Jaguar S-Type 2004 3.0L

Suddenly the only way to open the boot (trunk) was by inserting the key directly into the boot-lid. Neither the button on the boot-lid nor the boot-open-remote could open the boot anymore. All I got was a horrible loud noise – just like plastic gears in the process of destroying themselves – because that was exactly what it was…

I looked for answers anywhere on the net – could not find anything. Obviously, buying a new boot locking latch (P/N XR856390) would have solved the problem. They are still available (but probably not very much longer), new, but they are priced close to AUD$300incl. postage. Since that is a bit much, I decided to fix the boot latch – I removed it from the car and opened the latch (removed the top lid):

So this is my problem: The (outer) teeth of the upper gear, which were supposed to drive the lower gear are utterly worn off. So that is an "Ex-gear", just like Monty Python's Ex-Parrot...: It's passed on - this gear is no more - it has ceased to be - it's expired and gone see it's maker - this is a late gear! Bereft of life it rests in peace!


After pulling off the cover, you can pull off the motor (it is just stuck on contacts there) and remove the 2 pins of the plastic gears (left of the motor) by either letting gravity help you, or use a magnet to pull them out, although, you need to pull only the bigger pin of the gear, which is bereft of life... then you just pull out the late gear.

Obviously I could now rant on and on again about my disappointment of crappy design – designed to fail (the gears in that mechanism should never have been made out of plastic!)

So to start with I have spend several hours very patiently in search of a part for my PLAN A: an 11T metal gear with a 5mm bore (to push it over the remaining bit of the late OE gear, where all the teeth are gone). But all those gears had and OD of 13/14mm, while I need 9.5mm!

I already gave up, when I spotted this gem below, of which ordered two. But that gear has a bore of 3.175mm, i.e. that I have to cut off the protruding part off the late gear anyway to attach that new metal part instead somehow…: But this means that I can go along with PLAN B anyway, which was cutting off the protruding section of the late gear and to re-attach it after turning it around. And if that should fail in the future, I have go with those metal gears I ordered (Plan C)…


So this is what I ordered as future backup solution (Plan C)...


...while I went ahead to cut off the protruding bit of the late gear. Note that using a saw would have made it very easy, BUT this would have cut off too much material! So I could not use a saw and I used a cutter knife instead (a cutter knife with a metal guide - important due to the heat), and heated it up again and again with a heat gun (to ease cutting thru plastic) before I painfully pressed the bigger part of the late gear with my thumb onto a soft kitchen-rag, while cutting the protruding bit off...


Done. And then as in picture above I turned the protrusion around to re-attach it to the rest again. I used "Duramax 5 Minute Epoxy Fix", which is 2 component epoxy glue, which is totally hard after 16 hours and can be applied for 5 minutes after mixing. I used the OE pin to ensure that the parts will be connected in the correct angle to each other. Avoid epoxy glue on the pin. But here is also my cunning idea, which I incorporated:


You can just spot 3 dark spots in the grooves before the epoxy starts below: These are each 1/3 of a pin (as used in sewing). I placed one into every second groove (except as you see on the right 2 next to each other, as this is a 11T gear). I positioned those 6 pin-bits with the first thin layer of epoxy. This works exactly like reo (that is Aussie slang for steel-reinforcement in concrete). I let each layer dry for about 10 minutes and added a total of about 4 layers. Now this should be solid!


Pulling the gears back in (one of which has obviously been resurrected) with their pins positioning them in their correct positions and applying bearing grease.


And pushing the motor back in onto it's contacts carefully.


Here you see very clearly that I have teeth again on the resurrected gear, where there were none before! 11 new teeth! Imagine, how much a dentist would charge you for that!


Lid back on.


And then I had my fun: I knew, I did everything right, but when I put the latch back into the car I had 2 problems, one after another: The boot-lid did not want to latch in (i.e. boot lid could not be closed) and the remote would not open the lid (once I finally managed to close the boot lid). After removing and dis- and reassembling the latch many more times, I finally figured it out that I positioned the cable from the lock in the boot lid incorrectly...


So this here would be the correct positioning of the cable from the boot-lid-lock, hence, better do it that way and save yourself a lot of time. And another hint: If you can't find that cable anymore: It is hiding at the very bottom inside of the boot-lid - you have to fish it out blindly.


And there are 2 the bolts for the big black plastic bezel (and using them as above for the lock would be wrong)...


