Hi all,

Back in 2020, almost 4 years ago, I bought an 07 XJR with ~65,000 miles and no service history receipts, except a parking brake module replacement. For 4 years it has been my daily driver and has been more reliable than I thought my first Jag would ever be. It has never left me stranded or been undriveable and I've never seen the check engine light. I replaced one of the airstruts but other than that just routine maintenance - brake replacement, oil change, PS and brake fluid flush. Nothing else.

Now that it has reached 80,000 miles with a mysterious maintenance background, I wanted to see if anyone here can recommend some preventative maintenance to do when I take it in for an AC recharge and brake fluid replacement next week. Spark plugs? Anything with the supercharger?Any hoses or belts? Anything specific I should ask to be checked out? Not that I'm looking to pay to fix problems I don't have, but the Jag has been so good to me it deserves some love.

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks, P

 

Grab the manuals - online downloads or buy cheaply-enough as CD/DVD. Allocate several hours to extract key info into your OWN, more compact and handy - "spreadsheet" or text-table until you have migrated-in all of the overly confusing OEM service-interval items.

Then edit/smack some sanity into the table that better fits your personal preferences as to organization, layout, ease of use and such.

Now you have the feed for planning a "punch list" to go over and see 'which of these may have been neglected', and 'what should I inspect and correct, now'.

Should be able to 'make a plan', catch-up, backfill whatever was overlooked or just seems "needy" with fewer surprises and more efficient use of always-scarce time as well as funds..

Then keep ahead of it, going-forward. 80K is not yet "high miles".

GI "log books" for wheeled and tracked vehicles were so useful we once lost an APC to North Vietnamese over-running a position. When it was recaptured... about a year later, it was discovered that our "enemy" had taken better care of it than we usually did, and had even kept the log book up-to-date! In the English language, yet.

Because they needed it far more desperately than we did, and knew that log book was helpful to keeping it in reliable running order.

 

I'd recommend changing your spark plugs and coil packs. Mine on the XJ8 hadn't been done in 20 years/44k miles and updating them last year changed the experience for the better and noticeably improved my gas mileage.

 

Yes, and buy GOOD ones - OEM. Even if you pay more, they last a really long time.

Also because some of the alternatives can do the opposite and make it worse than the aged ones had been, so you end up doing the work twice and paying extra for the privilege of it.

DAMHIKT!

 

Gearbox oil change!

 

Yes and hire it done, 'coz it is a Royal Pain In The ****.

ZF slush-boxes of this class are in over a dozen makes of cars and even trucks, so it ain't rocket science to find a reasonably-priced "indie" tech who knows his (or her) s**t.

It typically needs done only ONCE per 80K - 120 K miles, so the $$ bite isn't that sad, spread out over time it buys for your motorcar's useful longevity.

Second go? Figure in an internal renewal. The ZF's actually have a LOT of internal wear-points, Mechatronic's brains merely self adjust to conceal the gradual degradation really well.

 

Please find attached the relevant maintenance sheet for the car. It might be helpful.

Best regards,

Thomas

 

Thanks for the reply - is a gearbox oil change the same as a transmission fluid change? I am not a mechanic and not familiar with this service. Thanks again, P

 

Dunno what or where you are reading, but there is a service spec for both the ZF automatic transmission (complex, multi-pass) and the "conventially geared" differential (dirt-simple, by contrast).

Most things have you-tube videos, some grandly helpful, some horrid, most "in between", that are worth a browse if only to raise more, and more relevant questions.

One doesn't learn to command an Aircraft carrier or do open-heart surgery in five wall-clock minutes, it takes time. Same appplies here. You can do it. Others have.

 

Yes, it is. And additionally there's what Bill added, the differential oil change.

All of these are not mentioned in the maintenance plan, as Jaguar surmised that the filling would be a "lifetime"one, but as everyone before me said, they are highly recommended.

Best regards,

Thomas

 

In addition to the really great checklist Thomas attached - notably lacking is changing (flush) of Brake Fluid. Even if the rotors and pads look good, I believe changing out brake fluid every two years is critical to avoiding problems with calipers over time. Brake Fluid flush is easy, basically do a brake bleed and refill until you have changed out entire capacity (appx. 2 liters) of good quality brake fluid.

 

You might have overlooked it, but it's item no. 5 on the checklist, and it states the 2 year interval.

Best regards,

Thomas

 

Right you are; I missed that, thanks. I should confine replies to post-coffee time