Flew to Texas today to buy, and then drive back to Alabama, a 2003 S-Type 3.0 5-speed that I managed to get about $3k-$4k below book value. This isn't the first time I've done something like this but it is the first time I was tasked with driving 630 miles in 100-degree heat.

Here's what my day revealed:

The Good
Runs and drives great, buttery-smooth transmission shifting, my favorite color (frost blue), interior still smells new, and there's only 45,000 miles on the clock.

The Bad
This car lived a hard life in such a short time. Previous owner had small children, so there's a little bit of everything: Passenger's vanity mirror door was snapped off. There's a streak of child's lime-green sparkly fingernail polish across the steering wheel.

The p.o. also couldn't drive for crap. Three corners show minor scratch damage from getting too close to a post of some kind. Also, this car is a base model to end all base models: No sunroof, no memory seats, no floor mats, no heated seats, no automatic day-night mirror, etc. Previous owners stole, of all things, the spare tire. Car has none.

Furthermore, we have just one key for the car, and it didn't come with a remote. This car was a bank repo and I guess they took it as they found it. On top of that, the trunk will not open either with the button on the dash, or by pressing the cat head on the trunk. You have to open with the key. (I have not tried opening from the inside with the key in the "on" position, though).

Radio display is non-functioning, but I don't care about that as I'm planning to yank the factory radio anyway.

There's also one other thing that gave me pause: Both air bag warning lights were on all day, even when someone was sitting in the passenger's seat. This car had suffered accident damage before and we knew this, but I'm curious to know whether my bags will deploy if needed, and I don't know how to test it.

The Ugly
Here's what I need help with: Upon my arrival in Dallas today, we found the A/C didn't work properly. The middle vents were trying to blow cold, but the outboard vents were blowing full-blast heat. The on-site mechanic knows as much about Jaguars as I do the Space Shuttle Atlantis. He calls the Dallas Jag dealer, who tells him it's probably one of two valves, either a heater core control valve (around $700 to fix) or an A/C control valve (around $200 to fix). He won't know without seeing the car, and he won't have either part until Wednesday. I can't stay that long. I negotiate a lower price for the car and bring it home.

About an hour into the drive, I have a CD in the player and the player stops. It stops because it has overheated, and tripped a safety switch. Reason? The entire center console is hot, and I mean REALLY hot. About 10 minutes later, we get the yellow Restricted Performance light, the Check Engine light flashes about 3-5 times and the motor starts chugging a couple of times. It clears itself up.

I figure this might be transmission trouble at first, but the car is still driving/shifting/performing well, plus the only thing that isn't scalding hot to the touch is the shifter itself. Now my attention turns to whether (a) all that heat from the stuck heater valve is dumping out behind the dash and heating everything up, or (b) there's an exhaust/catalytic issue afoot.

I'll pause here to note that my wife's X300 has had a Restricted Performance issue for five years now. It has confounded two dealerships and three independent shops, it comes and goes and has no discernible effect on the car. My latest shop suspects coil packs, and I think he may be right. My wife and I actually considered getting a vanity tag that read "RP AGAIN" as an inside joke.

So anyway, I ease back on the throttle and take it as easy as I can in this heat. I find that the RP kicks in almost always when I'm coasting downhill with my foot off the accelerator, and letting the engine do its own braking. It does this 3-4 more times over the next 6 hours.

The Check Engine light, however, goes out every time the RP light goes out -- until my last gas stop of the day, when the CE light stays on. If I were to go out in the driveway and crank the car right now, it would still be on.

So, to summarize, here are my three most pressing issues tonight:

1) What is everyone's diagnosis and cost estimate on the A/C problem?
2) Anyone got an idea what my Restricted Performance issue might be? (sorry I don't have codes yet)
3) What would cause the center console and tunnel to get so blazing hot?

Thanks,
Jess

 

Well Jess so much for the $3/4k under BB. Find a competent Jag repair shop. Hopefully they won't be putting in more work than you saved!

1) DCCV valve, do a search here many, many posts on that subject!

