crapper.
I was under the car last night, lubing the center bearing on the drive-shaft, (by the way Dennis: I referred to your FAQ on the topic before going out, and that made it a VERY simple operation! Thank You!) and I noticed immediately that I am once again missing my air-scoop for the T-case.
I'm reasonably pissed about it. That's my 3rd one, and I've owned the car for barely 6 months.

I'm toying with the idea of building something a little heavier duty... but I'm afraid that if it doesn't break off easily, then I'm gonna be looking at a much LARGER P.I.T.A when it tears the bolt out of the threads in the alu case. So I thought about a 'break-away'... but since Jaguar has already built-in that feature to the factory part [:'(] what would be the point?

So I guess I'm venting, as much as I'm asking the question: Am I the only one?

 

[sm=oopssign.gif] sounds like you aint havin a lotta luck Mac to be on your 3rd after 6 months......you rallying the thing?
Sounds like you really benefited from the FAQ topic as posted up by Dennis.....nice one
Re the manufacturing something a little heavier and deciding against it[sm=goodidea.gif].....you're soo right, they've obviously built that to go as its relatively cheap to replace instead of something thats NOT!

There's been quite a few members on here who have had troubles with the T/C etc etc and have noticed a distinct lack of an air scoop. No doubt you'll be keeping a close eye on it in future?

Jim

 

No - You're not the only one. I knocked one off my 03 and ponied up cash at the dealer to replace it. I tore the rubber piece loose on my 06, and, managed to repair it with silicon glue and epoxy putty. It was still intact when I traded the car off.

Regards:
Oldengineer

 

Knock wood..So far so good..but I have not had to drive through any snow to speak of to snag it..

Think out load here..What if you took it off for the winter months or at least the months you have to fight driving in deep snow..Wouldn't it stay cool enough at least during the winter?

 

i think i went through 5 in 3 years

 

well that's sort of my plan now... due to attrition rather than planning....
In fairness, it might be only two. I'm making an assumption that there was one on the car when I bought it. I don;t know this for a fact though, as the first time I crawled under the car looking for one, it wasn't there, but I'd owned the car for 6 weeks by then. So personally, I've purchased two and installed them.

I've done my share of snow driving this last month. And just as some places haven't learned to clear snow properly.... here we haven't learned to fill pot-holes caused by clearing snow all winter

I don't really 'rally', per se, but I do throw the thing into a corner now and then. And my boy has really enjoyed the hand-brake-drifting we've been doing in the parking lots the last couple of weeks (please don't tell my wife)

 

I've lost at least one...since I don't have one now. But, should be okay to wait til spring to attach a new one, shouldn't I?

 

another "Jvegas" idea.... what about if the scoop was made from a rubber? if you hit something like a snow bank then the rubber would just flex and bend. if it did rip off i don't think it would harm anything! does anyone know how to make a rubber mold and pour the mold?

 

Bless the Internet: http://www.amazon.com/Cast-Small-Met.../dp/0830604146

Might be worth the $10 investment. I wonder if rubber's a good choice though - air flowing under the car at speed would cause it to flex too, wouldn't it, likely creating more drag and less effective cooling than a more rigid scoop?

I wonder if fiberglass would be a better option? http://www.instructables.com/id/Simp...-and-carbon-f/

Carbon-fiber cloth and resin arelikely too expensive (and a complete waste for building a part no one will ever see), but fiberglass material is relatively cheap, rigid and easy to work with. And if it's not reinforced at the bolt, it should break of relatively easily under stress.

 

4 of them in 3.5 years. They break in half constantly. I got tired of it, been driving without a complete one for about a year. Not sure if I will do anything about it.

 

I've done my share of fiberglass work, and c/f....

to me, the only benefit in making my own would be
1) If I could quit losing them. But I've ruled this as a bad idea, since I'd rather not brake something further up....
or 2) if the part were cheaper to replace. And when I factor in my time spent on it, I can't build a small / limited run for less than the $55 I pay my dealer for the scoop.

So I guess I'll continue to replace them, and each time shake my head at what is clearly ANOTHER Jaguar engineering mistake.

