What type of spark plugs are recommended for my 2003 x type 2.5L? What is the proper gap for them? And, does it have plug wires? I haven't been able to find them anywhere. How do I replace them? The car I bought has 87K on it and is missing, I thought plugs and wires was a good place to start.

 

This is the first thing I did when I got my car was plugs and intake gaskets (figured might as well since I have it all apart anyway). I got NGK plugs. As far as the wires go your looking at a pretty penny to replace them as they are not your typical wires...I believe they are coils if I am not mistaken...thought they were expensive but I didn't replace mine

 

rjcl, first off, welcome to the forums. I think you will find lots of useful information here. But, we do ask a simple thing from you though too. Please stop by the "New Member Section" and introduce yourself. We are quirky in that we like to get to know one another and you will see how this makes us a little bit different than most car groups on the internet. This will also give you a chance to meet those that make this place what it is. So, stop by, tell us a little bit about you and your kitty and go from there.

As for your question. First off, this car does not have "spark plug wires". It uses what is called coil on plug (COP). So, the engine has 6 coils, one for each spark plug, and the coil sits directly on top of the plug. There is a short rubber boot (about 6" long) that connects the coil to the plug. These tend to either work or not work. A quick check that you can do when you look at the COP is to look at the top of the coil to see if the clear top has any cracks (you see a crack, replace the COP as it will either be failed or will fail in the near future) and then to also check the rubber boot to make sure that it is not dry rotted. If the boot is dry rotted, you can sometimes find just the rubber boot to replace.

As for spark plugs, this is one of the few times that the expensive part is not what you want. There are lots of "multi-spark" plugs out there like the Bosch +4's, Splitfires, etc. Numerous members have proven that these plugs net no power gains for our engines and if anything, seem to cause more problems than they were installed to prevent. The key words you want to keep in mind is "double platinum". These should run you about $4 a plug. Members have had good luck with Motorcraft and NGK plugs for the motor you have.

As for your missing issue, it may be that you simply have a little bit of oil in the plug well and the oil is allowing part of the spark to jump to the block vice going through the plug. This will be obvious when you do the plug change as you will see some oil on the end of the COP.

As you get into this project, you are going to find that you will have to lift the intake off of the engine (it has an upper and lower portion, you only need to remove the upper portion). This is going to expose 6 o-rings. These are re-usable. Some people feel better replacing them every time. If you go this route, get the "intake seals" for a "2003 Lincoln LS 3.0L". They are the same part and you will find that the auto parts place will not have a listing for the Jaguar part. You can ask, but most will look at you silly. I would also recommend spending the extra $10 on 2 more o-rings. These unfortuantely will need to be gotten through the Jaguar dealership. They are the "IMT O-rings". If you look at the intake on the passenger side, you will see 2 black circles about 4" in diameter. There are you IMT (Intake Manifold Tuning) valves and the o-rings are known for deteriorating over time and leading to vacuum leaks and whatnot.

If you need more assistance, let us know. We can walk you through just about anything with this car.

 

Welcome to the forums. Hope you are enjoying your car and finding out how capable it is in Illinois winters!

You mentioned you have a miss and you have been given good advice on where to start. If the car is showing a check engine light get the codes read (Auotzone will do it for free) and post them hare. Someone will be able to help you further. As Thermo said, we are a very helpful group with a lot of people willing to help. Pretty much anything that can be an issue with our cars has been discussed here and can usually be diagnosed quickly. Or if you get the codes do a search here of the numbers and it will most likely show up in one thread or another. Hang in there. I'm sure you will be sorted and back running well soon.

 

The check engine light is not on, no codes. That is a positive, but I don't know what is causing it to miss. It does it only when under a load (i.e going up a medium size hill). The gas mileage is good, approx 25 highway. Doesn't seem to matter if the engine is cold or has been running an hour (so it doesn't indicate a weak coil and even if it did with no codes how would I know which one? I appreciate your replies and assistance. After I bought this car, everything on the web says that this is the worst of the Jag's. It is in beautifuul condition and I have always wanted a Jaguar. I have gone through a couple of tanks of gas so probably not old or bad gas. Sorry, just letting you know my thought process while trying to figure this out with my past experience mostly with fords.

 

Maybe try replacing the fuel filter and running some injector cleaner in your next ank. Also our cars are recommended to run on premium unleaded. Some members have said they have issues with running regular. I'm sure you'll get it sorted soon and congratulations on your purchase.

