Good morning, looking at a co-worker's '97 XJ6L and wanted to drop in and say howdy in case I end up buying it. He is going to bring it down from his parents house next week and let me drive it around for a couple days and check it out. Naturally, I am curious if anyone has any particulars for me to watch out for, known weaknesses or tell-tale signs of impending doom.
As for me, I am an inveterate shade-tree mechanic, I don't own a single car newer than my '00 Jeep Wrangler, nor a motorcycle newer than 1985. Since my son wrapped our Avalon around a tree a couple weeks ago I can now say that every car I own has well over 200k on the clock. I am currently bringing my daughter's '96 Benz C280 up to snuff to pass TX inspection, so no fear of euro weirdness, either.
Anyway, feel free to load me up with a list of things to watch for, and I will update once I can set my hands on the car and give it a going over.
Thanks.

 

Welcome to the forum Tylerman,

Good to have you with us at Jaguar forums.

Follow this link XJ X300 / XJR - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the X300 forum for help, advice and information. The 'HOW TO' thread at the top is a good place to start for info on regular issues.

You can also visit the USA Southwest Region forum by following this link USA Southwest - AZ TX NM OK - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to find other members in your region.

Enjoy the forums.

Graham

 

If you're a skilled shade tree mechanic, you'll get on Just Fine with an older Jaguar! They appreciate experienced mechanics.
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Welcome.

The X300 is basically bullet proof, apart from the attack of idiots over the years, and as Elinor said, come a treat with common sense TLC.

The doom will be when you have to get out of it, trust me.

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks for the welcome. The car in question has 125k miles, one owner (my coworker's dad). Pictures look good, although it has been kept mostly outdoors in central Texas so the paint is faded on the roof and rear deck. But the interior is in good condition (again, from the pictures I have seen). He is bringing it to me next week to drive for a couple of days.

What sucks is we are coming back from a long pre-holiday vacation, plus with holiday expenses themselves, and it will take a month or so to drum up the money if we decide to buy it. But I suppose if it is meant to be then it will be. It's between this or buying a brand new car with a loan in the summer, so I am really hoping it will be this. I am loathe to take on another car loan in my lifetime. I've had four car loans since I graduated college in the '90's, and in fact still have one of the vehicles ('00 Wrangler) and I realize it is unrealistic to think I will go the rest of my days without another one, but I have gotten used to not having a loan hovering over me. I've been six years now payment free and I intend to extend that as long as possible.

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums Tylerman,

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

 

Hi and welcome aboard, its good to have you here with us here at Jaguarforums

Any useful site information you may need such as how to post pictures, edit signatures, add videos, using the
search facility etc, can be found here within the following link Using JF "How To"

There are lots of members local to you with the same interests with info on local dealers and possible meets.
Regional - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

Need a Manual, a TSB, or General Info' about your Jag? Check out our >> DOWNLOAD AREA <<

I've manually upgraded you to Full forum access so you can better view the site and all its features.

 

Still haven't had a chance to get my hands on this car yet, the guys dad just donated a kidney and is naturally a bit concerned with other things plus since it has sat for a while the battery is dead and causing some hiccups with what I assume is an ignition immobilized? In any case, they cannot get it started. I'll still go see it soon, I hope.

 

Save yourself a lot of time and trouble by fitting a good battery. If you need to jump start it, Jaguar have a different method of doing this to avoid damaging electronics:


(click on the image to enlarge it)


(click on the image to enlarge it)


Note the negative booster cable is NOT connected to the battery terminal.

Graham

 

Looks like this deal isn't going to happen after all, sorry to say. Beautiful car, but having sat outside for the past two years the battery and tires are all shot, as is the paint. When it was parked, it had a CEL of unknown designation and a known hole in the manifold (probably these two issues were linked) but since I couldn't even hear it try to start, I was wary of spending money on it. Shame really to see such a nice car rot away like that.
Peace out.

 

Probably a good call under the circumstances.
It's still a bit sad though.
See ya 'round.
(';')