Hello everyone, I've always loved Jags, most the 67-75 breeds Xj6. Knowing their certain quirks and issues it's always scared me from owning any Jag even though I love the body on most of the models.
My questions/concerns are for the following, a 2001 XJR supercharged 4 door, 90,000 miles and I have not yet inquired as to how well it has been maintained or not.
I ask any and all of you for any of the known problem areas on this model and year, any quirks, any time bombs, were they fairly reliable? what areas could be upgraded to increase the overall reliability, just lay it on me please let me know how this year Jag is good bad or otherwise. I thank you all in advance . I am a mechanically inclined so I can perform most of the grease work if need be. Thank you all in advance I do appreciate it.

 

i have an 01 XJR. the main issue with that MY are the plastic tensioners. i had a pro shop do mine to the tune of $850 but it will cost under $300 if you can do this yourself. this would be the primary area of concern.

i avoided nikasil lined motor (used to sell jags in the late 90's). also, issues with a steering wheel telescoping cable (fairly easy repair if you can get the cable for $40).

replace all fluids, including supercharger oil, trans fluid, rear diff, etc.

my car has 88k miles on it. aside from tensioners, no other issues i can think off. everything works as it should, telescoping steering is the only area that needs to be addressed. since i prefer to have my wheel all the way in, it's really a non-issue.

i got mine with service records from day one. you should check for the same.

oh, another area to check are for coolant leaks at the back of the motor. the spider hose in the rear is a PIA to change but not impossible. bigger PIA are the heater hoses running below the super charger. that would require R&I of the super charger. however, if that's not a big issue to you, its actually not a bad area to refresh.

i got the 2001 because of the condition. best year in the X308 style is the 2003.

 

I agree with tirefriars comments have had my 2001 since 2005 .
Turned 84K miles yesterday. Only problem was replacing water pump that I accomplished thanks to info from this forum.
No modifications / upgrades made .
Will be removing cam covers , changing spark plug seals and inspecting tensioner's next week.
I love my XJ .

 

I have a 2001 XJR with 150k miles on the clock & it's still working fine-I've had no major problems, only stuff like the oxygen sensors & front lower ball joints. The engine is as strong as ever & the transmission works fine.

Mine did come with a full service history though, so get a good one & you'll avoid a major catastrophe-just make sure the secondary tensioners are-or will be-changed for the 3rd gen metal ones. You can even do the job yourself quite cheaply using the zip-tie method, which can be found on this forum.

Avoid cars with problems & patchy/suspect service histories-or you may end up with a major headache sorting all the problems out. It's all just common sense, basically-but get a good one & it'll be a great car

 

You will do best to get one with low miles -- 02 or 03 .... the few ..maybe 4k more that you have to spend for a better example will pay for itself in the long run.

Great examples are available.

Like most luxury brands the cars tend to suffer as they move from the original owner.


Still need to check the tensioners

 

OK I'm absorbing all of this please bear with me, the nikasil lined engines? How does one determine which engine the 01' XJR has? I'm going to inquire about the service records today. Unfortunately I haven't seen a 02' or 03' lately in my area that I like. This one is all black I really like it, it looks very Sinister yet elegant.
Thank you all for replying I hope to own my first Jag soon I'm pretty excited.

 

An '01 XJR should have a steel-linered engine as the crossover year for Nikasil/Steel blocks was 2000. The first steel-linered engine came off the production line at 10:43am on 18th August 2000.

The engine number gives the year, month, day & time of manufacture-in that order. So using the data above, the first car with a steel-linered engine will have the engine number:

0008181043

So, provided the car you're looking at has an engine number HIGHER than the one above, then it will be steel-linered. For example, the engine number on my 2001 XJR starts with the numbers: 0106, so it was made in June of 2001.

 

Excellent!!! Thank you. I go to check it out Saturday so I'm combing through the forum trying to absorb as much as I can about this vintage. I must say, tons of useful information here awesome forum.

 

After some reading I have this question. Should I just try to find an 03' XJR? Are they really that bulletproof? I do love the look of an all black XJR in fact it is the only color I will accept so that makes the choices available somewhat limited...

