The Money Pit... (Full Version)

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The Money Pit...

  

XJ40ish -> The Money Pit... (6/26/2008 12:02:30 PM)

Well the weather''''s been nice and the ol Cat''''s been on the road for a few weeks, so after residing at a local repair shop for most of the winter waiting for parts for the transmission mount from NASA, and other "minor" issues. I started out about $2000.00 lighter wallet wise. After a few days of driving the check engine light has become a persistent and annoying problem randomly coming on with various service types taking wild guesses as to the nature and replacing what now seems to have been a good part as indicated by the ol light once again illuminating from time to time. By now I am ready to bring it in to the dealer after constantly resetting the light only to have it come back on when it feels like it. So, after booking the cat in, I am parking the cat only to have the shifter jam sollidly in reverse, but of course the tranny does not engage so I am in the middle of our street revving the engine to no avail trying to park the damn cat! In the need to move the friggin cat, I ignore sage advice and force the shifter loose so now it drifts loosly through all the positions, but I at least can get the cat moving and into my parking space. A quick call to the dealer results in he advice to drive it as "little as possible" (given the amount of times these cars actually run that is little enough) and to get it to them ASAP before it stays locked in the gear it happens to be in at time of failure. Now as of my writing it rests comfortably at the dealer waiting to be swallowed into the service department to emerge in time with a hefty little price tag which I shudder to even imagine. It''''s the old Jaguar owners dillema, do we justify spending several times the cat''''s value each year to drive for a few trouble free weeks? Or cut our losses at around double the car''''s value and hope to get a few thousand back? I find you can''''t trade in or even give these things away due to the excessively high maintenence costs and legendary unreliability. It''''s looking like my first venture into Jaguar will be my last. [8|]  And so the saga continues... Man I hate this car!!!  

  
Censport -> RE: The Money Pit... (6/26/2008 1:10:34 PM)

Um... can''t say I have had your experience. Sure, the day after I bought my car, the Check Engine light came on. That turned out to be an O2 sensor, which I bought online for $150 and replaced myself. And yeah, I had to have the headliner replaced ($500), and the outer bolster on the drivers seat replaced ($240), and since I have owned the car the cup holder has broken, followed by the sunroof, and the CD changer has never worked the entire time I have had the car, and one time a major coolant hose popped off, but even accounting for all that, I have still yet to spend $2,000 on the car in two years time. My Big Green Cat is my daily driver, and has taken me to New Jersey and (more importantly) back with no troubles.

Now the 2000 Saab 9-3 which preceeded it... $3,000 in six months. That car was worth $6,000. Traded it and $3,000 for my 1996 XJ6 with 63,800 miles on it at the time. It is now showing 82,250 miles.

XJ40ish -> RE: The Money Pit... (6/26/2008 2:00:42 PM)

Problem is I Really love/hate the Cat. I always loved the look of the later XJ40''s and always wished I could one day own one. The old adage ''''be carefull what you wish for..." comes to mind. When they''re good...they''re very good. But when they''re bad...well they''re incredibly bad. I am dreading the phone call I''m expecting in the next few days. Not to mention the constant vacuuming of cash from my wallet while insisting the Jag''s a good car are putting some strain on my marriage [;)] Your 1996 cat I''m sure... is a far better desgin than my 93, but then I do have well over 200,000 on the clock so it might be a different story when yours gets up there. I have had my cat for sale at $4900.00 cdn, but I seriously doubt I''ll get it, considering the lack of interest, low ball offers and trash talk before they even look at it. Now with the anticipated repair bill it only gets worse. I need to fix the car so it''s in saleable condition to get anything out of it, and by doing so will lose more. I''m afraid to do the math of what I''ve put into it in less than a year, and alledgedly I''''ve got one of the good ones???  Sigh. [8|]  Then worse I''ll go and pick it up and drive the thing, and fall in love all over again. [:@]

cadillac -> RE: The Money Pit... (6/26/2008 2:05:52 PM)

My best wishes w/ your cat [:)] .You know nuttin is perfect [8D] . You should see there''re other "money pits" as well .

