New (old) XF!
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Junior Member
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 14
Likes: 4
From: Seattle, WA
New (old) XF!
Greetings all!
I picked up a 2011 Jaguar XF 5.0 N/A back in January, and am a firm believer in car communities being essential to vehicular long life. I've already lurked through here a little bit and gotten some good knowledge for this car, and am hoping to contribute back as I learn more. I've always been a tinkerer and a car guy, as the stable in my signature will hopefully attest to. I've also had some good (and some bad) cars in my past, so I've had a lot of opportunity to learn.
I started autocrossing in a 2001 Stratus that I bought new, fresh out of college. I drove that for 14 years and over 150K miles, complete with the "time bomb" 2.7L, and it was awesome unless you had to work on it. Fortunately, I rarely needed to. I inherited (when the wife showed up) a 2011 Pontiac G6 Convertible which was absolutely horrible. It truly a terrible car in every measurable sense: it was noisy, it had creaks and whistles and rattles, the seats were terrible, it had a very large V6 (3.5L) that created no power and yet guzzled fuel (16mpg city, 21 hwy?). There was nothing objectively good about unless it was a gorgeous day, which are few and far between up here in the NW. I purchased an e39 M5 on BaT last year which was amazing and drove the wheels off of it for 6 months. I had just finished a complete coolant refresh (pump, radiator, hoses, expansion tank--standard on BMWs), and on the test drive had someone shove me into a rock wall. I've owned a couple of bikes as well; there was a 2007 GSXR 750 that still blows my mind with its performance, and a 2001 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic which was great to learn on.
Currently, the suburban is for dump runs, skiing, and hauling fire wood to the cabin. It's a monster, but it's effective, and I didn't pay hardly anything for it. The S10 is a toy that is a never ending project. The Jag is the (spirited) daily driver.
Back in my Stratus days, I was a moderator on the forum for that family sedan. Great community, but it didn't really survive the launch of the 3G (and final) version. I was part of the PNWRiders association when I rode consistently. It's going to be great getting back into the online automobilia community again; very much looking forward to it!
My XF, as I said, is a 2011 5.0 N/A. It's got about 75K miles on it; I bought it used from a sleezy dealer in Portland. Car drives amazing, but it certainly has it's new-used car problems I need to get through. I've already replaced the air filters, oil & oil filter, and numerous small interior trim bits. I have to wonder about this car's history; it's title history is all southern California, and owned by companies. When I got it, it had incredibly dark tint (so dark, it was dangerous to drive in the NW in the winter when it's always dark). Tinted windshield, tinted rear window, DOUBLE tint layers on the rear passenger seats. Obviously, all that is gone now. The interior also feels like it lived its life in death valley: certain plastics colors are faded or otherwise UV destabilized, the front seat belts have edges that have frayed and almost feel like they had a lighter taken to the edges to fuse the bits to prevent further damage. Several plastic bits are obviously cracked or broken, likely due to heat and age. For some reason, it has no sunroof shield--it's got glass, and the glass works, but the slide the closes it off is missing? The snaps for the headliner also are missing in various locations, so I think someone forced it out and broke the weak plastic bits.
So far, I've replaced the radio face plate (crinkled/burnt silver plating), the two inner trim pieces on either side of the center console, the sun visor retainers, and several other bits that I sourced off ebay. I've had the low coolant alarm with a full coolant bottle, so I replaced the bottle and sensor. Halfway home from Portland, I had the TPMS intermittently say it couldn't measure one tire, even though it was fine on pressure. Within a couple months, that changed to a constant TMPS System Failure. I sourced a used TMPS module online for cheap, and it's back to an intermittent error, so I'll probably have to get that looked at by a service tech. (While changing that, I found strange, Mexican language candy under the carpet).
Like I said, I wonder about this car's history. I need to get it searched by a drug dog before someone pulls me over.