 

The 02's and 03's are the years to look at -- the price difference is small over the earlier years and they have most of the common issues fixed.

The XJR eliminates the ZF box and the VVT -- makes the "R" better in the long run -- some have had supercharger failures at higher miles - but this is rare.

The cheapest way to get into one of these is to spend upfront for a low mile car.

The higher mile multi owner cars often have had substandard maintenance and repairs.


As with any older complicated luxury car -- they are best owned by someone with a little wench experience and a second car.

 

yeldogt......I have plenty of WENCH time do I qualify<G> Specially little ones !






"As with any older complicated luxury car -- they are best owned by someone with a little wench experience and a second car."

 

A wench I went out with for a few years admitted she was actually scared of my XJR, but I had a second car-a slow old BMW Diesel-to calm her down with

 

Secondary timing chain tensioners (and wenches) aside, there's really not much difference in terms of reliability between '01 and subsequent MY. With proper maintenance history any of these years would be fine ('01-'03). Go for the cleanest one you can get

 

I would go for a good, low mileage, well cared for '01 and do the tensioners. Some '02-'03 models have the electronic shocks (CATS suspension) which can be very expensive to replace compared to the regular shocks on an '01.

Check to make sure the water pump and its plastic housing have been replaced.

I searched for three years to find the "perfect" Jag for me. I'm very happy with my '01 XJR, bought it two years ago with 59K, changed the tensioners and now it has a whopping 69K! I'm very pleased with the car.
Vector

 

'01 models are a pretty safe bet-the only thing would be to check the secondary tensioners.

'03 & '02 models are the ideal ones to get if you can find a decent one at a good price, but the '01 models are pretty safe too from a 'mechanical catastrophe' point of view-provided you get the secondary tensioners checked & replaced as required. This doesn't have to be a big, expensive job if you use the zip tie method to replace them.

'00 year cars may still have Nikasil engines & will need the secondary tensioners doing. Basically, the further back you go in the X308 model year range, the worse the mechanical risks are. The X308 was continually updated & improved during it's production run, so the later car you can find, the better the chances of not having any major mechanical failures which could scrap the car.

All model year variants will require repairs & maintenance as they're all big old luxury cars that cost a lot when new. However, the earlier models had some mechanical weaknesses that could cause major engine or transmission failure costing $1000's to fix.

In many respects the XJR is less troublesome than the XJ8, but they will still require maintenance & servicing bills costing $100's. However, the later cars don't suffer from the big failures that afflict the early models and cost $1000's to put right.

The only real weak spot on the XJR is the diff, as it was not a specially uprated unit & can whine at high mileages with wear. The Mercedes transmission is reliable & can cover very high mileages without the catastrophic 'A' drum failures of the ZF transmissions in the non-supercharged XJ8 models.

There's also no VVT units to fail & the supercharger is a simple device that can run to high mileages easily. The only thing to watch for on the XJR is how it's been treated by the previous owners-if it's been driven hard then the suspension & tyres may need replacing.

People generally bought XJR's because they wanted to arrive at their destination before setting off-so the cars were driven harder than the standard XJ8...

 

Ok so the 01's do not have the forward drum issues right? Saturday I go to look at it I'm hoping it's been taken care of he said it does have some sevice records available so I will check those out more in depth. Honestly I'm just a tad reluctant because of the stigma that Jag's carry as being not reliable/money pits lol, but they are just sexy. I'm just afraid of it breaking down every other 2 weeks . It's not going to be a daily driver I have a few other vehicles it's just going to be my nice comfortable cruiser for the weekends most likely. They really are visually stunning automobiles and I'm excited at the notion of owning one =).
Let me ask you guys this, as far as the 98's -2003's which member here has the most miles on their Jag? I'd like to know over the years and miles what kind of work was required to keep it going.

