certain to be the header tank. A small diameter pipe attaches at top/rear, and the nipple it secures to cracks all the way round until the pipe drops off. Before that the crack allows coolant out under pressure. Look around the engine bay in the dark with a torch. Your eye will be adjusted to night-time and coolant reflecting the torch beam will be seen much more clearly than in daytime. The leak could be elsewhere, of course, so a thorough look around is needed, but my money is on the header tank.


For suspension, the parts are much cheaper bought off the internet as Jaguar dealer prices can be eye-watering. Also try to find a good Jaguar independent if you can, (unless you are DIYing). They also tend not to charge eye-watering labour charges, and can also use OEM parts sold on the after-market over the internet. I believe the Lincoln LS uses the same suspension parts and these cost a lot less than Jaguar dealers will charge. They are all made by Lemforder anyway. Air spring units are Bilstein.

 

I have a 2006 with 100,000 miles. Love it. Also a 2005 A8 with 88,000.
The A8 feels like a F1 car compared to the XJR. Tight, solid, and nimble. The sway bars were changed out to stiffer ones which may help.
The XJR came with rotted rubber suspension bits. Replaced upper arms, rear lowers, front lower bushings, shock bushings, sway bar links, sway bar bushings, rear toe adjusters, and outer tie rod ends and the A8 is still tighter.
Check the rubber, especially the lower rear control arms. Some of mine only had deteriorated rubber, replaced anyway. The rear Lower arm bushings and one toe adjuster were completely shot.
A good front end shop should find the issues on alignment.
Also check the lug nuts. These can loosen up a little.
I had the previous owner flush the tranny and replace filter and fluid. Shifts fine. Not slow or sluggish.
Also flushed the brakes, turned rotors, and did pads.
Did a partial flush on Supercharger oil. Will do again soon. Also changed S/C belt, drive belt, and tensioner. It squealed a little on startup originally.
Put in a gel cell battery from Advance Auto. And replaced the Chinese Carrera maypops that came on it.
I really like driving it. After a lot of TLC it has been very reliable. But I have only driven it 4,000 miles in the first year.
The next item planned is spark plugs. Lots of effort involved in this.

 

Panelhead:
An XJR AND an A8! You're a man after my own heart...
Appreciate the suspension bits rundown. Where did you source your parts?
Which new tires did you go with?
I will replace my plugs also

Fraser:
Thanks for the header tank tip; I will check. Also like your flashlight in the dark tip. I plan to do all the refurb work myself. Love to find a US parts source savvy to FOMOCO parts crossovers (eg Lincoln LS). I'm no fan of Rock Auto

Very happy to have experienced forum members to call upon... Makes the prospect of owning an old Jag less daunting

 

The Audi A8 is also an aluminium car, but on a totally different technology. The Audi is an earlier system that involves an aluminium space-frame on which are hung the body panels. The Audi A2 was similar. The Jaguar is a traditional monocoque body, but built of aluminium instead of steel, and riveted and glued together, (not welded), like an aircraft fuselage.

 

I purchased the four upper control arms, the rear toe adjusters, and one rear lower control arm from Ford dealers on eBay. The TRW tie rod ends from Amazon. The sway bar bushings, sway bar links, lower front control arm bushings, and the remaining rear lower control arm came from Rock Auto.
I checked a local Ford dealer on the price of a rear lower control arm. It was double Rock Auto or eBay. Those were 270 - 280 and the dealer wanted almost 600.00.
I went cheap on tires, Pirelli Scorpion Verde. They were 150.00 each at Discount Tire. There is a Discount walking distance from my home.
A set of the Verde tires came on my A8. They use the same 255/40-19 size tires. The local Discount gave me a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S-3 for the same price for the A8. Said they were better. They seem about the same to me.
On the aluminum body. The Audi space frame is much stiffer. I can feel the XJR flexing in corners and on rough roads. The A8 never flexes enough to feel it.

 

Fraser:

You were right! (about the slow coolant leak)
Upon really close inspection, I can see coolant tracks below RH side upper hose on coolant header tank. I'm afraid to disturb things by looking further; assume new tank? Anything else while I'm replacing it? Glad to do thermostat, water pump, hoses if they typically fail at 90K miles. Will replace coolant also

Plugged in my (generic OBDII) code reader, and came up with P00420 "Catalyst below efficiency threshold; Bank 1". I cleared this, and it didn't pop up again while I was warming up and changing engine oil

Bad cat? Bad downstream O2 sensor? Which side is Bank 1?

Car looks ~ OK underneath, though RH underbody plastic is broken up

Panelhead:

Thanks for suspension bits breakdown. Believe I will need the ~ same parts. Is there a Ford/jag cross reference somewhere? I much prefer OEM parts

With Porsches, the ft lower control arm balljoints always go bad, and there are now sources to replace the balljoint and bushings (instead of a $1200 new LCA). Anything like this for old Jags?

Yes; my car has a little cowl shake also. Definitely not as torsionally rigid as an A8/S8, IMHO. Still, a beautiful automobile

I've now removed the front/rear side window gangster film. Need to do the backlight without messing up the defroster and antenna circuits. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Not sure if I should start a new thread on this stuff?

Many thanks to both of you!

 

Thanks Chris!

Looking at the windshield surround yesterday, I see a cavity with (cracked) rubber seal showing. Sort of same at rear glass

Is there a (metal?) seal piece missing?

I'll try and post a picture

john

 

Panelhead,
based on your current sourcing of suspension parts to correct all that rotting rubber, what is the total cost? Will serve as a general benchmark. Basically all owners will face this as their car hits approx 9+ years old.

 

Chris -

Did some digging; don't believe 07 XJR had the windshield trim pieces (maybe '04 did?)

I'm toying with the idea of using a windshield sealer to seal up cracked rubber. Also, looks as if exposed edge of windshield are delaminating a little bit

Anyone tried this?