2) need the codes

3) again my guess is the DCCV

As far as the spare goes, who would steal it, the owner propably had flat and never put the spare back in!

Are you a DIY'er if so get the JTIS manual (disk) from Ebay or a paid subscribtion to www.alldatadiy.com

Airbag lights might be due to the "spiral cassette" located behind steering wheel, (there has only been 1 post here that I can remember) search google "jaguar spiral cassette" to get more info.

Keys....YOU ARE BUMMING! Go to Ebay purchase key FOBs and then take them to Jaguar to have them programmed, I have heard about $125 ea. just to program. No you cannot take them to "Lucky U's locksmith shop" to have programmed, Jag only!

Inside the glove box there is a valet switch for the trunk, push it and the trunk should work.




For used parts try www.car-part.com its a searchable auto recycler search engine and most of them will UPS parts.

Good Luck and we'll be seeing you around the forums!

 

In a short time you'll get her together jess. As joyce points out, the DCCV (dual climate control valve may have to be replaced (not a hard job). Restricted performance may be due to something as simple as replacing an extremely dirty air filter, plugs, injectors, and/or a vaccum leak. Eventually bring her to a body shop and they'll make her look new again. Otherwise, it don't sound all too bad.

 

In this case I have to say that I would take it to the dealership. Too many issues and they should be repaired by a competent mechanic. You got a good price, now put down some coin to get her done right...

 

+1

 

I had a similar situation when I bought mine. It was a very good price but it had a catalogue of problems. For me it was going to be a long term project (I still have it after 8 years) and it was not my main car so the was no pressure in getting it fixed over the weekend!

Mechanical issues such as suspension and brakes and servicesI could do myself and only used the Jaguar dealership for electronic problems that required diagnostic equipment.

Rough running and engine warning lamp was put down to failing coils. A common problem and a relatively easy job to do yourself. Change spark plugs at the same time. If it has been run on the cheap I bet they have never been replaced.

A/C has not been as easy to solve but the hot/cold air mix is a common problem. Check previous posts for mixing valve.

Hot transmission tunnel is a strange one. Check the exhaust reflective shields are in position but more likely to be linked the hot/cold air mix valve.

So how is my S type at the moment? The back end is on axle stands whilst I work on the back brakes!!! The work never stops!!

 

work or enjoyment???

 

DCCV, 95-100%. Fairly cheap. Fairly easy to DIY on the 3.0. Motorcraft part YG-378.

Flashing MIL is catalyst-damaging misfires. Don't keep driving it more than you absolutely must, as you don't want to be buying new cats. Probably coils. Unlikely to be plugs. Could be bad gas but not by the time you've refilled enough to do that drive unless you're putting in bad (cheap) rubbish. (Don't.)

It's quite expensive to change all 6 coils but not easy to diagnose exactly which ones unless you can see contaminant (oil, water, etc) in some plug wells in which case it'll likely be those. To read the misfiring cylinders best is a dealer-type OBD tool. AutoZone etc cannot do it.

I've not heard of such a hot dash but DCCV fails fully open so in effect demanding max heat in the cabin

Check coolant level and ONLY use the proper orange jag coolant or risk a huge cost.

Oh.... you've put 5-speed. Is it a manual? If not, an 03 should be 6-speed. If the gear lever goes up to 5 that's because a 6 would be pointless (it's the default). If you DO have a 5-speed the DCCV above is not for your car.

 

First of all, thanks for the help so far...I only made this post 10 hours ago and this is a bunch of good information.

Some things to clarify/add to now that I've had a good night's sleep after a 2-hour flight and 11-hour drive back home:

1) Yes, this is a 5-speed MANUAL car. That's why I had to fly all the way to Dallas to find one. Plenty of S-Types in Alabama but stick-shifts are so hard to come by.

2) Got in it this morning and on a completely cold engine, started it and checked the A/C. Good news here, as the A/C blew cold through all vents until the engine began to warm, and the outboard vents got hot again. So that problem seems licked or at least diagnosed.

