Greetings from Toronto Canada.

Firstly - thanks to everyone who unwittingly has made my first few weeks with this car encouraging and successful. While I've been a gearhead for decades, there's always much to learn, especially on modern cars, and these forums have been absolutely brilliant in helping me get this beast back on the road. Thank you!!

What beast you ask? My fathers 2009 XF Supercharged! He's now 94 and is sadly, but likely correctly, no longer allowed to drive. He lives in the country and this car has seen a hard life. He's not one to maintain things, and many a time this car was "ridden hard and put away wet".
When he lost his license recently - the issue of what to do with his cars came up. I had not seen the Jag for years - due to covid and a serious illness I suffered last year. It had been sitting and ended up in a local garage with two bad tires. Family friends who were local to the car and garage were urging my Dad to simply donate it for a tax refund! Having recovered my health - I asked that I have first right of refusal and I went to look at the poor thing. The garage said it was so rusted, they feared they'd poke holes in the underbody if they prodded too firmly. All four corners of the braking system were down to "metal on metal" they claimed. They suggested just ditching the car too. But I went to have a look anyway. And while it was certainly dirty beyond belief, the bones actually seems solid! I dug around the car some more - gingerly drove the car around the lot on it's new rear tires and non-functional brakes and decided to take a chance on it.

I'll post pics soon - but it turns out - the car has a mere 109k kms on it and has cleaned up beautifully! I've been working through a litany of problems, and I can see why my Dad put so few kms on it recently. It must have been a painful experience to drive the car in it's previous state: The Nav system was down (Bluetooth module issue, now bypassed), A/C non-functional (topped up with R12a and it's chilly now), horribly worn brakes (All four corners now have new pads and rotors), useless headlights (LED upgrades due today) and a host of niggly electrical issues (all being fixed one by one). The car is actually solid as a rock, and I'm glad it stayed in the family.

It's been a total joy to work on this car so far. Although, it's not yet certified and I do worry that something major is yet to be discovered. But it's been very rewarding fixing all these issues and while I've wrenched on my own cars for years - they've all be a good bit more vintage. The complexity of this car is helping me learn a ton. And there's a sort of freedom in not having spent a dime on the acquisition, and it not being my "only" car - so if things take time - or don't work - it's of no consequence. Except now - I've genuinely fallen for this car and it's a sentimental ride, so here's hoping I can get it fully sorted, certified and running as it deserves. With the help of this awesome community of enthusiasts to help be along the way - I think the odds of that are mighty high indeed!

RK

 

Welcome to the forums RK,

This had really depressed me. At 73 I don't like to think about the prospect of my son coming and taking my Jaguar off me in a mere 20 years time.

Good for you. It would have been too easy to take the advice and scrap the XF. Best of luck with the certification and don't forget to take the real owner out for a ride when it's done!

Graham

 

Ha ha ha! I'm so sorry to trigger that notion for you sir! I'm sure your son will express the same gratitude I have for this wonderful gift. ; )

I'll be sure to have him out for toodle when she's back on the road. Hopefully it won't end up like the time he and I ended up stranded in a ditch up to the doorsills in fresh snow in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a brisk TSD rally. But that's another story, in another car. ; )

RK

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!

 

Welcome aboard RK.

 

Welcome to the Forums.

Like GGG, my 2 kids are lining up for Dad's toys, and at 73, the One Finger Salute is used regularly.

Good luck.

 

I REALLY hope you did NOT put R12 in that XF!!!
R134a is the correct refrigerant to use. Maybe a typo?

Good to hear your making progress to as rust is usually a car killer and you are certainly in the rust belt!
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Hello,
Congratulations on your new Jaguar XF!
And what a Wonderful story of your acquisition, Good For You! I wish you great success.

Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums RK,

Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help

 

Not a typo - it's technically R12a (note the "A" suffix, as noted in my original post) This is compatible with R134a and more efficient. It's flammable, and that freaks a lot of people out - but I'm less scared of this substance (of which there's a few ounces in the system) than a fully pressurized modern fuel rail delivering 60psi to the injectors. ; )

I've used it for years in my vintage 911 which loses it's charge over the winter - but keeps a full charge all summer. I just top it off with R12a each Spring and it works a charm. Suspecting the XF just needed a charge - I tried this and we're on day 5 of frosty AC action. So far, so good.

 

Welcome, Great story and looking forward to seeing your progress with the car.