G'day Gents,

I have the car above going cheap. It looks great but this morning made a terrible clattering noise as I was warming it up.

I spoke with a Jag mechanic who seems to think it may be a cam drive chain tensioner which has failed and could be expensive to repair.

Until recently it has been running fine, apart from the usual age related problems, but I have neither the money or the inclination to fix it so it has to go.

If anyone is interested and wants to make an offer PM me or call me on 0414 721 233. I live on the Sunshine Coast and the car will be sold as is. I have electronic versions of the manual and parts catalog which will of course be included.

Cheers,
Jeff Watson.

 

G’day Gents,

Well after no joy in trying to sell my car I did some further investigation and the source of the noise was the harmonic damper. The rubber bonding had aged and let go after only 220,000 miles, so much for Jag reliability!

Anyhow I retired recently so I have plenty of time so I managed to get the damper off the crankshaft and had it re-bonded and reinstalled it. I fitted a new battery and cranked the engine over, with the ignition disabled, and in the absence of any odd noises decided to try a start. Bear in mind the car had sat idle for nearly three years and had a few gallons of old fuel in it. I thought that there was no way it would start but I tried it anyhow. It cranked about half a rev and it started right up and idled smoothly. Wow! I let it warm up and there were no leaks or weird noises so I took it for a short drive and except for the aircon being INOP it performed flawlessly.

A bit of tidying up to do and it will be my daily driver again.

Cheers,
Jeff.

 

Jeff,

Pleased to hear you got it fixed. I've made an appropriate edit to your thread title!

Graham

 

G'day Watto . . . Yes, I agree . . . lousy reliability . . . not like the good ole Jags of our youth (LOL). Well, well, well. Beyond 2000, thence retirement, and now you've finally found your niche in life . . . as a "Jaguar Whisperer". Methinks our paths have crossed many years ago, when a couple of my then far more senior colleagues in the city provoked interest as ex Battle of Britain Spitfire jockeys . . . another story from another time and place? I was far younger then, but entertained one or two of them with a spirited late night drive out on Parramatta Road in the E-Type. One reckoned it was the closest thing to piloting the Spitty . . . and he had lived to fly the highly modified chopped wing reconn camera ship.

If I'm correct, your Jaguar addiction is not a new-found illness, and you will fit in magically with this bunch of mad SEQ Jaguar fanatics. From Paul, James and crew to the north, via the ever delightful Doug & Lois, on down to Clarke and his crew in Brizzy and another whole bunch of really nice folk down along the Strip . . . yer surrounded mate!!!

I confess I had missed your October 2014 post, but I reckon 3 years to solve a Jaguar dilemma on a V12 sounds about right (Uh oh). I should make way for our resident guru Grant Francis in Adelaide who I think invented the buggas and got all of us (and all the fuel companies) so excited in resurrecting and maintaining more than a few of them. Let me embarrass the heck outa him by suggesting he is your "go to guy" for anything to do with the V12 that is more technical than "Honey, have you seen my keys?"

Mind you, anyone who can oversight the rebuilding of a harmonic damper, then drive away and live to tell the tale, has my immediate attention. Ye gad . . . are you in league with the Devil?

Jeff, I'd love to catch up on one of my infrequent trips over the border.
Cheers and best wishes mate,

Ken

 

G’day Ken,

You are correct, I have been afflicted by the Jag disease for over 25 years now with a couple of XJ6s of different series and now my XJ12 and X Type.

From what you’ve written I think you may have mistaken me for the other Jeff Watson, the journo who is interested in things aviation and cars.

I am also interested in things aviation and cars of course but because I was an airline pilot for many years and have been driving for nigh on 50 years but I have never been a journo.

I haven’t met any of the other SEQ fanatics but there is a gathering at Sandstone Point soon so I may wander down there and say G’day.

If you’re ever up my way on the Sunny Coast then get in touch and we can surely meet up and impress each other with our Jag stories.

Cheers,
Jeff.

 

G'day again Jeff and you are correct. I had you confused with the "other" Jeff Watson. Even so, what a cracker way to begin a new friendship . . . especially one built around all things Jaguar.

I do love your choice of models and also encourage you to make yourself known among the local JaguarForums crowd in SEQ. They have all been gracious enough to host some of us from "south of the border" and are a very friendly bunch. I think I have become a "defacto" Queenslander once again . . . and I enjoy the ongoing news from so many friends who are Jaguar owners up your way.

Activities both here and with family elsewhere, mean I am unlikely to get north for some months, so I am not able to catch up at the Sandstone Point meet. But, next year is a different matter and I look forward to meeting up then. Until then Jeff, I hope we can continue to touch base here on JF . . . plenty of stuff going on. Enjoy!

Best wishes,

Ken