I need to replace a bunch more little stuff inside. I'm going to be doing the diff and trans fluid soon (I know, sealed for life, but this thing has had a hard life already). It's got a broken wheel stud in the back (I needed a breaker bar to get the lugs loose when I was investigating the TPMS receivers, so I think some tire shop busted it with an impact). It's got garbage Uniroyal Tiger Paw 215s on the front that need to get slammed on the back and destroyed in clouds of smoke. After that, WHAT'S NEXT?
Married, 2 young kids. My 6 year old son is a huge F1 fan with me. I work at a Class 8 truck manufacturer as an engineering manager. I ski, I read, I like to drive fast. I've lived all over the country (Virginia, South Carolina, New England). I'm from south of Houston, and went to school in Pittsburgh. I'm an amateur photographer. I like German beers and Kentucky whisky. Before kids, I competed in Olympic distance triathlons, and at some point I would like to swim the Fat Salmon race, a 3 mile open water swim in Lake Washington. Once the kids get older, I would also like to get them into backpacking, which I ALSO used to do all the time.
What else is there? Ask me!
I picked up a 2011 Jaguar XF 5.0 N/A back in January, and am a firm believer in car communities being essential to vehicular long life. I've already lurked through here a little bit and gotten some good knowledge for this car, and am hoping to contribute back as I learn more. I've always been a tinkerer and a car guy, as the stable in my signature will hopefully attest to. I've also had some good (and some bad) cars in my past, so I've had a lot of opportunity to learn.
I started autocrossing in a 2001 Stratus that I bought new, fresh out of college. I drove that for 14 years and over 150K miles, complete with the "time bomb" 2.7L, and it was awesome unless you had to work on it. Fortunately, I rarely needed to. I inherited (when the wife showed up) a 2011 Pontiac G6 Convertible which was absolutely horrible. It truly a terrible car in every measurable sense: it was noisy, it had creaks and whistles and rattles, the seats were terrible, it had a very large V6 (3.5L) that created no power and yet guzzled fuel (16mpg city, 21 hwy?). There was nothing objectively good about unless it was a gorgeous day, which are few and far between up here in the NW. I purchased an e39 M5 on BaT last year which was amazing and drove the wheels off of it for 6 months. I had just finished a complete coolant refresh (pump, radiator, hoses, expansion tank--standard on BMWs), and on the test drive had someone shove me into a rock wall. I've owned a couple of bikes as well; there was a 2007 GSXR 750 that still blows my mind with its performance, and a 2001 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic which was great to learn on.
Currently, the suburban is for dump runs, skiing, and hauling fire wood to the cabin. It's a monster, but it's effective, and I didn't pay hardly anything for it. The S10 is a toy that is a never ending project. The Jag is the (spirited) daily driver.
Back in my Stratus days, I was a moderator on the forum for that family sedan. Great community, but it didn't really survive the launch of the 3G (and final) version. I was part of the PNWRiders association when I rode consistently. It's going to be great getting back into the online automobilia community again; very much looking forward to it!
My XF, as I said, is a 2011 5.0 N/A. It's got about 75K miles on it; I bought it used from a sleezy dealer in Portland. Car drives amazing, but it certainly has it's new-used car problems I need to get through. I've already replaced the air filters, oil & oil filter, and numerous small interior trim bits. I have to wonder about this car's history; it's title history is all southern California, and owned by companies. When I got it, it had incredibly dark tint (so dark, it was dangerous to drive in the NW in the winter when it's always dark). Tinted windshield, tinted rear window, DOUBLE tint layers on the rear passenger seats. Obviously, all that is gone now. The interior also feels like it lived its life in death valley: certain plastics colors are faded or otherwise UV destabilized, the front seat belts have edges that have frayed and almost feel like they had a lighter taken to the edges to fuse the bits to prevent further damage. Several plastic bits are obviously cracked or broken, likely due to heat and age. For some reason, it has no sunroof shield--it's got glass, and the glass works, but the slide the closes it off is missing? The snaps for the headliner also are missing in various locations, so I think someone forced it out and broke the weak plastic bits.