The earlier cars had some teething issues which for the most part were corrected by 2004-2005. They can be very good reliable cars that are cheap to buy if well maintained and adult driven. When you have some time surf around here and you can find everything you need to know about the car here-good and bad. One recommendation I can make if you do not know about the maintenance history is to change all the fluids in the car just so you will have a good baseline to start, especially the transfer case. Enjoy!

 

I have changed everything but transmission fluid and don't know about the transfer case. Is that like the "rear differential" in rear wheel drive cars? How do I change it and what fluid do I use? Thanks for your advice! Mine is a 2003 and I don't know what you mean by "teething" issues.

 

rjcl, if you look at purely numbers, yes, the X-Type is the second worst car that Jaguar has ever made with the number of problems (S-Type has more problems). But also keep in mine that the X-Type is also the most sold (by a long shot) of the Jaguars. So, as you can imagine, it is going to appear that there are lots of issues. With us, you can eliminate most of the problems and have a car that will give you many, many years of trouble free use. The exception to this is if you plan on going fast from light to light. Then, well, plan on having a very empty wallet as you will stand a high chance of replacing the transfer case every 30K miles to the tune of about $3000 a shot. The X-Type is a great cruiser, but if you are after good acceleration, it is going to cost you.

As for what the transfer case is/does, think of it like a differential, but it splits the power front to rear vice side to side. So, you have the tranny that sends power to the front wheels, then you have the rear differential that is getting power from the transfer case which is robbing power from the front wheels to be sent to the rear wheels.

Replacing the fluid in the transfer case is HIGHLY!!!!!!! recommended and changed every 15-30K miles (depending on who you talk to). As for changing it, the fill hole is trapped between the transfer case and the block of the motor. So, as you can imagine, refilling is not possible through that port unless you drop the transfer case out of the car. But, do not fret, we have found that you can either lean the car a little bit to give yourself the needed volume in the transfer case to put the fluid or you can place a valve on the drain hole and then refill that way. If you do a little bit of research, you will see a lot of talk about the various methods and what each entails. I am the one that came up with the radiator drain valve method. So, if you have questions about that, let me know.

As for "teething" issue, as with any completely new body style/car, there are going to be things that just aren't right. The teething issues are things like the transfer case being weak and the general lack of how to refill it when replacing the fluid (granted Jag says it is "filled for life", YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!), the e-brake lever sticking and resulting in warm rear brakes, vacuum leaks leading to P0171/P0174 codes, and other little oddities. But, this can be said of just about any vehicle made these days. The difference is, we know what the problems are and we have found ways to make a more permanent fix to them. Most of the teething issues are more nuisance things than anything. The transfer case issue is a bigger issue and we are still trying to figure out a fix for that (seems the bearings were overloaded from the factory during assembly, just looking for someone that will rebuild their transfer case then go hog wild to see if they can blow it up again, he he he).

 

Thermo, I feel better about my purchase after reading your post/reply! I love the look of this car and have always wanted a Jag. When I first drove it it had a roaring noise that seemed to come from the rear of the car and vibrated at highway speeds. I thought it was likely the wheel bearings and figured I could replace them just like I had on my Taurus. The seller/dealer said he thought it was the tires, I replaced the tires and it is smooth and quiet (except for the Jaguar growl).I am well beyond the years of jack-rabbit starts and enjoy a nice car and will take care of it. If I want to "hurry" I have an audi A6 with a 4.2L 40 valve car for that.
If you would be so kind as to lead me to the transfer fluid change I will breath easier! Do you know of a thread that explains strut/spring replacement then I will probably be good to go, they kind of clunk when hitting bumps at any speed and sound like mainly the front ones. Thank you for all of your help and I appreciate your willingness to share knowledge that you have. I look forward to being able to do the same as I learn this car as well.

 

rjcl, you have 3 methods.

1) you can jack up the front of the car and pull the drain plug on the transfer case. Once all the fluid is drained, you can set the driver's side down and get the last little bit of fluid out. From there, you will need to set the passenger side down on the ground too followed by raising the driver's side so that the bottom of the sill is at 24 inches off the ground (car will be leaning pretty good on the passenger tires). From there, you can add in 500 ml of fluid to the transfer case and that should fill the transfer case up to the fill hole. From there you can put the fill plug back in and lower the driver's side of the car back down.

