Dear team of people that are way more dedicated than I...

Here are the things I'm working on with my first Jag and you can look or not as you see fit. There are plenty of things that I could use some advice with so feel free to slap/enlighten me as you see fit.

My XJS is really for my baby girl so she'll be doing much of the work with me. An amusing story: Baby Girl wanted a muscle car like the Chevelle I had as a kid but when she saw the XJS her dreams were realigned with mine... now I can again live vicariously through my kids

This list looks extensive but most of these things will be done in 8 months. The balance... who knows? It depends on what else this beast shows us.

I've always loved the lines of the classic jab but I have to admit that I'm jaded. I'm jaded from the extreme performance and reliability of the BMW and that will likely not change. My current car is a faster and better ride than this XJS but I'm going to do what it takes to valance the scales as I go. Either way, this car is fun to drive and kind of intimidating on the top end...

Here's what I'm working on and plan to share my experiences as I go. I'd more than appreciate your wisdom and advice as we go but plan to post pictures along with my frustrations... with my baby and the car.

1- Leaky fuel cap- repaired but want a Jag original part to finalize.
2- Brake lights not working- repaired. Fuse was in the wrong slot. I think the previous owner tried to repair the next item and messed that up himself. Otherwise he put 10k on the car without brake lights
3- Park brake stuck on- repaired. Needed to lube the whole assembly and cable. Now my brakes are burnt☹
4- Brakes need to be replaced. Haven’t decided which option to go with yet.
5- Suspension is just a bit soft and will likely replace the shocks once I get the more important things taken care of.
6- Cruise control doesn’t work- need to investigate
7- Power antenna stuck- have replacement
8- Power mirrors don’t work- need to investigate
9- Wood trim in awful condition- ready to order the right part. Need a recommendation
10- Drivers seat stalls every 3 inches and I have to push the button again and again. I'm 6’4” and this is a pain in the ***. Good thing this car is for my 5’4” daughter (baby girl). Need to investigate.
11- Although the battery is brand new it struggles to crank when the car sits for more than a day. Need to investigate.
12- Car misses on the B-side (at least 1 cylinder). It’s an M’r to really tell with a V12 because the balance is every bit as good as a BMW 6. But it’s there.
a. Found that all the EFI wires completely degraded and likely finding ground. This was confirmed when I jacked with one of the injectors and it quit missing. Ordering all the connectors and some wire to begin this project. Found that the only guy that does this retired so I’ll be doing this on my own. I’d rather pay someone to do it for me but here I am Would love a link to a ’92.5 Facelift wiring diagram. Please HELP!
b. Coil wires are completely degraded. Ordering all the connectors and some wire to begin this project. Would love a link to a ’92.5 Facelift wiring diagram. Please HELP!
c. Already purchased all new injectors and need to install. Will likely have the originals rebuilt/cleaned and sell or not when they’re done.
d. Found that the plug wires aren’t configured as the maintenance bulletin describes. I know the ignition system was replaced in the early 2k’s because this car has a huge pile of maintenance records. New wires are sitting on my bench and will go in soon.
e. Already purchased and will be replacing distributor and rotor.
f. Purchased and will be installing new coils when I jump into the car repairs.
13- Fuel lines are rotted and cracked. Already purchased replacement hoses and will replace with everything else.
14- Fuel and air rails are corroded. I think it’s due to a bad engine cleanup improve the appearance for sale. Sending out for inspection and chrome plating while it’s in my garage
15- AC doesn’t work. Need to investigate. It could be all the degraded wires in the V???
16- Ordered and have the Air intake upgrade from faster jags on my bench. This is kind of a stop-gap because I'm doing the plus torque kit from AJ6 and need something to hold me over. I’ll be selling this intake when I get the AJ6 stuff and will be willing to sell it cheap☺
17- Badges- The badges are worn and torn from the years. I’ll either send them out or get new ones but not really important at this time.
18- I got a quote to paint the car and will be doing this once the engine is sound. Likely in about 6 months. I have to balance this with Baby Girls driving needs since I'm tired of her driving my car.
19- The rest of the interior… who knows. I'm sure I’ll have a ton more to add to the list before I ever get to this
20- Exhaust- My biggest frustration with my daily driver is the sound. I need it to sound like a 453 HP car and it’s quiet. I will be finalizing this machine with an exhaust that makes it the racecar that it is… god willing☺

Good thing I didn't pay much for this beast!

 

Thanks for sharing Natet.

We have some great owner members of the XJS here, I'm sure they'll be by shortly to help as and when they can.

All my best

Jim

 

sounds like the car sat or was ignored a lot, because many of your issues seem to be from dried wires or a moving part lacking lubrication.

the bellows for the cruise control usually start leaking and don't work

the connectors for the mirror controls are pretty finicky,I would look there first.

