After a bit of an absence from the group, I may be headed back for your help, expertise and advice. Always saw myself with an STR and now an opportunity has presented itself at a fairly reasonable cost. Initial look around shows very little corrosion to sills and rear subframe but minor seeping from a few gaskets. Not sure where. What should I be looking for???

 

That's a bit of a general question "minor seeping from a few gaskets. Not sure where. What should I be looking for???"

But if the question is, what you should be looking for, when buying a used Jag, here a few ideas:
I myself fancied the idea of buying a STR in Australia, as there were only ever 72 official imports of that STR. That's tempting.
HOWEVER: I friend worked in engine development of OPEL (=Vauxhall, GM). He put it to me that buying a turbo-charged car might not be the very best of ideas, as there are always problems. Plus, a failed turbo-charge has the potential to kill the engine. Additionally: A turbo-charged car uses more fuel.

Check for leaks. Attempt to determine, WHICH kind of fluid is leaking and WHERE and if you are up to of fixing it. If you make a wrong assumption there (thinking, when you buy the car that it is an easy fix, buy it is everything BUT an easy fix, it may cost you years of your life attempting to fix it (this happened with a leaky X-Type I bought).

Try do determine, if the car has been in an accident. Some cars went to shabby repairers using cheap, but criminal and unsafe methods of bringing the car back on the road looking good, but only just on the outer surface, while the car is still a death-trap.

You do not write the model year of the S-Type. My personal preference is to buy only S-Types after 2004. They are technically improved compared to earlier cars, plus they have an aluminium bonnet (hood). I have two from 2004 and one from 2005.

Look for everything else, that is broken and check, if the engine sounds OK and if there are no smoke-plumes coming out of the exhaust. Smoke can indicate many issues, including a blown head gasket.

Check for vibrations (AND NOISES) while driving, and note, that you might not find all of them before purchase, as you would be buying the car somewhere in a town with a speed limit, while the vibration may also occur at higher speeds, which happened to another X-Type I bought - I swapped the 2 front half-axles with their bearings and the problem was solved.

Depending on WHAT is leaking and of the owner at least made sure that the S-Type did not run low on that fluid regardless, you may or may not have an issue of excessive wear somewhere.

And I would always like to get both original keys for the car, as only that allows to to easily self-replicate more keys (key-programming of the transponder), as normally you stick first one key into the ignition, then briefly turn to "ignition-on", then the second OE key, then a third (not programmed) key, and this programs then transponder of that third key!

These are just a few ideas what to look for, when buying a used car...

 

thanks so much. it's a MY 2003 with 104k kms on it. I'm trying to arrange a competent mechanical assessment of it via long distance.STR's with that low kms don't come up that often near home. The car is actually about 900 kms from where i live while in Canada. I'm currently at our Mexican residence. Most of the of the "what to look for" threads are pretty ancient so i was just looking for a where to look for usual leaks to be able to pass on to mechanic.

 

Well, you are lucky that is has just 104k.
Of course it would be fabulous, if you could arrange for long distance assessment by someone, who knows a lot about Jags specifically...

"Usually" a Jag, that is not being taken care of, leaks everywhere. There is even a joke that Jag will find a way to make an electric Jaguar leak oil...

So "usually" you have the following leaks:
Coolant: Many possible sources, reservoir, hoses, joints, "the valley" (between the 4 cylinders on each side), and even radiator.
ATF: Manly for the connector above the transmission (I hope I do not mix this up with X308 - it is definitely a X308 problem).
Even brake fluid and power steering fluid can leak.

Engine oil:
- An STR has probably plastic cam covers, which could be cracked, but I reckon that the magnesium cam covers form the S-Type V6 are even worse, a magnesium is the "sacrificial" metal when it comes to electro-corrosion between magnesium and steel/aluminium (Not so much electro-corrosion between steel and aluminium...)
- all kinds of seals: front and rear crankshaft seal, cam-cover seals, and even the head gasket. Sump oil seal. Leaks on sensors.

Back to my previous mail: If a turbo is damaged (as they are prone for damage due to the ridiculous high RPMs) parts may break off the turbo and end up in the air intake of the engine, and that debris will damage the engine. So, under the line: I my eyes turbos are nonsense. Someone living a few kilometers ago from us somewhere has a turbo: The howling sound is rather annoying. It's noise pollution for the whole town. But that is just my opinion: If you get a good and cheap STR, then OK, but I would not but one, "because" it's an STR.

 

The 4.2 litre engine in the S-Type is supercharged and does not have a turbo, so the cautionary comments from the GM person regarding turbo problems do not apply to the Jaguar.

 

Thanks, Greg (sov211),

As I neither have a turbocharger nor Supercharger, I did not know that there is a difference. But I googled it now:
Turbocharger: Exhaust gas power, 150.000 - 200.000 RPM
Supercharger: Engine powered (either by an electric motor or belt driven), 50.000 RPM

So this explains the annoying whining noise of the supercharger in my neigbourhood and the tendency of superchargers to self-destruct, while 50.000RPM only (of the supercharger) are looking more promising.

So thanks, I learned something.

 

Most of the old 'what to look for' posts still apply. Little would've changed. AC, valley pipe, transmission etc.
UV damage would have faded all the veneer as well as rear parcel shelf.
All these age related issues as well as minor seeping from gaskets is going to be common on almost any car of this vintage.
All of the cam cover gaskets, timing case gaskets and surrounds do at some point need replacing. Radiator out for the timing case gaskets and you'd want to change a few more bits whist there.
Suspension bushes do not last forever.
These are very reliable cars and if not rusty worth spending the maintenance dollars on, but still if I were buying a beautiful STR I would have it professionally inspected; must be someone who knows these cars.
Expect to spend several thousand doing all this. Not going to find anything else at the moment for the performance, style and exclusivity.

 

Lot's of bad information?
Sorry no the SC does NOT turn 50K rpm!!
They do NOT self destruct. The OEM's use this style of blower because it's very reliable and robust. It has now been massively improved by the TVS technology.

Here is the 5th generation Eaton M112 blower map. The green numbers are the RPM of the blower. The chart stops at around 13.5K rpm.





Also note the peak efficiency is around 8K rpm. That's why this blower is known as a "Heaton". Yes you can spin it faster but the heat builds up so fast that you can't use the added boost because of heat soak. It's a downward spiral that happens very fast so pulley changes are of limited value unless you can add a good bit of cooling to the charge.
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Noted.

Since I now wanted to know, WHAT the RPM the supercharger of the Jag S-Type has, I asked google, and google replied:
-> The Jaguar S-Type supercharger typically reaches its peak power at around 6,100 RPM.
-> This is based on the specifications of the S-Type R model with the 4.2L V8 supercharged engine....

And google tells me now that turbo-chargers see between 80.000 and 300.000 RPM.

This now definitely explains the difference between turbo-chargers and super-chargers.
Thus, I have no more reservations about superchargers, but I view superchargers as self-destructing nonsense...

 

I think the 2nd superchargers was meant to be turbochargers...