 

Red October has over 150k on his. I say that's pretty darn good on an 01. The above posts have done a very good job of giving you the scoop on these cars. If you are in the market for a used luxury sedan be prepared to shell out for maintenance. It's the same across the board. The later years X308 supercharged are much more reliable than anything MB or BMW (thinking of '02 7series) have built in the same category (let's not even mention Audi - sorry, but sinking 2times the value of the car just to keep it running doesn't make much sense here). XJR got these cars beat in every category - style, comfort and performance. How do you make the 7 series (Bangle design) even uglier? Park a Jaguar next to it.

Key words: CLEAN, SERVICE RECORDS, MAINTAINED

 

I think I should have said that no XJR's will have the forward drum issues as they use a different gearbox-the Mercedes unit. It was the non-supercharged XJ8 models that had the forward drum issues, because they had a different transmission-the ZF 5HP24.

The Mercedes gearbox on the XJR has no such problems & is pretty bombproof-apologies for any confusion

I have 150k miles on my 01' XJR & it's still in fine fettle-the gearbox works fine & the engine/supercharger are original & still play a powerful tune. It came with a full service history & there was a big wad of bills for servicing & repairs. I have a friend who has 220k miles on his 2000 MY XJR-complete with original Nikasil engine as well...

The XJR's are pretty strong beasts & a good one will be a great car you'll want to keep-so buy the best you can find on condition & service history. Don't get a car that has 'issues', because it'll cost you a packet to sort the problems out.

Better to pay $2000-$3000 more for a good one, than to get an 'average' one that requires $5000 or more of remedial work to get it up to scratch. XJR's are usually driven hard, so watch out for poor crash damage repairs that lead to rusty patches, poor tyres & worn suspension that clonks or pulls. On higher mileage examples, watch out for diff whine & clonks when selecting gears-the diff was not as strong as it could have been for such a powerful car & can wear at higher mileages.

These were 50k cars when new so, while the cars may have depreciated like falling masonry, the parts & servicing costs will have risen in line with inflation-so the less problems you have to fix, the less your wallet will be damaged

This is the main reason for spending a bit more to get a top-notch car, rather than a basket-case which needs a lot of sorting out. In the long run it works out cheaper to spend a bit more to get the best example you can find-depreciation affects the price of both good & bad cars, but a bad car will then need a lot of repairs at current inflation-driven prices. So it will cost more than just buying the best example you could find in the first place that doesn't need a whole host of jobs doing on it.

 

My 2001 XJr was purchased in 2005 with 59000 miles on it .Yesterday I passed 84000 miles . Original sticker price was $78000 .
Color Black on Black.
Driven twice form Dallas to Toronto , used daily .
Only problems in 8 years , left it sitting for 4 months , non start fuel pump replacement , Replaced tires . Last year replaced water pump.
When changing plugs 3 had oil on them so have planned to change seals this week end. will be looking at tensioners then
Service records I found are not stored by some dealers past 10 years.

I bought the XJR because i thought it a beautiful car , and that was reinforced last month when a young lady remarked ' wow what a beautiful car"
Go for it
Look to this forum for ways for DIY maintenance . Thanks to the forum I feel confident in trying most repairs.

 

Well ... my earlier post had a bit of an iphone spelling issue!

While you can certainly get a great example of any year depending on who owned the car -- Jaguar did make changes from 01 to 02 .... 03 was basically a carryover model ...with little or no changes.

Jaguar changed the water pump for 02 -- they still had thermostat/ coolant issues on the early 01's and they changed the upper bleed hose connection. None of these in itself is a reason to dismiss a car - but they were all reasons why many of the early cars had cooling issues ....and if it happened later in life with second owners not fixing them quickly and correctly -- subsequent owners are left with problems. Think about how many people on this forum have had cooling problems or related issues with coolant incompatibility -- like plugged heater cores -- all because of simple service issues not followed.

And yes the CATS shocks are expensive vs what the standard setup would cost -- about 1k more for the set .... but they make a big difference - having owned both. Thankfully they like most shocks today are long lived.


The XJR's are much more reliable than any of the other contemporary luxury cars of the era -- mine have been equal to any Lexus I have owned .. and that is saying something. Although none of my Jaguars have logged the miles of my company cars.