I just purchased my first Jaguar X-Type as a second vehicle to play around with. It is a 2004 X-Type 2.5l 5spd, 190k miles. It is very high miles, but well kept from an older lady. she passed and her daughter put it up for sale. The daughter had it in to be looked it because it sat for a couple of months. They put a new battery in, starter and plugs. She was also informed that it needed a rear passenger hub assembly.

I ordered new rear hubs, but was wondering what else I should do as a preventive measure. Even if it might not need it, but would save me the headache down the road. I know its high miles, but I would like to keep it running nice as the condition is still great.

I appreciate any advice as to what I could do to keep it running at its peak.

Thank you for the help

 

delaveishi, first off, welcome to the Forums. We will be a very good source of information for you. We take pride in being a friendly group and as part of this, we ask that you stop by the New Member section and tell us a little bit about you (kinda like what you did above). This will let you meet those that make this place what it is.

As for what to do. I would say to first look in the driver's door and see when the car was made. You have bought a car that can be 2 completely different beasts all based on the month it was built. The 2004 MY cars started being built in late 2003 and continued all the way through 2004 with a major change happening in April 2004. So, if your car is made on/before March 2004, then you have what we tend to refer to as the early X-Type. April 2004 and later, you have the later X-Type. You may hear people also refer to it as the first gen and second gen X-Type. Most of the changes were cosmetic in nature, but 2 big changes happened that can make your life interesting. The 2 big changes were a completely different wiring harness for the car. The first gen cars have one set of fuse boxes, the second gen have a completely different setup. This is going to sometimes make things tricky because you will hear people talk about "just replace fuse F80 and all will be good". You will look at your fuse boxes and find that they only go up to F55. With this being said, at the top of the X-Type section, there is a download that I will say that you are going to want to get based on what you have expressed. This would be called "JTIS". This is a complete repair manual on the car. It will also have a wiring diagram in it. So, make sure that you look at the correct wiring harness or you will drive yourself nuts. if you want just the wiring diagrams, let me know (need to know which gen car you have). The other major change was the transfer case. This is a mixed bag really. the first gen cars had a transfer case with a viscous coupling in it that allowed the wheels to turn at different rates while still transferring power 40/60 (40% to the front, 60% to the rear). The issue comes that these also suffered from a high failure rate. With the car as old as it is, you probably do not need to worry. The later cars had an open differential design and while all wheels get power, if one wheel looses traction, then it takes all the power. This was counteracted by installing DSC (Dynamic Stability Control). If you have a later car, you are going to want to find the DSC button on the center console. In 2004, very few cars came with DSC. By late 2005, most cars came automatically with DSC because they found out it was needed very much. These transfer cases seem to hold up better, but are still not 100%. So, I would say to not drive it like you stole it. The car is a great cruiser, but not much of a light to light vehicle. It is a lot of fun to toss through the corners as it will stick very well. But, the high power shifts, especially in the lower gears are brutal on the transfer case and may lead to issues.

As for maintenance to do. it sounds like most of the obvious has been done for you (plugs and oil). the next thing I would check is the PCV hose. Look to the left of the throttle body. You will see a hose about the diameter of your thumb. If it is smooth, REPLACE!!!!! That is a ticking timebomb for vacuum issues. If it is ribbed, then you are good. The next thing I would say to do is a transfer case fluid change. There are a few write ups here on how to do it. It is not hard, but you have to choose your method because you may need to make a few changes to the car. If you have questions about this, let me know. I created the "radiator drain valve" process. You can do a search on my name and transfer case and you should see what I did and a step by stop on what needs to be done. It may be a ways down the list as I wrote it awhile back.

From here, I think you can take things a bit slower. A tranny fluid flush is going to be a good thing to do. Again, we have write ups on how to do it. The next thing I would do is start looking at the rear suspension. Look at the rear tires. Are they leaning in at the top? If so, then odds are your upper suspension arm bushings are toast and you will need to replace those arms. Look up "Thermo upper suspension arms". You will see another one of my creations. The other thing to look for is if the tires seem to be pointing towards the center of the front bumper. If so, your lower/formward rear control arm needs to be replaced. These two arms on each side seem to wear out and will lead to dramatic tire wear. This would probably be a good time to check the e-brake system. pull up on the lever. You should raise the button end of hte lever say 2-3 inches and then feel it starting to engage. If it pulls up really easy and seems to make a sudden stop and you have the button clear up at the top of your thigh, then odds are, one of your rear calipers has an issue. If you have this case, remove both rear tires. Look at the e-brake levers. The one that is leaning towards the front of the car is your bad side. These levers are known for freezing up. Some people have no issues, others (like myself) ended up working on a side of the car pretty much every year. I have a write up on how to rebuild the calipers should you be one of the less fortunate people.

The other check I would say that is going to be fairly vital to the longevity of the car is the electric fans. What you want to do is let the car sit and get the motor cold. Start the car and turn the A/C on to the lowest temp it will go and the fan to the fastest speed. Open the hood/bonnet and put your hands on the bar above the radiator and then lean in a bit. Are you getting a strong gust of wind in your face or are you getting a nice gentle breeze. You want the gust. the gentle breeze is telling us that your fan controller (little silver box mounted to the radiator in the upper corner on the driver's side) is starting to go. This is another one of those parts that went through a change in 2004. So, if you do have ot buy one, get one that matches exactly or do some searching here to identify which version you have and if you need the adapter harness.

The final tidbit I will leave you with is if you get a check engine light, you stand a good chance of experiencing a problem with what we call "The Big 3". Most people have suffered through a P0171 and/or a P0174 code on this car. These are both vacuum leaks. They will make the car run like hell. The 3 components that are the main contributors to this are the PCV hose (left of the throttlebody), the brake booster hose (runs from the top of the intake and to the driver's side (for you) firewall, and then the IMT o-rings (if you look on the passenger side of the motor, you will see 2 black circles on the side of the intake, these are the Intake Manifold Tuning (IMT) valves. These have o-rings that are known problems. All 3 are easy fixes and cheap to replace. A little search here and there are tons of stories on what to do.

Grab a beer, spend some time with the kitty. Pet her nicely and she will take care of you.