XJ40ish -> RE: The Money Pit... (6/26/2008 2:13:48 PM)

Yeah, I''ve seen some bills for older Rolls... Ouch!!!

Censport -> RE: The Money Pit... (6/26/2008 3:18:19 PM)

I have thought of getting a 93 or 94 XJ40 as a second Jag, if my girlfriend was only more comfortable driving a 16-foot long land yacht. Everybody says those are the ones to have, and the guys in my local club who have them seem to support that conventional wisdom. Same for the 85-86-87 SIII XJ6 and 94-95-96 XJS (with the lovely AJ16 engine), which are other cars I have long been interested in owning. It is surprising to hear that you are having such problems from a 93 XJ40, but the mileage on the car could very well be a contributing factor.

Edited to add: Yes, the bills for any older Rolls or Bentley will make you appreciate even a British-Leyland era jaguar.

Bnc2doz -> RE: The Money Pit... (6/26/2008 7:08:19 PM)

Ish, I feel your pain.
Every time I get in my car it seems like something else goes wrong. As of today the car needs valve guide seals, tires, brakes, front end work, an alignment, a repaint of the roof and trunk, and tons of other things that I haven''t mentioned. The sad part is, she only has about 85,000 miles on her.

XJ40ish -> RE: The Money Pit... (6/27/2008 8:22:19 AM)

Thanks... I like to think my cat''s pretty solid as well as being pretty. Overall the drive line aand such are very good. A few minor issues with things I''ve mentioned due mostly to neglect by the previous owners, the last an owner of a Jaguar repair shop that allegedly drove it daily, kept it highly maintained, never, never had any problems and loved the car. Makes you wonder how they missed so many ''minor'' snags. Like the transmission mount which resulted in the tranny/engine assy being supported by only the engine mounts and the exhaust system, rear bearings forced in backwards and very noisy, blower motoer that doesnt work beyond breath force and other trim and care issues any moderately competent shop would notice as glaringly obvious. It looks to me like they were trying to get rid of this little british turkey as evidenced by there lack of care and relatively low price compared to their asking price. I have been somewhat enlarge in a private place methinks. But given all that the car has been thouroghly gone over this past winter and I''m told the car is good. As an older car I''d expect some repairs, but all of these have come unexpectedly and with anoying regularity. Each time something else comes up you pay out more money hoping it will at least run ok for a few weeks, only to have another thing go wrong. I guess eventually with enough cash tranfussions the problems should be resolved and the car remain reliable for a longer duration. I''m playing an expensive game of catch up, which my wife has less patience for than I do. Not being a car person, she doesn''t see the Jag in the same light as I do either. Any pleasure she''s had from driving it have been short lived with it''s short but expensive stay with us. After all for what I''ve paid so far in purchase and repair I will never recoup... and the same money about $1000.00 per moth so far would have made payments on a much nicer newer car.  

JimC64 -> RE: The Money Pit... (6/27/2008 8:36:17 AM)

[image]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r38/jaycam0802/T15ESSJAG5.jpg[/image][image]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r38/jaycam0802/X6JYMSAAB5.jpg[/image][image]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r38/jaycam0802/AudiX6JYM-2.jpg[/image][image]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r38/jaycam0802/T15ESSST101-1.jpg[/image] 

Nice to see you back XJ..............although it doesn''t look like you''re havin a good time with the cat at the moment.
Hopefully things work out for you.

Cheers

Jim

ken@britishparts.com -> RE: The Money Pit... (6/27/2008 8:46:32 AM)

Got to remember that these cars are 15 years old!!!!  In people years that''s like 97!!  It''s a machine.  It''s going to break.  How many folks drive their Chevys or Fords or Hondas that are 15 years old and don''t put any money in them?

Come on now.  Let''s be realistic.

  

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