Hi there. New to this guys. I have a few questions I need help with please.

bought a 2003 2.5 petrol manual s type today. Hoping to turn it into a summer drift car. Need help with the following

1. Restricted performance alert on dash.
this is due to knock sensor. As car will not be used on roads but on a track can thsee warnings be bypassed? I don't want to be dealing with this constantly so really is there a final solution to just stop all this warnings altogether? (Snip a wire or 2. Plug outhe some sensors)?

2. Welding the diff. Will this also cause issues with warnings and restricted performance?

I know it will cause wear and tear but I picked the car up today for €250 and it's going to be used on a track so wear and tear is not an issue

3. Any other tips or advice? Thanks in advance. And as I said above the car will be a summer drift car not an everyday car so make shift jobs to bypass these problems will not be an issue. Just anything to keep it from going into restricted performance mode

 

Just fix the fault. Your other option realistically is another car.

 

Ok thanks for the reply. So are you sayong there is no master fix to this? Eg tontien off these notifications somehow? Do you know if drifting it around a track will bring on more of these faults? I know there is always a risk but is this a more common issue in jaguars?

 

Your best bet would be to replace the car's computers with custom ones. You're basically starting with the wrong car. You can expect ABS errors, cut torque, restricted or limp home performance etc.

 

Ciaran, you will probably want to get the knock sensor dealt with. The reason why I say this is that the ECU uses the knock sensor to determine how far to advance the timing to maximize horsepower. If it senses the sensor not working, then it goes to a conservative timing advance which will result in lost power. Besides, on the 2.5/3.0L motors, the knock sensor is easy to get to and shouldn't take you long to get repaired.

As for disabling the check engine light, I am sure a person with a ECU programmer could turn it off for you since the car will not be placed on the road. May even be able to get a few more horses out of the engine by getting rid of some of the conservatism that Jaguar put into the engine.

As for welding the rear end. Go for it. Not going to cause the car to see any issues. It won't know the difference.

As for other advice, if you are looking for a drift car, getting one with the 4.0L (V8) would probably make things easier to do. I would also question the engine that you are stating. While I am not an expert on the S-Type (more into X-Types and XJs), it is my understanding that the S-Type only came with the 3.0L V6 or the 4.0/4.2L V8 (there was also a diesel variant, but we don't have that here in the US). The 3.0L motor will do you good and it will have lots of low end grunt to help break the wheels loose for drifting. As for getting more power out of the engine, look up performance parts for the Ford Duratec 3.0L motor. The Jaguar and Ford engines share some common parts and you can get some easy bolt ons to up the power (long tube headers would be a good start, they will bolt right up).

 

Would a manual STR make a better drift car? Or would you still come against the same nanny electrics ruining the fun?

 

Thanks for the reply thermo. Ok so I'll deal with the the knock sensor issue anyway. Will one lap of drifting set off a ton of sensors do you think? That is my biggest fear. To go to the effort to get it ready and then bring it to the track only for it to end up in restricted performance mode after 10 minutes? That's gonna ruin anybodys days

 

They were not offered for sale by Jaguar.

 

Welcome to the forum Ciaran,

I've merged your two identical questions and then deleted the one in Off Topic forum. All the replies are now together in this thread.

Please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST forum and post some information about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

 

Will do thanks. Totally new to this

 

I think your best bet is to 1) fix the knock sensors as stated above, then 2) get out on a track and do some laps to see if you trigger any other sensors BEFORE you go to all the trouble and expense of implementing other conversion strategies.

IOW, find out if this is the right car for drifting before investing a lot of time and money in customizing it for drifting. But fix the knock sensors first as they do affect how the engine runs. It's a relatively inexpensive fix.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Much appreciated
ok so plan is
1 sort out knock sensor becausee it's not a big deal anyway
2 weld diff
3 hydraulic handbrake (can be taken out when car is of no use anymore so worth the effot)
4 strip put interior
5 go to a cheap local track and test it out

will check back in with progress or any issues that may arise. Cheers guys

 

I'd make step 5) into step 2) as JJF suggests.

 

Maybe your right. Just sort sensor and bring it out before anything else but will probably weld diff also because guaranteed it will be useless without that being done anyway. Stripping interior costs nothing but time so if I've got some free time I'll get that done. The only thing I may skip will be converting electric handbrake to hydraulic one. As this will cost both time and money. Cheers guys

 

Also today brake pedal just hit the floor and brakes are gone altogether now. Found a nice brake fluid leak under the rear end of the car. So gotta replace that now too but will do a homemade job on it to keep costs down

 

Jeremy Clarckson took a diesel S-Type around the Nurburgring, setting a class lap record, & he set the nanny electrics off when he got too enthusiastic with it. & he wasn't even close to drifting it.

 

Not really sure what point your trying to make to be honest.
1. my jag is petrol not diesel
2. that is not a drift track so i doubt he was at any stage trying to drift it but just trying to get fast lap times.
3. if he pulled the handbrake he definitly could have drifted it

 

Your petrol car has almost identical electronic restrictions as the diesel car. & the point is if just belting a car around a track can trigger the buggers, drifting is sure to. But it's your car, so if you're willing to take the risk, be sure to let us know how it goes

 

Ok thanks. And so was this the case with jeremy clarkson and the s type he took to a track? Did it just "not drift"? Or was there others failures due to sensors and electrics restricting the cars performance as a result of racing it? So all round useless in the end? Ive spoken to a guy yesterday who uses one to drift regularly with ni issues so im feeling more confident about it now. Cheers for the input. Im trying to find video of the laps right now

 

When you spoke to the guy yesterday, what suggestions did he make regarding modifications you should make to to your car? Did you ask him if the sensors were a problem? If so, how does he work around them?