Careful about the exhaust. Either be very careful in your choice of muffler or throw down an electric cut outs so you can have a choice. If you don't think it out the 3 speed makes the XJS drone pretty badly.

check the fuse panel for parasitic draw. Have a very good friend get in the trunk and see if the light stays on or just put your phone in there with video rolling

 

Fuel injector harness can be bought at v12s.com

 

use the search feature a bit. someone just rebuilt theirs. I understand it doesn't get purchased often, but that is NOT 600 dollars worth of wiring harness. try your hand at doing it yourself because that is insanity.

 

Like you I am a bit new here, bought my XJS last July. After diving it a bit I put it for winter, tore out the interior, or almost all. Since I recolored my seats, door panels, console I took them out because of that. You can find kits to retouch them up or change the color on Ebay, or by doing internet searches. They come in either a spray or rub on and not hard to do, just make sure you follow the directions and clean the material very well. I used the rub on type. The wood in mine was bad and did itt myself. Stripping the old can be a bit tedious, you can find great deals on veneers and recommended adhesives on Ebay (gotta love E Bay LOL). to vacuum seal the veneer I just went to WalMart and bought a box of the Space Bags and used my shop vac. Worked out fine. For finish, I applied 10 coats of poly acrylic cutting back every 3rd coat and then gave about 5 coats of a high gloss spray clear, after letting that cure for a week, I applied 3 coats of Liquid Glass polish. A bit of over Kill? Maybe, bit I did woodworking for ten yrs. There are a lot of videos on You Tube on veneering, and re coloring the interioner. this winter I am doing some of the same as you, building a new wire harness for the EFI making it long enough to pull out of the "V". I also plan on relocating the TPS off the engine, and replacing the Duel coils with one, using the recommended replacement cpil. Have a redone fuel rail and refurbed injectors ready to go in. Since I will have most of the top torn off, I figure I will replace the valve cover gaskets and maybe the intake gaskets. If I have the money, I would like to get the Throttle set up from AJ6, Plus a few more things.


Pics of my redone interior is in the photo section

 

Hello and welcome!

I'll take the easy one.

#10 is normal. Don't know why. The only thing I can come up with is that, just in case of a switch failure in the "on" position, the seat won't "run away"(?). The passenger seat will run back and forth no problem, but the driver's seat requires repeated pushing of the button.

Bill

 

Thanks and I have spend many countless hours in the search for this very thing (wiring looms). I just don't know if the pre-facelifted XJS is the same wiring as the pre and the '93 6.0??? I'd love to just approach this with confidence but my mojo doesn't include wires if you know what I mean.

 

Yeah, I tried them already and they don't and won't have the one I need. I was able to get with British Wiring but they couldn't guarantee anything so I will certainly do it on my own. Just need to dig in and do it when I have the top torn off.

 

Is there a link? I tried looking for the pictures and couldn't locate... Thanks for the info

 

Hope this gets you there
Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum - daverb's Album: XJS interior finally done


Anotheer link
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/m...139963-albums/

 

Just try to find some websites that provide electrical connectors and email them. Ask the guy who just redid his 5.3 where he sourced his parts.

Seriously just involved finding the correct connectors, buying some correct gauge wiring (trying to maintain the color codes) and something to insulate it in. Max "work" is cutting, stripping, and soldering some ends on the wires for the connectors.

For 600 bucks, I sure as hell would make an attempt

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ctures-127573/

above is the link to my recently built injector loom

the only differences in the XJS loom for the V12 is the pre-HE has an extra injector plug wired into it for cold starting , other than that all V12 looms are wired the same way and use the same type of plugs

its a bit fiddly , and the main thing is to get the lengths of the wires correct, even mine were a little on the tight side, but there were not any issues with fitting it

have a go , parts will cost about $100 , but buy the best wiring you can , as standard is only rated to 80 degrees

BB

 

Thanks Brake buster!

I went over the entire post and you did quite an impressive job. I've pulled the rails (still need to do the air rails) and everything out of the V to begin my wiring job but i have to say it looks pretty intimidating but I'm inspired. It looks like the loom running through the V has a bunch of other wires running to devices from the front of the engine back to the firewall.

Do you recommend that I pull that whole loom out or clip off the FI stuff and leave the rest of the wires in place?

 

thats a tricky one

as i know that the V12 loom on your car is all in one with sensors etc etc over what i had in my loom

you could do as you suggested , and it will probably work , but any damage in the loom will stay possibly effecting sensors etc ,

the good news is that most of the sensors use the same or similar plugs to the injectors, and could be rewired and replugged just as easily,

you could pear back the tape and expose each set of wires and build it onto the injector loom as you go , or build two looms , one for sensors and one for injectors

i think its going to be a make it up as you go along mission ,

best of luck either way

BB