JAGUAR XFR MUTHALODE TASK GUIDE NEW AND POTENTIAL OWNERS
XFRS
I searched and although there are a lot of threads recommending the right parts and what to do there is not one single thread that has everything you need in one place for new and potential owners. I figured maybe it could be a go to sticky for new and casual owners not familiar with the brand or potential owners researching Jag’s; to the experienced that only need part numbers to do their thing. Because not everyone getting into a Jaguar knows how to take care of one. Especially if you come from owning Japanese cars. IMO this is why this forum is hemorrhaging apoptosis with threads of failures, issues and maintenance. Moderators we should make a sub-folder on each of the models called Maintenance and Issues for those type of threads. As much enjoyment I get out of my Jaguar, it hurts a little to see all these owners struggling to keep up with their cars because they didn’t know something. You could spend months looking for this info and not find it or have the time to read it all.
There are some cars where preventive maintenance is good but not necessary (I.E. Toyota) and you can just wait until something breaks and then replace just that part. This is because Toyota actually engineers more capacity in their individual part families so if something is not running optimally and over-stressing another part family then that stressed part has extra capacity and can usually still survive. They have lowered the bar somewhat over the years and don’t do this as much as they used to. Then there are other cars where preventative maintenance is the only way to own it because everything is at the same engineered capacity level. So if one part family is over-stressing another they all fail one after another in a cascading failure pattern because there is no extra capacity engineered into the supplemental part families. When you replace one part that already failed, usually the other parts in the car are of similar life and strength left and the new part will put a lot more stress on the old parts that were just barely hanging on and break them. Have you ever went to a shop to fix one thing and another seemingly unrelated part fails one after another? This is why. This is also why you replace associated parts when you replace a failed part. You are getting in front and cutting off of the future cascade of failures.
Jaguar is the latter. One part failure can send the whole car in a spiraling cascade of failed parts that will delete your wallet trying to catch up with. Don’t let that statement scare you, the O.G. Jaguar owners know what breaks when, so we just replace part families before it fails on a schedule. I’ll tell you why we know that for sure in a second. Now that you are reading this, you will be armed with the same knowledge. Start saving for these services! Plan and budget them into your regular ownership costs. You don’t have to do all of it at once, you generally just have to get it done before the time the part is designed to fail.
First, beware of counterfeit parts. There are a lot of knockoff parts out there. Only buy from authorized dealers and vendors on driveline parts. Sometimes even the factory OEM parts are not the best choice; so getting OEM for everything is not the best course of action for everything. Sounds crazy? No, it is actually simple and I will explain why below. The car’s model and year will determine which way to go to get the best part for it. Side note: whenever you are searching for an OEM factory part, you must type “OEM Genuine” in front of the part name or number. Otherwise, you might get a knock off. Do not be fooled by OE or OE Genuine. Those are not factory parts they are knockoffs. It must be “OEM Genuine”. I have even seen the knockoff company named OEM or Genuine to fool you. These parts will not last and are in most cases worse than factory. There are some cases where the aftermarket part will last a lot longer than OEM Genuine.
There are places where getting a aftermarket knock off part is ok; I.E. interior, lights, cabin filter, or accessories on or in the car. There are definite places where you absolutely cannot cheap out, not even use another brand. Anything in the drivetrain, or in the steering and wheels/brakes/tires. I will let you know what specific parts those are. This advice goes for not only Jaguar and Land Rover products, but all luxury car makers.
Before we get into any of this let me tell you why we know for sure when to replace parts. There are some general guidelines you should know when owning anything with luxury and high performance like a Jaguar, Mercedes, BMW, Maserati, Porsche, Alfa Romeo ect. All car brands today have planned obsolescence built into them, so do not think any of these issues are Jaguar only. Manufacturers actually make much more money with planned obsolescence than selling you the car. That is the only way the dealers can make money on any Jaguar- even one that someone else sells. You will have to get parts for it eventually after the pre-determined wear rates pass. They are built to break on a schedule, some parts have a long replacement schedule and others have a short. That shouldn’t scare you, all cars today are literally built like this, some are worse than others. Knowing this we can avoid those parts that have short replacement schedules with an aftermarket part that is more durable sometimes never needing replacing again. Those parts will be pointed out throughout this guide. Manufacturers even engineer the repair process to replace the parts specifically to take longer so that the labor rate charge will be higher and make more money for their network dealerships.
A lot of the new owners will be millennial generation or younger, and that generation typically does not have access to learn about cars easily so don’t feel bad if you don’t know how to keep a high performance car running well. This thread will teach you. You can open your phone now to the calendar app and start putting in your calendar these service items and appointments that will remind you of what to replace when. Your reminder will go off, you will do the right thing at the right time and you will have stress free decades and hundreds of thousands of miles of driving pleasure. Also download the Jaguar XFR Workshop Manual to your phone and computer. It’s a good guide to go by when your vehicle is being serviced by you or your specialty mechanic.
