ok, I just bought a 2004 xseries, six cylinder awd, manual transmission. first question, what would that be by definition? xj6? x350?

second question: here in Texas, in order to get the title transferred, it has to pass a state inspection, and the parking brake is not grabbing. I pull the lever up, it clicks, latches, the light comes on the dash, but the brakes need adjusting or something. before I get a chance tomorrow to lift and look, thought I'd ask if there are any common issues or things I should look at first. I've never done a brake job on a jaguar.

 

Hi dolamyte,

It sounds to me as though your car is an X-Type, or Jaguar factory project code X400. I don't believe Jaguar sold any V6 X350 XJ series sedans in the U.S., and the X350 has an Electronic Park Brake rather than a conventional lever.

I'm going to move your post to the X-Type forum where our knowledgeable members should be able to tell you how to inspect the handbrake components and adjust the cables or make other necessary repairs to correct your issue.

Cheers,

Don

 

When you crawl under the car in the center a little behind the parking brake above you will see a cable that then has an adjusting screw then splits into two cables. First thing make sure that both sided are even when you push it. If they are even and there isn't any slack you can try tightening the nut a bit to see if your cable has just stretched (easier to do and then return to the same spot if that isn't your issue then taking off the wheels just yet). If that doesn't solve your problem or the cables aren't tightened evenly when you raise the e brake then take your wheels off. On the top of the caliper you will see a spring and a bracket with the cable attached to it, make sure it is moving when you raise and lower then e brake. If so you probably have an issue with the self adjusting caliper like maybe a seized piston. You will want a ford caliper cube tool for this ($5 or less at an autoparts store) as the piston needs to be turned to move it. If you take the caliper off the rotor you can move the bracket and see if it moves. This will also "adjust the piston so you will need to loosen it to get it back onto the rotor and pads.

Post up back up if this all doesn't fix your issue. My one side was stuck for the past couple months. Finally got to it tonight and it seems to be working. I think it was simply a stuck piston that just needed a little movement to be back in the working world.

 

dolamyte, I am going to take a leap of faith here and figure you have 2 rear calipers that need work. The first check I would do is to simply pull up on the e-brake lever. You should pull it up about half way and then feel some resistance. If it pulls up all the way, then that is your first sign there is a problem.

Doing what Trevor mentioned is going to help narrow it down to a side or two (depending on what the balancing beam does). But, I am betting that you are going to find that the beam is going to angle to one side and not remain pointing out the sides of the car evenly. If I remember things correctly, the wheel that the beam points to is the one with the stuck e-brake lever. that will be the side you want to start with. You can try moving the e-brake lever with a large screw driver to see if it just needs to be moved to break it loose. But, you should be able to lever it towards the front of the car and it will return on its own to where you found it. If it doesn't, then this is confirming that you have a bad caliper. If you find that the lever is already all the way forward (will be really close to the sleeve on the e-brake cable and you won't be able to lever it forward), then this is just confirming that someone has not paid attention to the car letting them know that there was an issue and you have simply worn the pads down by having the e-brake stuck on.

From my experience, if you find one side that is sticking, it is a good idea to check the other side. Especially if the brakes have not been looked at in the last year or so, if one is acting up, the other is not far behind from my experience.

A new caliper will run you about $100. If you want to rebuild it, you will need a rebuild kit from "Centric" and you will need to find a specialty socket, 14mm Pentasocket (a 5 pointed socket). Rebuilding them is not hard and if you do some looking, I have a post here where I documented how to rebuild one.

 

ok, I won't be able to jack it up and check until tomorrow. but this all makes sense. the guy I bought the car from said that it was sitting up for a year. the calipers are probably frozen. I need to check the entire brake system, rotors and all. I'll let you all know what I find!!

 

Hi dolomyte, in the UK, the earlier rear calipers have a bad reputation for doing this, there is a repair method but it's complex and expensive. Your best bet is to fit the later rear calipers, you'll need new pads to match. A brilliant car, good luck with it ! P.S. All respect to Thermo.

 

Martin, rebuilding the rear calipers is cheap. The kit is like $10 USD and the special socket is around $15 delivered to the house. In a lot of cases, you can reuse the software as the problem is not with the software, but with a joint between the operating cam and the body of the caliper. But, an hour with the caliper and all will be good. From then on, the cost of rebuilding a caliper is essentially free (unless you need a new rebuild kit because you were rough removing the old dust shield).

Granted, not everyone is willing to tear apart a caliper like I was. BUt, I like to play and see what is causing it to fail like it was.

 

Is there a link to a step-by-step how to rebuild?

Jon

 

Dolamyte, check out: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...fix-1-a-73065/

 

Do the newer style rears just bolt up to the existing bracket and attach to the cable without issue? It is almost the same to buy two of those then one of the old style . Never been a fan of rebuilding 'em myself unless the reman ones are horribly expensive.

 

Hiya, they're a straight swap, but you will need the later pads to match. Martin.

 

Just throwing my two pennethwoth in, I recently overhauled the brakes on my 2.2 x type, I had a similar problem with the e brake cable sticking, but repaired one calliper with an overhaul kit £12 and replaced the other side with a new calliper, £90 after I had done this I then found a seller on ebay that stocks new refurbs a pair for £120... sods law after Id done it but its worth a look on there before you buy if you can wait for a week for the part. with the strong dollar and pound at the moment the parts I got for the UK seem to be made for Jag in Portugal euro's with the exchange rate you can pick a bargain up. Good luck with it

 

Great thread gents, just got my two rear calipers done a week ago. $500 ($180 each plus labor) installed. I am certainly not as handy as Thermo and had to get them done.

 

Xerxes, if you are ever up in the DC area, let me know. I am sure we can get you taken care of in an afternoon. I am always up for helping a fellow member.