Just bought myself my first JAb back at the beginning of June and ran into some issues and wanted to confirm with others and/or get some tips into if I'm looking down the right path... So let me start with my story so everyone knows what I've done and where I currently sit;

After upgrading from a 2002 Grand Am by purchasing my new (to me anyway) 2000 S-Type for a steal of a deal, I thought it was too good to be true... Turns out it sort of was. When I took a look at it and took it for a test drive everything was great and sounded fine aside from of a couple things that I was told needed to be replaced (rear struts, front brakes and front lower ball joints no big deal) so after I bought it the fun began (as is my luck with all cars)... First I found a small hole on the rockers on each side so a buddy and I went to fix them and took off the covers and quickly found out we had to completely rebuild both rockers. About a week after purchase I woke up to head out somewhere and a tire went flat overnight. They were a little weather checked but I thought I was going to be able to get away with them until winter so I could spend some cash to fix the other issues. So anyway I picked up a set of Hankook Ventus S1 noble2s which I wasn't happy about having to do so soon but that's done so one less thing to have to worry about (really happy with these tires BTW)... Then a real loud squeak in the rear end started when I hit any bump or had body roll, which I just attributed to the lower strut bushing or link stabilizer, so I just bore with it until I replaced the rear struts with a set of mint condition used struts for 99$ each with coil, upper mount, etc (Couldn't afford brand new ones with the CATS running 400$ each for just bare struts) pressed in a new bushing into the eyelet of each one and installed them along side of a new link stabilizers and tie-rods take the car off the buddy ramps and right away, the squeak was still there (quite p****d about it)... So I guess now I have to replace the control arm bushings after I rebuild the front end suspension as those ball joints are getting loud (Complete front end rebuild kit is only 350$ on ebay) and then I went to go for a spin the other day and upon starting the car I heard the timing chain rattle for a couple seconds on the tensioner so I'm now going to have to do that job as well. AND in addition to that my gearbox doesn't like 'D' and I have to use the J-hook (hesitates shifting gears or revs high in between shifts when using 'D') so I'm assuming now I have to replace the solenoid pack on top of all that... :s
And a couple other very minor things need to be done as well such as front grill has one of the spokes broken, the vent cover on the front of the dash by the windshield is cracked, and the headlight washer spray covers are busted off (took me a while to figure out what those holes actually were lol) swap out brakes and rotors for slotted/drilled and ceramic pads. It will also need a complete paint job in the not too distant future, okay it doesn't NEED it... but wouldn't be a bad idea and I want to do a color change anyway to a darker gunmetal gray.

I'm very amateur at mechanical work but am not scared to do just about anything with some assistance/guidance.. if anyone thinks I might be heading in the wrong direction or some easier things to look at first before doing the bigger things like timing chain/solenoid pack let me know.

 

The timing chain/tensioners problem is for the 4.0L V-8 NOT the 6 cylinder cars.
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Don't waste money on drilled and slotted rotors- they are 'bling' appearance items only.

 

You will end up with 4x what the car is worth on a good day.


Junk it and move on. Not worth the effort even if free.

 

might be more common for the V8 but I'm sure it happens to the V6 sometimes too... like I said I'm not a pro mechanic but I don't know what else that sound could be on startup... maybe I will try and record the sound and pass it by the forum to see if anyone knows what it might be

I can get a set of four slotted/drilled for cheaper than non drilled. but I wonder why you think this (plus who doesn't want to bling out their ride? lol)

That just seems silly... even after I do all the work listed I will have paid well under 5k for this car total... and I mean come on... it's a Jaguar.

 

I'd be suspicious of cheap rotors of any type. Drilled and slotted rotors are often marketed as being a performance upgrade- which they are not.

 

No. Again if you have a 6 cylinder do not worry about the timing chain and tensioners. They are NOT a problem on those cars.

Good that you are willing to do the work yourself. It's really the only way it will work out for you.

Any Jaguar is not a cheap car to repair and parts are almost all at the dealer. Now you are a bit lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it but your car is a very close twin to the Lincoln LS. Many parts can be found at Ford IF you know what to look for. Nowhere are you going to find where Ford and Jaguar got together to let you know what part will or won't cross over between the two cars.

So get to reading on this list. Your car is old and all the problems have been figured out before.

Also get the JTIS and JEPC installed on your computer. If you don't know what these are then you have more work to do.
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