Hello -

So, my wife is not loving her SUV (Lincoln Aviator) anymore, and has decided she no longer needs the space.
For a replacement - I was thinking something common, easily maintained -- Ford Fusion, Nissan Maxima maybe etc. Ya know, the easy, boring stuff.
Then we stumbled upon an ad for a Jaguar and my wife instantly fell in love with them. Specifically the S-types.
We have looked at a few, both X and S.
There is an S nearby we are both very interested in. It is a '00 with the 3.0L and just over 100k mi.
The test drive went well. My primary concern is that it is difficult to shift from park into gear. Mechanically the trans shifted fine, but physically it takes a lot of effort to move the shifter out of park. From there it is kind of "loose" once it is in drive. The others we have driven have very defined set points, and there is little resistance in the shifter.
I am wondering if this is common problem and/or if there is a likely solution - hopefully one that won't cost a small fortune.

FWIW - for every vehicle I've owned (all high mileage) for the past 15 yrs or so -- I do almost all my own repair work. Internal transmission work is where I've decided to draw the line.

Would welcome any other tips or advice as I consider buying an older Jag.

 

Check out the guy interested in selling his Black-on-black STR with very low mileage!
Seems like a fantastic car to purchase if you want to purchase an S-type.

 

I've done some further searching on the forum and I've come across the TSB's s307-06 and s307-16.
It looks to me like it may well be a ~$500+ repair job.
The car isn't expensive, but I'm not sure I can get them down enough to cover (or close to cover) such a repair.
Hmm...

 

It doesn't sound like the car for you. Look for 2003-on car and even then you need to DIY ordinary things to make it affordable.

 

I also came here before buying.. We (wife and I) were looking at used Toyota etc when she looked across the lot and said whats that..I said "thats a Jag stay away from that" needless to say we're soon in that 05 S-Type that they wanted $12,000 but the trans would clunk in shifts (clunk) for lack of a better term but I was already a gone on an S-Type after that..Home to study and I found this site and also searched parts prices that were about the same as other cars . I burned a hole in sites like The Auto Trader shopping and found my 06 for $7700. The dealer gave me $2800 for the Ford Focus I bought for $1000..
I'd buy that one mentioned above for $12,000 with only 16k miles in a heartbeat if it was near me.. I think he was asking $12g

 

Greetings from a fellow Aviator owner!

Assuming ownership of any 15 year old vehicle with 100K miles is a bit of a gamble especially if it already has issues. I'd pass on this one and look for lower mileage face lift (2002 and up) candidates. The difference in price will soon be recuperated with fewer wear item and age related repairs.

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...03-str-150466/

 

I'm starting to see '05's hovering around $5000 averaging 100k miles. All visually look good in the ads, AND some had Nav. So, if really want a ST, check out the ads on Craigslist (even in neighboring states). I like the '02 I bought from my wife, but I really could have taken that $5k and sprung for an '05+.

"The things you do for love."

 

There are a few in the area, but ~05 with ~100k for ~$5k ain't happenin'.

There's an '01 I haven't seen yet, but appears to be quite nice, 89k asking $5k. It has the 4.0L.

There's also an '04 w/90k that is probably the best option on the board right now - my wife would have bought it on the spot. They're asking 7k. There's nothing wrong with it. The ONLY thing that stuck in my head was when i first started driving it the trans was hovering between 2nd and 3rd (I think). I thought it wanted to shift but the rpms would just hover up and down 100-200 at about a 1 sec frequency. It did this twice for 10 sec or so going at a steady low speed. I consider myself to be very in tune with how a car is behaving. I don't think many people would have noticed it. Later in the drive I tried to get it to do it again and it never did.

There's also an '05 I haven't driven yet. 81k, asking 8500. Only NADA gave me anything approaching that value. Most of the private party values I've found say 6ish. I've spoken with the seller. They obviously believe it to be mint. Even so - that's not the budget we have in mind.

Was it '03 when the ZF 6 spd replaced the 5r55n? I assume the ZF is considered to be superior (longer lasting to the Ford
My aviator has the 5r55n and it has been quite a lucrative transmission for area repair shops.

 

Everything I buy is older with (generally high) mileage.

My past purchases --
9 yr old aviator, 136k (now ~180)
13 yr old Taurus SHO 91k (Sold with 158k)
8 yr old Montero 139k (Sold with 225k)
8 yr old Contour 102k (Sold with 168k)

You get the point.

