Hey y'all, back in December I bought one of my bucket list dream 90s land barges, a 1995 XJR

Here we see the X300 XJR in its native habitat, the watering hole.







Like all 25 year old British cars it needs love. The sunroof doesn't work, the radio is dodgy, the speakers are blown, the transmission or rear end makes a sound like rumble strips if you stand on it in 1st and into 2nd which I suspect is the carrier bearing on the driveshaft, the valve cover gasket leaks, the tires are 8 years old, the alternator doesn't charge the battery at idle, the brakes are done but what does work is that Eaton M90 supercharger and it goes like hell for something that weighs as much as a bus. At 120 you can hold the wheel with one hand and read the paper.

You'll see more of it here.

 

After a modest drink at the watering hole, here we see the Jaguar (Panthera expensivus) in its other native habitat, the shop lift.



Jaguar, turning owners into mechanics since 1922



The alternator they sent me is not for an XJR as the pulley is a different size and has to be manhandled to get into its mount on the bottom of the engine. You have to drop something called an alternator suppressor and then move this other hose called an octopus (more on that later) to get enough room to get the alternator in and out. I of course found out about that after putting it in with the wrong pulley and getting everything tightened down. Also, this car has both metric AND imperial bolts and nuts on it. Thanks British-Leyland!

I figured, a straight 6 with a long hood means tons of room to work on it right? Dead wrong, this is a job I can do on my FWD Ford Probe GT V6 with huge DOHC cylinder heads in about 10 minutes.



Now for the REAL fun part. It has a serious valve cover gasket leak and the whole bottom of the car is coated in oil, so I guess I'll never have to worry about rust. The rear transmission mount is completely disintegrated, I can lift the back of the trans up and down about 4 inches. That's probably not good. It has now developed a check engine light but I have a diagnostics laptop that can pull the code and tell me whats wrong. The rear diff has a small seep, par for the course for a 25 year old car.

The next round of maintenance will be oil change, VCG, rear trans mount, supercharger oil change and whatever is wrong with the CEL. If you're going to buy a money pit, buy one that looks good and has a big blower on the side of it.

 

After a stint out long-haul trucking, I came back in town and began the fun. Sir Nigel Wolseley Clarkson The 5th got a new valve cover gasket, new plugs, new radio, new intake pipe and next week, will be getting an oil change, diff fluid change, trans mount and new tires and brakes.

There are two kinds of men in this world: those with big enough stones to work on Jaguars and everyone else.



Crusty old junk out



If you ever have to do this job get the full kit with the grommets and the plug seals because they're usually toast when you pull it off. I thought mine were plastic with how hard they got.



My valve cover is suffering from electrolysis, guess no one at Jaguar thought magnesium covers would be a problem. This will have to be replaced soon.



It's been idling rough, I bet when I pull this valve cover off I'll find out what's wrong. It was so full of oil I thought it only had 5 plugs, nope was just THAT full of oil



New plugs



New radio, the clock will have to wait another day I need to have my soldering setup for that one, which I will do this weekend most likely.

 

Big update on the XJR. It has had an oil change, diff fluid change, supercharger oil change, rear trans mount replaced, brand new tires and brand new brakes and pads.

That supercharger oil was disgusting like some rotten eggs



Up on the lift



For now, this big cat is done, it still has a vibration on acceleration in the lower gears which I think is the driveshaft carrier bearing, it has a rumble at higher speeds too. The sunroof is still stuck but my work here is pretty much done, all it needs now is small stuff. I've got a solid daily driver on my hands now.

 

Welcome to the Forums.

Good solid car the R, just that damn neglect that creeps in.

Good luck.

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Welcome to the forums j-dogg,

Great Intro - you have been busy!

I can see you've already found your way to the X300 forum so there's no need for a link to it from me. The 'HOW TO' thread at the top is a good place to start for information on regular issues. You can also use the US Lower Atlantic Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/u...r-atlantic-66/ to find other members in your region.

Please read the guidance for new members ( https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/n...ned-up-241802/ ) which answers many of the most frequent questions about getting started.

Enjoy the forums.

Graham

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums j-dogg,

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

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!!

 

Hello,
Congratulations on your new Jaguar, AND, all your successful repairs!.
You wrote a Great intro too.
I positively Love this line, so much so that I'll save it. You might see it in one of my posts here sometime, properly attributed of course.
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')