What reasons do some XJ-S, XJS owners would 'lump' their vehicles? Hete are a few of mine.

Engine Performance
Vehicle is slow. I understand the car is a grand tourer, but it has no acceleration off the line. It cannot get out of it's own way. Once you get up to
60 mph and up it is a smooth vehicle. (I have the 4.0 AJ16.) A 6 cyl engine for a 4,022 lb car was not a good choice. I drove a 6.0 V12 twice, a better choice provided you take care of it to keep the jaguar gremlins at bay.

2. Realibility
I really cannot say these vehicles are unrealiable. I had my vehicle for 14 years and the only issues I had were replacing the LR wheel bearing carrier, the ECU, and ignition coils. But I have heard about many stories about jaguars not being reliable.

3. Parts availibility
Parts are hard to find and when found most are used. There is no aftermarket for this vehicle. A lot of parts are virtually extinct.

4.Difficult Repairs
These vehicles can be difficult to repair. When you have driveibility issues (ie if TPS goes bad) it cannot be readjusted if one does not have access to jaguar franchised diagnostic equipment. Jaguar dealwrships won't touch these vehicles. There are no businesses to refurbish your ECU it it goes bad.

These are a few if my reasons. When my engine, tramsmission, ECU goes tango uniform, I'm converting to a LS V8 engine. These vehicles are too beautiful to go to waste b/c of parts availibity, lack of proper diagnostic equipment when there are suitable, realiable, readily available engine, transmission parts out there to keep these cars on the road. Let the flames begin.

 

That's pretty much it. The 12s in particular are nasty to keep up. You can drop an LS in one though and turn it into a really nice driver. Unlike the E-Type the XJS doesn't have much resale value so you aren't really destroying a classic (says the guy with the XKE with a 327 in it, hey but I bought it that way).

 

Perhaps it may be less costly and easier to simply sell the XJS and purchase a GM car with one of their pushrod engines already installed.



As far as reliability, I'm not sure a Chevrolet/GM engine is more reliable than the AJ16. I personally have never been impressed with General Motors products as a whole, nor their reliability record in general.

 

Lone Jag, It sounds like your like your stock engine equipped car is currently running fine. I would continue to enjoy it until something really serious happens then I would weigh my options. In California there are always potential problems with smog compliance in engine swaps. It seems that the V12 usually stops running due to ancillary system failures. I wonder if anyone has actually worn one out. My '89 has a bit over 100,000 miles on it. I haven't put many miles on it while I work on it. It hasn't been completely re-commisioned but I can drive it occasionally. I would prefer to keep the original motor, as it's so much of the character of the car.

 

Here'a what EZRider put in place of his 6 Cyl XJS. He's over on the XJS forum.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...intake-209285/

 

Ok...you bought an XJS. My 1st, a 1977 new off the floor cost $1,800.00 in repairs by the time I reached Colorado Springs (from Kansas City). Jaguar reimbursed me for each event. Drove her 300,000 miles without a tear down, then ground up restored her and with John's Cars in Dallas and converted her to a Chevrolet V-8. Fortunately, my crew chief (Jimmy Coffin) and I did all of that together. The old one's over-heat, drop valves, hate the A/C auto deal, and the list goes on. I would never regret walking into British Motors and putting the check on the table for her. I drove (and am driving) Jaguars since 1977...I raced one for almost 10 years...I will continue to love them as my first borne. They are not easy...but then if you want easy buy a hooker.