hiyas!

i'm a new jag owner (2002 s type, 3.0) and just signed up for the forums today. i bought the car yesterday with 88,300 miles, and wanted to take advantage of forum members' knowledge and such from the start. (i am a forum member of the trojan yacht owners forum as well, and have found that to be a great way of learning and keeping up to date with information on my boat, and i'm hoping the same will hold true here as well.)

i've been a bmw/mercedes owner for the last 15+ years, and i was a little shy about buying a jag, to be honest, due to the reputation they seem to have. the dealer i bought the car from, however, is a very trustworthy character and i felt safe enough to buy the car.

with all that said, i spent the day driving around town getting used to the car, and noticed that two things that i'm worried about. i've already called the dealer, and he and i will meet with his mechanic tomorrow and see if they can find the cause. until then, i need some input.

the first issue is the temp gauge: i noticed that while at traffic lights, etc, while at idle,the temp gauge will rise to about 3/4 distance to the redline, but as soon as i begin to move, it will drop rapidly to the centerline. is this normal for this make/model? if not, suggestions as to the cause?

the second issue is the idle: when coming to a stop or slowing down after normal driving (has happend a few times in traffic at stop lights, in parking lots, etc), the car will just die. and today, i noticed that the tach jumped around a bit and the car seemed to want to go when i wasn't even pressing the gas.

the day before i bought the car, as i test drove it, i noticed the check engine light was on. long story short...something with the vacuum line/system was mucked up, and they ordered a part and had it fixed the next day. so i'm wondering if the second issue could be related to that?

i guess my biggest concern at this point is "should i have bought this car?" am i going to have a lot of trouble out of this just based on what it is? or are these things getting a bad wrap and i just have some bugs that need to be ironed out?

anyhoos...sorry for the long post, especially as it's my first. thanks in advance for your help and input!!!

 

Welcome to the forum Tuck, re: temp gauge - this is NOT normal behaviour, that needle should stay dead centre no matter if you're sat in traffic or hooning down the freeway.
These are typical reasons that some folk sell their car - get the dealer to sort them out, the stalling does sound like an air leak or possibly a misfire, which are quite common occurrences, either way - you just bought it, it shouldn't be happening.

 

Yep Tuck. Bring her back to the dealer. They will have to change the sticking closed thermostat and/or water pump, make sure the electric cooling fan is operating properly, and the proper coolant and level is attained. A hot engine will cause the engine to shut down at idle with an erratic idle. beyond this issue she'll eventually win your heart.

 

Trojan? We used to have a 41 sports fisher with dual Cats. Weren't they bought by Bayliner a while back?

Now, temp should rise to middle and never move. Sounds like a bad pump to me or you've got a loose belt.

 

tks for the response so far guys. i will ask the shop manager about these things tomorrow for sure. i just read something, and i'm hoping it's something as simple as the thermostat for the temp problem. i only hope it's something that simple for the idle/dying issue.


yeppers...a trojan. i have a 36 footer sedan bridge. bayliner? lol hardly. they were bought out by carver, however, several years ago. unfortunately, the parent company of carver (genmar, i think) has filed for bankruptcy as of last year.

 

update: i just got off the phone with the mechanic which my dealer uses (the dealer is a general used car dealer...not a jag dealer, btw). he feels that the engine idle/dying issue is related to the vacuum system, and hopefully will be a quick fix. i also told him about the temp issue, and he said it sounded more like a cooling fan issue.

does that sound plausible? if it is the cooling fan, would that be an expensive repair, generally?

 

I would have him replace thermostat if he's also to deal with the cooling fan. $$$? Depends, could get pricey, make it his responsibility though.

 

Could simply be the sensor, switch or connector that turns the fan on/off.

 

As one contributor said, some people (quite a few I reckon) sell their car to get rid of its faults; these are often "hidden" in that they don't show during a regular test-drive. This was the case in my S-type's 6-speed autobox, the problems only showing when the box was fully hot. That year of manufacture 2002 doesn't bode well if you check some of the knowlegeable comments made by many experienced contributors right here in this website. It's your decision of course, but it COULD happen that your eye just MIGHT be caught by a pretty motor your dealer has on his forecourt, and that he MAY give you your money back for this Jaguar you've just bought against something new. I'm not advising you of course, just some thoughts running through my head...
Leedsman.
p.s. Oh, and of course it could be a new different Jaguar you're 'fancying'.

 

As it's a "2002", is it before VIN (last 6) M45255 (I expect so)? If so, you have the original type (so, original suspension, 5-speed Ford 5R55N autobox, window regulators etc). Otherwise you have the redesign (ZF 6HP26 autobox, redesigned suspension, etc etc). Many problems are specific to each type.

The engines of the 3.0 are essentially the same so share many problems LOL
(Which includes idle problems. So using Search on here will get you answers.)

 

latest (and hopefully last) update on this matter...

just got the car back from the shop. apparently, according to them, when they worked on the car last week (the day before i bought the car) they allowed coolant to leak out of the system and failed to put it back in. they said after checking things out, they noticed the coolant level was about one gallon low.

once refilled, the car was run at left sitting at idle for a prolonged period and showed no signs of overheating or dying.

i asked about this, and according to the shop manager, low coolant can cause something to trigger an engine shut down if it's starting to overheat, blah blah blah.

i've never heard of this, but he assured me this was the case and that it should be good to go. i left the shop and came home, and so far so good.

has anyone else ever experienced this type of behavior from having low coolant?

 

There's a low coolant sensor. Did you have the Low Coolant dash light on? Check your handbook if you don't know what it looks like / where it is. Something doesn't sound right

 

It would take more than a gallon of coolant missing to cause her to overheat thus shut down. As jagv8 states, low coolant lamp should have alerted to this. If car now operates properly then it's more likely two or more gallons of coolant were lost or missing. What's this "they allowed coolant to leak..."? Were they servicing the cooling system? Keep an eye and nose out for coolant leak and odor. I don't like this either....