Every 5 years or 50K miles from date of manufacture, these need to be performed on ANY gas car:
Find a specialist for your specific car in your area. Never take the car to anyone else once you have them work on it. This tip will save you so much time and money if you heed it. Ask them if they will install OEM grade or better parts if you bring them in. Some shops will not do this and you can call around till you find one that will. The mechanic there will learn the idiosyncrasies of your vehicle the more you take it to them and they will figure out what it needs faster and more accurately because they work on it regularly and they will know what has been done and what hasn’t to rule out problems faster. So when problems do come up they can find it faster and they can also haggle and get things from the dealer on your behalf better than you in most cases should you need the dealer. A lot of shops don’t know what is wrong so they will tell you replace a litany of parts without doing the proper diagnosis and enie meenie miny moeing it until they get lucky because they don’t have the time to research your particular car. Save your sanity and wallet and only go to the specialist who knows your car. Even if initially no one works on your car in your area, find a reputable shop and keep going there for all your needs, they will become the Jaguar specialists if you keep going there.
· Coolant Flush- OEM Fluid or Engine Ice or Evans waterless coolant is non corrosive and does not cavitate like coolant can and form gas pockets that overheat your engine and doesn’t build too much pressure to blow seals. You have to blow out all coolant and have it completely dry if you switch to waterless. You should keep a little bottle of this in the trunk if you do switch as you cannot go to any auto parts store and get some more. Also delete plastic so you don’t have leaks.
· Power Steering Fluid Flush- OEM or Top Tier Brands like Redline, Amsoil, Royal Purple
3. The transmission has OEM paper clutches that break apart and flow to the trans cooler that will clog with the paper material and make the transmission overheat. It overheats, and things start going south quickly. So clean the transmission cooler for debris inside and outside and bent heat fins.
or https://www.ebay.com/itm/295576712394?_skw=jaguar+xfr+6hp28+exedy+stage+2+clutches&epid=1327020227&itmmeta=01JFAP86WTDGJ036A2TFM09CZ9&hash=item44d1beb4ca:g:QRwAAOSwkdtmAdBy&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKl6k5AsaD7H41w%2F61i1J%2Fcezmf%2BoDc%2FAddHnI9hdS6osEwbMisqBvyalfUC038sc0ryckr3Kkg0uKaDPyCRGl%2Fhlb7TwhWSDLvzG0hAuZ%2Bg8rFPubT%2FTNICSO4M3%2FWh3MyxEfA5u5E8wwMEBW7hQfNqWrAN1kmdarQj1xJVduHPBogBVksV7c8jd3Fm%2BPk1PC6sk%2FcJaWYJlViF7e3NMD%2Fx9YcjvwBirKa1ruG1kUG%2FrDEnd2ostrnu%2ByKUEEn%2FXfrvkDWDWSAs7qEd7T%2FAzNig%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR77uoNb6ZA to replace OEM paper. Replace
and https://www.ebay.com/itm/322907793723?_skw=jaguar+oem+6hp28+bushing+kit&epid=6010469572&itmmeta=01JFAPJZ6AZK74X6WK8MXMJN3Y&hash=item4b2ecde93b:g:SAQAAOSwc~laHGje&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlxZN%2FHAF99bksenM%2B0DfMSnin4pEeZdXBbNJSyT7lOLXbbSKYuON26AOQ%2FBvQd3V0fjJm1fsboXJhdJ%2BqwYT4ozd1fzK%2FdR3l16yQF0AS8T6DrXNJ1cv41m30kOKfLMcvqbitAfyYxAcDaafEFaJv91DFxhw9HGlC8Az9vnzKQHLh3UHwOJcbjynQp6RXXLnSYvuU32ptO9l0BRy3uXYwlUVbV2stWfQE37F5hfsKevEPHHO6nGkZ2r9QsdbXj%2FnvO3GRXsBtpt2yV22gJlKKo%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7rzy9b6ZA. ZF makes an https://www.ebay.com/itm/165538603601?_skw=zf+6hp28+sonnax+solenoid+kit&epid=217937961&itmmeta=01JFAQMJ55QX1S9GRRQG63441Y&hash=item268adea251:g:gr4AAOSwlnRirP2f&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAABAHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKk0vmVRCuW5FTeOmWsWZ2H9k%2FOn1pq2M16LvBQwY%2BgxrcqLpp1JqSoiltbuTKopjxtp9WEs%2Ba4OSMDDbuV9Bd6RWGAdk6FiX9GmnYk837dPY7L2YWsBxAeu7k%2FyszX3wYBc2BanbiwXHpxYmlZfs%2BWVxLvejy6XqsGGyaiz6nmtFeN80C2PMVbaHtb8JeXZe82IbNd6ZBkUwlKV8E2ZKD66ynV3PHt4f%2B7fFMJNAIe1iQKymnnobC7xAq1GIPOVnOsQQogaHSh4Va%2FxfTIjILkI%2Bd2ayU0mCf%2Frpm9Mmk2J8SqWXMyqvUG38GYIuRYRlP4%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-ii0tf6ZA
· Timing chain tensioners need upgrading from factory plastic to factory metal yrs 07-13
· Check Catalytic converters for clogs
· Straighten out the fins on your heat exchangers and blow out from the back any stuck debris in the fins with power washer.