I'm always reminded of the scene in Gumball Rally, when they can't get the 'E' to start, and the one guy says "Maybe it's the humidity".... and the reply is "ENGLAND is humid..." (IE: there's no excuse)

 

I knowIwent4 years from when I bought mine and it didn't have a scoop either. When I changed the TC lube, it was ugly..So this spring I'm gonna change it again and see if the scoop helped with the wear and tear (heat load) on the TC by the way the lube looks since I had it on.

 

F that scoop.

 

Driving up here in New England this time of year should keep the TC cool enough. If the air temp is say, 25 degrees, then going 30+ mph should create a very cold draft under there! Anyway, as Bo points out, changing the TC fluid every 10k or so shouldsolve the problem anyway.

 

Changing it every 12,000 miles will be more than enough, especially in your climate...you'll be doing it a favor over and above the manufacturers recommendation..which is never.

 

I am missing mine as well (just found out yesterday) The more I think about this scoop thing the more I think snow has nothing to do with it! If it is made of thin plastic held on by one screw, then the air alone would make it break off. does any one live in a warm place where it does not snow and have lost your scoop thing?

 

vegas, I don't think the plastic is thin enough for the air alone to do it. There's not enough surface area to generate that sort of force.
I think it has more to do with the fact that it is (for all intents and purposes) the lowest point on the undercarriage. It's that way by design, of course, because it has to be, in order to collect the relatively 'clean' air. But that means it's going to be the first thing to come into contact with ANY road obstruction at all. Or, in the case of the roads where I live: When the left wheel goes in a large enough pot-hole..... the scoop is gone.

I'm working on an idea here, but I'm afraid I may not own the car long enough to actually get down and do it. I just don't have enough time these days, with my children's busy schedules and all. So I'll throw it out there, and maybe somebody else will develop it. Shoot, maybe Wild Bill will do it for us?

Many years ago, I used to mess around with Maserati BiTurbos quite a bit. For any who may not know, the BiTurbo was the equivalent to the X-type in that it was Maserati's offering to try to get a different demographic into their showrooms. ie: it was cheaper than the rest of the line-up.
It was a great car. Some engineering issues, to be sure, particularly where it came to the front suspension. But it's true achille's heel was much like what we suffer here in the X-Type world: Couldn't keep the gears in the car!
Ya see, the BiTurbo is a twin-turbo'd car, and the turbos sit very low, one on each side of the transmission. Anyone who knows a thing about turbos, knows what's coming. Turbos can operate at a temp well in excess of 1500 degrees F. So the trans became a giant heat magnet... and we were constantly cooking the bearings out of it.
After messing around unsuccessfully with sheilding, and etc etc, I finally developed a little engineering marvel I stole from a man I knew by the name of Smokey Yunick (some of you HotRodders may recognize the name).
I set up a hydraulic piston on the left/rear shock mount. I stuck an oil cooler next to it. Then I piped braided line between it all, and back to the trans. One port real low on the trans (I used the drain) for an exit, and one real high (I tapped my own for this) for a return.
Ya see, every time the left rear wheel would move, it'd cycle the fluid in the hyd cyl mounted to it, sending cooled oil back to the trans, and drawing the hot stuff through the oil cooler.

It worked better than I really thought it would once we got through all the quirks. I've no reason to think we couldn't do this on thei car... but I'm not there yet. And who knows, perhaps electric pumps have come far enough along since then (this was the late 80's, and they were large, and drew a LOT of current) that we could simplify the idea and just tell it to cycle the lube through the cooler when the RPM's are over 'XXXX', so we know the alternator is generating plenty of juice.

I'll be honest, I haven't mentioned it before for two reasons. #1, I'd like to do it myself and sell the kits. But I'm at the point where I realize I probably won't during the time I own this car. And #2, I didn't feel like hearing Bo tell me how much of an idiot I am because his high school physics teacher said it wouldn't work, and how there really wasn't a problem to be solved on the car, other than my own stupidity. I don't work well with that.

So: someone wanna give it a go?

 

so you don't think the stiff rubber one would work?

 

It seems to me that it should. I don't know how to build stuff from rubber. It will need to be stiff enough that it does not deform from the air under the car, but flexible enough to deflect (or 'mash') when struck by something under the car.

I can build a form from fiberglass, if somebody else knows something or other about rubber and designing the correct properties into it?