2) One of the members created a fill rig that you pull the drain plug out and replace it with a check valve that he supplies. From there, you can plug in a fill rig and add the 500 ml of fluid from there and as you release the fill rig, the check valve keeps all the fluid in the transfer case. I seem to recall he was asking about $100 for the kit. If you do some looking, you will find reference to it.

3) You will need to get your hands on a radiator drain valve with a collar on the T handle. You will also need a 1/4" NPT to 1/2" NPT adapter (can be obtained from any hardware store). You will then install the valve into the adapter, using red loc-tite to keep things together. From there, you will need to grind off the hex part of the adapter to bring it in line with the threads of the adapter. At this point, you remove the drain plug from the transfer case, drain the fluid, and then install the radiator drain valve into the transfer case. From there, you can route some tygon tubing (9/64" ID as I recall, but check to see what works with the valve that you get, it should fit snugly into the collar) through the engine bay. From there, you can use a funnel and pour your 500 ml of gear lube down the tygon and once level stabilizes, close the drain valve and remove the tubing.

Keep in mind that the transfer case is supposed to use 75W-140 full synthetic gear lube.

As for strut/spring replacement, this car is just like any other FWD car. NOthing really special about this front end. So, don't worry.

 

Chris,
Thanks for the info. The "jack-up" method sounds horrible and I dont think my floor jacks go that high.
The check valve option sounds good but need to see the device before I buy into it. I am familiar with check valves as I am a research chemist with high pressure reactors in my past.
Your method sounds awesome but I cant get a picture in my head of exactly what the fittings look like. Do you have any pics of them before and after assembled?
I have replaced the struts in my old Taurus (a 2002) so I should be able to handle this then. Any suggestions on brands and suppliers?
Thanks,
Rick

 

It's easy. I did it with the emergency jack (not recommend, it finally slipped and dropped the car. Use a good floor jack). However, the transfer case oil change was actually pretty easy. Tilt it one side to empty it and the other side to fill it up. Get a fresh bottle of oil though and it is easier to fill with. I used Royal Purple. Also I would change the transmission fluid. I did that on mine with Castrol Import and it shifts a lot better now. My car has about the same amount of miles as yours.

 

rjcl, take a look at this pic:



If you look at the pic, you have both pieces there together. The top is the radiator drain valve with the collar that you need. You shove the tygon tubing into that collar. The bottom piece, you can see where I have already ground off the hex for the fastener, is simply an adapter that has 1/2" NPT threads on the outside and inside is 1/4" NPT threads. You go to a hardware store and asked for the 1/2" to 1/4" NPT adapter, the guy there will get you what you need. The picture there actually shows my first version of things where I went from 1/2" to 3/8" and then used a second adapter to go from 3/8" to 1/4". You only need the one 1/2" to 1/4" adapter.

This is roughly what it is going to look like once you get it installed:



Not a lot of room, hence why I recommend only using the one adapter. But, you can get the tubing into the collar with the valve open (the valve slides into the transfer case when it is open).

Any more questions, let me know.

 

Has anyone had any luck with the e3 spark plugs?

 

Thanks for the pictures! Not exactly what I had pictured in my mind, but exactly what you described. A picture is worth a thousand words. Can you buy the radiator drain valve at an auto parts store or do you have to get it off of an old radiator? Do you use teflon tape at the joints? Someone refilled theirs with royal purple, since there is some fluid left in the transfer case is it compatible?

 

Yea I mixed the Royal purple with whatever was in there. I think they all the synthetics should be compatible, just make sure you get the right weight (I forget what it was, I want to say 75-140). I would recommend getting the best gear oil you can afford. I found the tilt and fill method did the trick and didn't need any fancy pipe fittings. I think the most important thing is there is good fresh oil in there, however you get it done.

 

rjcl, when sealing up the valve, I would recommend using something with a good locking strength. Something like red Loc-tite is ideal. The reason why I say this is should you need to remove this valve in the future, you will be relying on the strength of the joint between the valve and the adapter. If the valve where to slide out and leave the adapter in place, then you will be forced to use something like an easy-out to get the adapter out then. Will teflon tape work. Of course. But, how much assurance do you want?

As for the valve, I bought it brand new at a local auto parts place (Pep Boys). You will probably need a larger store as the smaller ones do not seem to carry ones like what I picture.