...and there are 2 correct bolts for the lock. Job done and time to "frohlock"! (Only Germans will get that joke: "frohlocken" is German and means "to rejoice" (and the word obviously contains the word lock...) And "froh" means "happy, glad" - hence: Happy Lock!

 

Great repair. It took me a second look to see the correct cable placement (slow learner haha).

 

Fantastic! Only a dentist would tinker around with so many parts and materials to fix something. No wonder it costs so much to fix a tooth.

I enjoyed the play on words by the way.

Now, let me know how to fix the latch on the fuel face plate....it will not close and it seems like there is some type of clip missing and I was told that the only solution is to buy the entire assembly.

 

> I enjoyed the play on words by the way.

There is more, where that came from:
As I worked for Ford and Jaguar, I came frequently across components from Valeo, and I thought (at least back then) that they were alright.
However, in this instance they certainly did not pay heed to their own company name:
This is not a "Valeo-lock", this is a "Vale-lock"!

Explanation: "valeo" is Latin for "I am strong", while "vale!" is Latin for goodbye or bye-bye.
Hence, this is not a strong lock, but a "bye-bye lock" (i.e. it's a goner!)

And in addition to my thread above: Obviously I also looked all over the net for a repair-kit for that lock:
If Valeo does not design the lock to reasonable standards (= use of metal gears in a lock), they should at least offer a repair-kit with replacement gears - but they did not...

> Now, let me know how to fix the latch on the fuel face plate....it will not close and it seems like there is some type of clip missing and I was told that the only solution is to buy the entire assembly.

Without a picture of your problem I can only only have a look at the setup on my S-Type: The face-place has a recess, where a spring-loaded latch protruding from the side latches in, when you close the face-plate. Then it is closed. It only opens, when you send an electrical impulse to the solenoid that retracts the latch back into the side and the thus freed face-plate springs open.

 

Valeo made OE radiators for the E-class Mercedes that leaked coolant into the transmission cooler section, damaging a good number of very expensive transmissions... Not my favorite OEM.

 

A couple of photos of my trouble with the fuel plate...2006




The entire assembly looks different between my 2003 and 2006 S types

 

Your spring loaded latch protruding from the side is missing - the one I mentioned above - the one, which is pulled back by a solenoid, when you trigger it by pushing the opening switch,

The black latch between the metal spring is missing at your car.

Have a look inside of the opening, where it is supposed to come out of...: Is you latch missing or is it recessed deep inside on your car? If it has recessed in you car, try to pull it out. I would put a bit of hot-glue onto a stick, put the stick into the recess, glue it to the latch and pull it out. If you can pull it out, put it recesses again, I'd say the spring is broken or missing. I assume that there is a spring, because it not, it would mean that the solenoid is permanently powered up to close the lid, which would consume quite a bit of quiescent current, and that would be ridiculous.

 

Thanks for the response, hints and the photo of what it should look like. I will check it out later today.

 

Hello Peter of Australia, I just wanted to thank you for this thread. Whilst being an old man I’m new to Jaguar ownership. In my 62 years I’ve only owned 5 cars, the 5th being my ‘06 S-type. It’s just a plain old 3.0 V6 with moderate k’s on it however I’m enjoying it. My 4 previous vehicles were all 2 door Aussie Fords, which is probably why I feel at home in the Jag. I love all those little creature comforts like the fuel cap and boot release and that’s how I ended up here. The boot release expired, exactly as you described. I’m not clever or patient enough to repair the mechanism like you however. Starting with the part number you kindly provided I double checked the fitment, attempted to source one locally but in the end ordered a new genuine Jaguar boot latch off eBay from an Australian Independent Jaguar/Daimler outfit. It duly arrived here in New Zealand and with your thread as a guide I had it installed in no time. Fully functional on the first attempt.
I have a lot of tools in my garage however that doesn’t make me a mechanic! Your thread removed enough doubt for me to sort it for myself. Brilliant. I’m primarily a motorcycle guy and have had similar experiences to this when working on bikes. Saved by the knowledgeable people on forums like yourself. In this new world we live in, someone somewhere has been through the same experience as yourself and has been decent enough to share what they learnt as they went. Forums and YouTube, incredible resources that are free and only as far away as your tablet or phone.
So a year and a half after you made this post it continues to help Jag owners and probably will as long as there are S-types chewing up their boot latch gears.
good on ya sport. 👏🏼