So far, I've replaced the radio face plate (crinkled/burnt silver plating), the two inner trim pieces on either side of the center console, the sun visor retainers, and several other bits that I sourced off ebay. I've had the low coolant alarm with a full coolant bottle, so I replaced the bottle and sensor. Halfway home from Portland, I had the TPMS intermittently say it couldn't measure one tire, even though it was fine on pressure. Within a couple months, that changed to a constant TMPS System Failure. I sourced a used TMPS module online for cheap, and it's back to an intermittent error, so I'll probably have to get that looked at by a service tech. (While changing that, I found strange, Mexican language candy under the carpet).
Like I said, I wonder about this car's history. I need to get it searched by a drug dog before someone pulls me over.
I need to replace a bunch more little stuff inside. I'm going to be doing the diff and trans fluid soon (I know, sealed for life, but this thing has had a hard life already). It's got a broken wheel stud in the back (I needed a breaker bar to get the lugs loose when I was investigating the TPMS receivers, so I think some tire shop busted it with an impact). It's got garbage Uniroyal Tiger Paw 215s on the front that need to get slammed on the back and destroyed in clouds of smoke. After that, WHAT'S NEXT?
Married, 2 young kids. My 6 year old son is a huge F1 fan with me. I work at a Class 8 truck manufacturer as an engineering manager. I ski, I read, I like to drive fast. I've lived all over the country (Virginia, South Carolina, New England). I'm from south of Houston, and went to school in Pittsburgh. I'm an amateur photographer. I like German beers and Kentucky whisky. Before kids, I competed in Olympic distance triathlons, and at some point I would like to swim the Fat Salmon race, a 3 mile open water swim in Lake Washington. Once the kids get older, I would also like to get them into backpacking, which I ALSO used to do all the time.
What else is there? Ask me!
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 120,439
Likes: 17,009
From: Durham, UK
Welcome to the forums Mark,
Good to have you with us. Thanks for the great Intro.
It sounds like you've already found your way to the X250 forum so there's no need for a link to it from me. You can also use the US Northwest Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/us-northwest-64/ 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
Good to have you with us. Thanks for the great Intro.
It sounds like you've already found your way to the X250 forum so there's no need for a link to it from me. You can also use the US Northwest Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/us-northwest-64/ 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
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 121,084
Likes: 6,652
From: PHX some of the time
Welcome to Jaguar Forums Mark,
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
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
Veteran Member
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 26,763
Likes: 10,312
From: Tehama County, California, USA
Hello, Mark,
Congratulations on your new Jaguar!
Driving the Wheels Off is the only way to use Any car, but especially one you like.
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';")
Congratulations on your new Jaguar!
Driving the Wheels Off is the only way to use Any car, but especially one you like.
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';")
Thread Starter
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Junior Member
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 14
Likes: 4
From: Seattle, WA
You can also use the US Northwest Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/us-northwest-64/ to find other members in your region.
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Veteran Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 2,319
Likes: 1,278
From: Fort Worth
Wow really! Starting to wonder at the end if I was reading a car forum intro or a dating service ad. 
Welcome aboard.
I used to do autocross back in the 90s and early 2000s but I never really got very good at it. I stopped because I couldn't get enough seat time. Any given Sunday, we'd have close to 200 competitors show up and so I'd get typically three or four heats, maybe a total of two and half minutes driving and the rest of the day from 7am to 6pm standing out in the Texas sun working corners. It was brutal. I figured if I was going to be out in the sun all day for a car hobby, it'd be better in a lawn chair, relaxing beside a classic car rather than changing race car tires and chasing after escaped traffic cones.
Welcome aboard. I used to do autocross back in the 90s and early 2000s but I never really got very good at it. I stopped because I couldn't get enough seat time. Any given Sunday, we'd have close to 200 competitors show up and so I'd get typically three or four heats, maybe a total of two and half minutes driving and the rest of the day from 7am to 6pm standing out in the Texas sun working corners. It was brutal. I figured if I was going to be out in the sun all day for a car hobby, it'd be better in a lawn chair, relaxing beside a classic car rather than changing race car tires and chasing after escaped traffic cones.