On a side note -- time spent at a repair shop the last few years has been minimal. I do as much of my repair work myself in my fully equipped (LOL) one car garage. Transmission work is basically where I draw the line. About anything else I'll attempt and most attempts have gone reasonably well. Although it does appear an S-type could present some challenges.

 

This is a known quirk of the ZF gearbox and only occurs during warmup. There's a tech bulletin that introduces a computer reflash but it is not successful 100% of the time.

Correct, along with all sorts of other improvements.

I get the point and I'm not much different myself.

Keep in mind that the S-types are not mainstream vehicles where there's plenty of in expensive after market parts and knowledgeable people to work on them when it's gone beyond DIY.

 

That is good news. I actually mentioned it to the seller and of course he had not knowledge of it. I also pointed out that it may just be something it does until it's up to operating temp.

 

Get a 2003-or-newer S-Type. You'll be far better off mechanically and much happier in the long run. Read the stickies at the top of the S-Type forum and within an hour you'll understand why. In a nutshell, many of the early significant flaws were addressed in the later years. The later models also have their glitches that need to be addressed, but they pale in comparison to the problems presented by the early models....

 

Drove another S-type today.
'05 w/81k, light blue. REALLY nice condition, asking 8500. I mentioned it above.
The seller's pretty firm. Can probably get them to 8, not much lower. That's the VERY top end of what I was planning to spend. Has custom rims and they look PERFECT. Aftermarket rims can go either way, but for whatever reason these look much better than stock -- they give the car the stance of an STR. Strictly on looks this one has been my favorite so far.

However, my wife is still googly eyed when we talk about the black '04, 90k, asking 7000. I know they'll take 6800, maybe a little below.

I guess I'm still writing about this hoping to get some moral support and some votes of confidence that I won't regret buying a Jaguar. Hundreds of hours in the garage with a wrench in my hand and/or thousands of dollars in repair bills is not a future of happiness for me.

Ironically - there's a 3rd Jag at an area dealership. I've tried to look at it twice and both times they've had it in the shop. I've never heard a car dealer utter these words, but he said - "It's really not the car for you," and proceeded to tell me that all they've had is trouble with it since they've had it. Then started mumbling about the Ford corporation blah blah blah and that he never has car issues b/c he drives a chevy. It was strange from start to finish.

Sorry, rambling. It's late.

 

I don't any person could say that with confidence about any individual car, Jaguar or not. Modern Jags are just as reliable as any other comparable marque but that's not to say that a given car cannot break at any time. My S-type has been hands down the most reliable I've ever owned but the guy across town with it's virtual twin hates his with a passion.

Given that you are considering buying cars that are in their 'senior' years each having unknown histories, any car is going to be a pig in a poke.

Since happy wife=happy life, buy her the black '04.

 

From my perspective, the Achilles heel for any 10+ year old Jaguar S-types, are the cooling lines and the plastic overflow container. There have been may threads about engines destroyed because a coolant line fails, the thermocouple doesn't show the car overheating, and boom!, the engine overheats and stops running.

If you don't know the history of any of these cooling lines being serviced/replaced, independent of the car's mileage, the best insurance you can buy is replacing as many of the hoses as possible.
The infamous water line below the supercharger has killed several engines, as documented on the forum. Coolant lines age and deteriorate over time.
Everyone who pulls off their Supercharger for any service, automatically replaces this water line.

I've read as well that somewhere between 80K and 100K miles, the current generation timing chains and tensioners start to show their age, and if you can afford it, this will help keep the car running in tip-top shape. (They don't fall apart and trash the engine like the gen.1 4.0 spastic tensioner design.)

 

It's generally not killed an STR engine - but has been time-consuming / costly to fix.

 

The 4.6L in our Aviator has similar timing chain component issues.
Not too long ago (at 170k or so) I noticed some unusual sounds at start up.
After a lot of talking myself into it - I finally tore into it to get a look at the chains. Two of the main guides had lost most of the lining material. I found one large piece (6" long?) sitting down by the crankshaft gear. The chains themselves were fine.
I didn't do anything with the secondary chains/tensioners, but I replaced both tensioners on the main chains and all 4 guides.
It was not fun but I felt good about the repair and I think it will help this engine run for many more years.

It's going on the market as soon as (if?) the Jaguar moves in.