Let me start off by saying I do not know much about the mechanics of cars and especially jaguars.I recently found a S type R on craigslist but it had a few red flags, I went to look at the car and actually had it inspected, but here is some background.

It is a 2003 with 45 k, which is very low but the transmission was replaced at the dealer last year which cost over seven thousand, the owner said it had a faulty torque converter that had been neglected so the whole trans went. I opted for a jaguar specialist rather than the dealer for the inspection.

upon inspection the passenger inner tie rod was bad and in order to fix the steering rack had to be replaced, which was $2000 for the part, as well as both rear swar bar bushings, and some other wearable I cant recall on the rear end. totals for the parts and labor was $3000. When the diagnostics was ran 11 out of the 13 faults were showing, and cleared. with only one returning which is due to the high flow cats the owner installed.

The car had only 500 or less miles from when the new trans was put in so you would thought the dealer would have cleared the codes. Which is what I dont get. and the other thing that i personally couldnt figure out is the top of the motor had fabric melted to it like the motor was hot and it touched the hood, but i cant figure out why that would happen.

Here is the ad. look at the pictures of the motor because i cant figure out why there would be a clearance problem.
2003 Jaguar S-Type for sale in CANTON, MI

Let me know what you guys think, I know the car was clearly beaten on but if I can get a good deal is it worth it?

Any help is much appreciated, thanks!

 

His ad says transmission was replaced at dealership under warranty, confirm that as true and if it's the case, I would feel comfortable with it. How soon does your specialist that inspected the car feel the inner tie rod would need to be replaced? He was hired to tell you everything wrong with the car, and it sounds like he did an outstanding job, but if you can get away with it for a while before you have to drop the money to replace it you are driving a low mileage (45k miles) car with a new, dealer installed transmission that someone paid $65k for and is selling for an asking price of $13k. I would bring the inspector's report with quote for repairs and ask he come down half the quote off his price in negotiations.

As for the codes withthe high-flow cats, read some ofmy more recent posts as I had issues with mine that I eventually resolved. Perhaps my old posts and the posts of others here that replied to my thread can help you so you no longer have any codes from the Magnaflow cats (hint - O2 extenders).

Back to the transmission, that's a scary one but if you can confirm that the dealer did indeed do the work on it, and it was replaced with a new one under warranty like the ad claims, then that should relieve you of any concerns that the car was beat on thus breaking the transmission. Ask to see all the paperwork on that one for sure.

 

The dealer did replace it, I saw the receipt, but not under warranty he paid over seven thousand out of pocket!! The tie rod does need to be replaced there was a good amount of movement. As far as the sway bar that could be left.

Im more worried about the Engine, super charger, and electronics going wrong.Did you notice the mark on the engine? Im puzzled as to how that happened.

Thanks

 

Does not look like the stock nav system in my 03 STR. That has a big effect on the Blue Book.

 

Who knows but that might be a red flag then. He modified exhaust and painted wheels black so you know it wasn't some old lady that just drove it to church that owned it. Maybe his beating on it caused the transmission to fail, as these cars come with a good transmissions. If thats the case, you now have to consider what may have happened to the engine, etc. These would be my "gut feeling" concerns with no factual basis to back them up.

 

yeah no navigation

 

So how well do the motors go on these if they are ragged on that hard? I really want it i just dont want major problems right away.

 

I would be more afraid of poor maintenence than some spirited driving...

 

Some thing sounds fishy when a trans has been replaced at such low miles. Make sure you run a car fax to make sure there has been no accidents. Most bad transmissions I see with such low miles are due to under carriage damage from running over some thing.

 

He posts on here (only 9) so you could always ask him:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/p...mission-75142/

 

I found the tsb on the torque converter (DTC) P0741 so it sounds legit, but kind of excessive to replace the entire trans but oh well better for the next owner i guess.

 

Wow I didnt think of someone running over something but that makes a lot of sense as far as the fabric on the top of the motor goes.

 

some of the clips holding the fabric could have came off causing it to droop down.

 

The hood liner is a known problem. It shrinks and pulls out of the fasteners then flops down on the motor. I had mine replaced under warranty. There is a much nicer and cheaper version out that's made from aircraft firewall material. He custom makes them and they fit like a charm. A search on here will find it.

The transmission probably only needed a TQ. Even if the TQ lining is bad it will not take out the transmission but who knows? It is possible that so much TQ lining was chewed up that it fouled the rest of the transmission. But good for you as the ZF has some problems but generally is bullet proof.

If you do need a rack just remember that this is one item that's the same as the Lincoln LS part. So it's pretty cheap and you can get it most anywhere. I recommend RockAuto or Amazon. I don't use Amazon if possible anymore because they just started charging sales tax in Texas.

Yes this is a non-navigation car. Now if you want to add an aftermarket double DIN NAV/AM/FM/CD/MP3/Bluetooth head unit get this one. The factory Nav cars have too much stuff tied into them to upgrade with aftermarket versions.

Finally the car is overpriced and that's why he has not sold it. The bad thing about the STR is nobody wants them. You would be wise to offer somewhere around $10K. He won’t have any other people interested in it!!
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