Hey everyone, so I am new to the world of Jaguar and would really appreciate if I could get some opinions and information as for the Jaguar I'm looking to buy. It is a 2002 X-type with a 2.5L, AWD, and has 105,XXX miles and he's asking for $2900. I'm not familiar as to what to look for if it is in good condition. Any information as to maintenance related stuff would help and if it is a reliable car to buy, any cons or things that I should look out for
Thanks

 

Porkipine14, the big thing that you want to look for is when you take it for a drive, listen to the drivetrain. If it sounds like a box of rocks tumbling around, run away from the car. The early cars were known for "weak" transfer cases and when they started to go, the bearings would start making some really bad noises.

The second thing I would tell you to do is get the car up to 65 mph and you want to feel for 2 things: 1) a shimmy in the steering wheel where it wobbles back and forth (this normally means that atleast one of the front wheels has a bent rim or the alignment is out and it will start eating front tires, and 2) a vibration in the car that seems to be either right under the driver's seat or just behind the driver (this is a worn carrier bearing in the rear driveshaft and is normally fixed with the simple addition of some termalene grease via a needle attachment to the internals of the bearing).

After this, take a look at the rear wheels and see if they are leaning in at the top. This would be an indication that the upper support arm has worn bushings and will need to be replaced soon. The other thing that you will want to look at is the inside edge of the rear tires. If they appear to be worn more than the outside edges, then you have the front/lower suspension arm that will need repaired or you will be replacing the tires within 5K miles. Both of these arms are easy to replace and if you look inside the forum, there are even write ups on how to do it and where to get the parts for fairly cheap. You may even see the "Thermo Mod" which allows you to install an adjustable arm in the top position to correct the leaning in rear tire.

During the test drive, you will want to also try taking a long sweeping turn and in the middle of it, give the car a decent amount of gas (like you were going to pass someone on this curve). If you feel the rear end want to step out on you (it won't, but it will make you stutter), then this confirms a bad lower/front suspension arm in the rear suspension.

Next, apply the e-brake before the car moves. Does the arm come up some and then get some increasing resistance or do it seem to go all the way up and hit the stop? It should come up say 5" or so and then seem to start encountering resistance and then stop. If it goes to the top, this would be a sign that atleast one of the rear calipers has a stuck e-brake arm (common issue) and it will most likely require a new caliper to be installed. The caliper can be rebuilt (I have a write up on it), but you will need a special socket (14mm pentasocket, a 5 pointed socket) and a rebuild kit from Centric.

The final thing I would look for is how well the fans work. What you want to do is start the engine and put the A/C to max (fan on fastest speed and the temp to the lowest temp it will go to). This will force the fans to run at maximum speed. You will then want to pop the hood/bonnet and lean in over the engine a little bit. Is your hair being blow to the back of your head or are you getting a nice gentle whisp of air? It should be blowing pretty good, not a whispy breeze.

I know this may sound like a long list of problems, but these are the hidden things that most people would not notice. The other stuff is going to be fairly obvious (check engine light, car running like hell, etc). If you have a check engine light, that would be grounds to start talking the price down. Normally a check engine light is a vacuum leak which is fairly easy to fix on this car. I would also ask the owner when the spark plugs were last changed. They should have been replaced at 100K miles. if they haven't been done, then this would be something else to talk the price down some (takes about 3 hours to do your first time, help on the site on how to do this).

 

Sweet thank you very much for the helpful information and I will keep an eye out for all of the above. And in a hypothetical situation, lets say that the car has all of the above, how much would all of that cost? Would it be worth it to even get that car? I also forgot to mention that he said that the front tires are good, but will need rear tires and that it may need a tune up. What does that mean?

 

Here in England, a lot of the earlier cars, indeed some only 10 years old, are now suffering from serious rusting at the rear of the sills, (I believe these are called rocker panels in the US). Not easy to spot as they are covered by a plastic cover that one assumes is the sill, except the real structural sill is behind it.
The sills are repairable, and I have seen a car undergoing such repair in a workshop, but not cheap, of course !

 

Porkipine14, I will give you ballpark figures as it will vary place to place

New transfer case installed: $3000
Alignment: $100 at any shop, nothing special about this car that would result in a "Jaguar price"
Driveshaft carrier bearing: New driveshaft will set you back like $400 and then you have another 3 hours of labor, so another $300-400, depending on the shop.
Rear suspension upper control arms: $120 each (1 per side) through jaguar, but can be found for cheaper if you look online. I want to say a lot of the members find them for around $80 each. Then don't forget you will need an alignment after the fact. if you go with the adjustable ones, then they run about $100 for the pair. Takes about an hour per side to install. So, to do both, add another $250 for labor.
Rear suspension lower/forwards: $120 each (1 per seide) through Jaguar, but can be found cheaper if you look online. Takes about an hour per side to install. So, to do both, add another $250 for labor.
New rear caliper, through Jaguar, they are like $200. I have found them locally at a local auto parts place for around $100. Add another hour of labor per caliper, $125.
Fan controller: These can be found used online for around $100. Of note, there are 2 different styles (the original and then the upgrade module). THe 2002 has the original one. The upgraded one uses different plugs. Jaguar does sell the adapter cable to make it work, but that would be up and above the price of the controller. The new cable is like another $100 as I recall (going off of the top of my head on this one, I remember it wasn't cheap). Labor would be another hour, $125.

All of these prices like I mentioned are rough estimates. If you can do the work yourself, you can save yourself a lot of money because a lot of shops think since you own a jag, you have bottomless pockets. We can help you do a lot of this yourself, even if you are not the most mechanically inclined person. This car really doesn't need anything special to be able to work on it. In short, it is a Ford Mondeo/Fusion in the front (slight variances, but has a lot of shared stuff) and the rear end is effectively a Volvo S40. So, if you can work on a Ford/Chevy/Dodge, you can work on this car.

 

Hi there!
I have bought my 2002 3.0 about 2 years ago.
Love driving it, so far I only had the starter solonoid go on me, replaced
the starter and alls well now.
Had to replace the overflow tank leaking on the bottom, plastic, No big
seal.
Otherwise not too much problem.
Walter in New Mexico
Keep in touch

 

Should you buy the car then the first job I would recommend is to change the transfer box oil.
As I recall it only holds about 0.7 pints of oil and it is a pain to do but it will make it less noisy and last a lot longer.
I had about 2 spoons of treacle come out of mine when it was done.