3) As for catalytic issues, for years I've owned Mitsubishi Starions, which do this very same thing from time to time, but when they do it, you can actually tell visually because the cats get hot and will glow. I don't know whether you can see -- or smell -- this issue on a Jag, but I checked them at every stop yesterday as best I could, and never got either the telltale "rotten egg" smell nor did I see any evidence of glowing.

4) I mention this in a separate item, even though it's connected to #3: As I said before, this car had some accident damage. Well, I found some of it this morning. Looks like the car got tagged in the driver's rear fender. Inside the spare tire well, there's a little square black box of some kind mounted on the left side of the well. It is cracked, and it looks like the metal under it is deformed a bit (in other words, shoddy body shop work; they never fixed all the damage, just the part you could see from the outside). So I wonder if there's a heat shield issue between the exhaust and the body of the car, in the event it was damaged in the same wreck?

Today's follow-up questions:

a) Does the car take a full-size spare, or a doughnut?
b) What's that little black box I described?
c) I have seen some reference in other threads to some kind of issue with a air control valve or tube coming off the throttle body that can cause issues with the catalytic converter. Could this be affecting my car, and could someone give me the Cliff's Notes on what this is?

Thanks again for the help. I definitely feel I will enjoy this car, and plan to drive it for years.

Jess

 

OK, the a/c works so the heat is DCCV or damaged ACCM (see my sig line).

There can be various boxes.... post the words etc on it

The bad eggs is a sulfur compound but nowadays there should be almost no sulfur in gas so you can't rely on any smell. They won't glow unless it's already far too late and probably not then. You can be sure flashing means misfiring. Your car won't have the air valve. Don't mess with the TB unless yo have good reason. They're $1000 or more. Stick with expecting coils to be the problem unless and until you know for sure they're not. Proper diagnostics are #1 to do.

 

again +1

No offense Jess.... get a competent JAGUAR mechanic whether its a dealer or an indy (indepenent) and save yourself alot of money! Don't start tossing money on parts that you don't need!

 

Here's the language from the mysterious black box. It has four lines of text on it:

Line 1: 2R83-15K866-AB
Line 2: SWF 601.785 Germany
Line 3: HW02 SW01 COPE 02
Line 4: 071002f/2/03/69

It is on the side opposite the battery.

Jess

 

Oh, I will definitely take it in to a shop for a once-over. I just got it back into town (yesterday) and haven't had a chance to even get it titled yet.

I'm just trying to get some advance advice. It also gives me a lead on finding parts I might need in the future. And I do appreciate everyone's time thus far.

Jess

 

I think the mystery box is the rear parking sensor module.

 

Weird. Mine has that stuff but also the prominent words:
Parking Aid Module

Read up on your car by getting the workshop manual (ebay $10). Almost essential.
Get elm327 an OBD lead (ebay $20) as well. Ditto.

 

If it's a parking aid module, it doesn't work. Of course, the fact it's cracked and then torqued a bunch could explain why.

Now I know why there's no spare in the car -- a full-size tire no longer fits. When they repaired the accident damage, they did not straighten out the intrusion into the wheel well that holds the spare. Meaning, if I were to put a full-size tire in there right now, the trunk floor would rise 3-4 inches on the back left corner from the tire sticking up from below.

Really shoddy workmanship on the part of the body shop.

Jess

 

It has also probably been soggy as well, so FUBARed. Either needs replacing or do without.

 

Jess-

I've been happy with Jim Burke Automotive in B'ham. There are a couple of other choices. Hennesy is in Atlanta and of course a forum sponsor is Nalley in Roswell, GA. They make some good offers on parts so maybe you can work with them on getting your car back in shape.

Eric

 

Just ordered the workshop manual.

Couldn't find anything called "elm327". Even searching for just "Jaguar S-Type OBD" was a bust; it turned up a bunch of performance chips for the computer but that was about it.

Jess

 

My 2003 STR has a donut, not a full sized spare. I'm not sure if this was changed from the 3.0 in order to save weight, but in most cases a mid-sized sedan does not need a full-sized spare anyway.