Thread Starter
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Junior Member
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 14
Likes: 4
From: Seattle, WA
Continuing to dig through the horrors this poor car was put through with the past owner. I've done the differential fluid, transmission fluid, and a couple of oil changes. Front and rear brake pads and rotors (EBC rotors, yellowstuff pads in front, green in rear). I've replaced the weather stripping and various interior bits (for example, the radio faceplate was bubbling up, apparently from excessive heat). I've got a sunroof pull shade to install (it was missing?), installed a new rear middle seatbelt which had been cut and retracted back into the reel. I finally got one of the Uniroyal Tiger Paws to blow, and replaced them with a pair of Pilot Sport AS4s in 255 width. I put them on the front, and currently on the rear are the Goodyear Eagle F1s, so I'll start trying to burn them off 
Most recently, I had an oil leak from the vacuum pump, so I threw a C2D3771 seal on there while the oil was drained last time, hoping I don't have to replace the entire vacuum pump. I also bought an oil strap filter wrench after the first oil change, but it didn't fit on the cartridge cap, so I see that someone bought an Assenmacher JA 19015, so that's on order now. If anyone needs to do this, there are four torx bolts, with opposing corners in different sizes. The smaller two torx just take the faceplate of the vacuum pump off, you can leave those installed. The two larger torx hold the pump to the block; those are the ones you need to remove to get to the seal. Pretty easy swap; didn't even have to remove the front air dam.
Still having TPMS faults, even after clearing all the codes. I installed a used TPMS module from Ebay and the only code that came back was for an incorrect VIN, which my local Jag guy told me won't cause the fault. I guess I need to get it back into him. I've checked the transmitters and they're all good, and I opened up all four wheel wells and reinstalled the receivers back into the factory locations (they had been zip-tied up into the remote areas of the fender well by the previous owner, no idea why).
Need to replace back for the drivers seat (elastic is shot in the pocket), adjust the hood to get the gaps correct when closed, replace one of the plastic trim parts in the engine bay where the intake tubes are mounted, replace the under-hood weather seal and one of the door outer weather seals. That's all nice-to-have stuff though; she runs strong, makes great noises, and I'm VERY happy with it, now after about 5000 miles.
Most recently, I had an oil leak from the vacuum pump, so I threw a C2D3771 seal on there while the oil was drained last time, hoping I don't have to replace the entire vacuum pump. I also bought an oil strap filter wrench after the first oil change, but it didn't fit on the cartridge cap, so I see that someone bought an Assenmacher JA 19015, so that's on order now. If anyone needs to do this, there are four torx bolts, with opposing corners in different sizes. The smaller two torx just take the faceplate of the vacuum pump off, you can leave those installed. The two larger torx hold the pump to the block; those are the ones you need to remove to get to the seal. Pretty easy swap; didn't even have to remove the front air dam.
Still having TPMS faults, even after clearing all the codes. I installed a used TPMS module from Ebay and the only code that came back was for an incorrect VIN, which my local Jag guy told me won't cause the fault. I guess I need to get it back into him. I've checked the transmitters and they're all good, and I opened up all four wheel wells and reinstalled the receivers back into the factory locations (they had been zip-tied up into the remote areas of the fender well by the previous owner, no idea why).
Need to replace back for the drivers seat (elastic is shot in the pocket), adjust the hood to get the gaps correct when closed, replace one of the plastic trim parts in the engine bay where the intake tubes are mounted, replace the under-hood weather seal and one of the door outer weather seals. That's all nice-to-have stuff though; she runs strong, makes great noises, and I'm VERY happy with it, now after about 5000 miles.
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 120,439
Likes: 17,009
From: Durham, UK
Mark,
I can copy your post #1 and post #11 to a new thread in X250 forum for you to have as a 'My XF' thread and keep adding as you do more to the vehicle. Some members like to have a continuous record of their ownership like this. Let me know.
Graham
I can copy your post #1 and post #11 to a new thread in X250 forum for you to have as a 'My XF' thread and keep adding as you do more to the vehicle. Some members like to have a continuous record of their ownership like this. Let me know.
Graham
Veteran Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 2,319
Likes: 1,278
From: Fort Worth
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