· Check all the lights inside and out, replace any burned out.
· Clean and oil the air filter if you have a K/N.
· New Serpentine and Supercharger belts- OEM, Continental or Gates makes best ones
· Grease wheel bearings, ball joints, lubricate pulley bearings with Interflon on accessory belt and change all belts.
· Clean underbody, remove rust and treat any steel with ceramic protective coatings and coat with Raptor to keep your body free of rust before it becomes a problem later. Jaguars have some subpar untreated steel from India underneath them even though they are made from mostly aluminum. Subframes and cross braces particularly. Out of all the coatings the ceramic is the best performing over time.
· Last non-specific advice when just getting your car, place your VIN into a mycarfax site to see if your car has all the recalls preformed on it. These are free from the dealer to get them fixed.
Every 10 years or 100K mi all the 50K things need re-applying and some more things need to be replaced:
· All Fuel Injectors (Direct Injected Engine)- Cryo Treat these
· Spark Plugs- Cryo treat these too
· Fuel Filters
· Aux Intercooler pump
· 02 sensors (Upstream/Downstream)
· Mass Airflow Sensors
· Replace differential clutches and motor for the torque vectoring. High torque electric motors don’t usually last longer than 10-15 years before going kaput.
· Replace intake pipes (factory cracks) VEIZU has a silicone replacement that doesn’t heat soak like metal one.
· Engine Mounts OEM
· Transmission Mounts OEM
· Suspension Bushings OEM or Powerflex regular. Powerflex makes hard racing ones, but they increase NVH.
· Differential Bushings OEM.
· Subframe Bushings OEM
· If you bought the car that has rusted subframes or braces under the car; at this point replace them, just have that new part stripped and ceramic coated or Cerakote baked before you put it on. It will never rust again. Ceramic is non-corrosive even with salt on the roads, and will protect your steel from degradation. This goes for any new part on the outside of the car that is made from steel.
AJ133 5.0L S/C ENGINE
This engine needs the highest quality parts on critical items. Do not deviate on these parts at all. Some of these parts are under immense pressure and heat the entire time and they will not last if they are not made well. Don’t think in terms of expensive on these parts because if you skimp on these parts mark my words it will cost you exponentially more later. Think in terms of Longevity/Efficiency/Performance. Just remember buying good parts in the engine IS saving money not just in labor and time but fuel economy, diagnostic fees, stress. Name brand does matter in this case.
For the Injectors, ethanol in the fuel can cause the lubrication to be stripped out of the injector parts and can cause locking. E85 cars have to run an injector lubrication additive because of this. Ethanol also is corrosive to metal. Also heat breaks down the parts as they are under 2000+ PSI fuel pressure and have intense combustion heat. You put all three of those together and you can get locked up injectors. You should think of it is a normal wear item on a DI engine.
You should plan to change them out about every 10 years or so to keep lockup from happening in the future. You should replace your fuel filter as well every 10 years or so as well. Its under the passenger side rear seat under a circular cover. This will keep the gunk in fuel from clogging your fuel system and causing issues. Two more items you should change out every 10 years is the upstream and downstream 02 sensors (2 each 4 total). Make sure they are DENSO brand or BOSCH. Do not skimp out on these critical parts. The other parts are MAF Sensors DENSO only. Don’t forget spark plugs. Denso Iridium or NGK Ruthenium or BOSCH Iridium.
Make sure you use Bosch injectors. Never use knockoffs or off brand injectors. This is a place you cannot go cheaper on. Lockup will eventually happen on all DI engine'd cars. Every third tank of fuel I use Lucas Fuel Treatment to clean and lubricate the injectors to keep them tip top. It’s not a matter of if but when. Heat and pressure will break any part no matter what it is made out of. It’s a machine, therefore it wears down. Using bad fuel will accelerate this wear due to lack of detergents and lubricants. Top Tier Gas and Premium Fuel only.
Side note, if you do lots of short trips with the car and do not drive it hard, you will have significant carbon buildup in the intake manifold. That type of driving accelerates carbon buildup in DI cars. Be sure to check that because it can blow your engine if not caught in time. Also if your car has intermittent issues shuddering, it can be a clogged catalytic converter. The cats can melt and get clogged if the things above go bad and cause a lean AFR for too long. Most likely are fuel injectors. Problems begat problems.
Also if you have your car low on fuel all the time, it uses the fuel to cool the in tank pump that is used to start the car. It can burn up the pump faster if you don’t keep fuel in the tank enough to cover the pump.
Change out your timing tensioners with the newest OEM kit if your car is 09-13. I believe 14 and up have the good ones from the factory. Search threads here for more info.
Change the plastic bleeder screw on the top left of the motor for a $10 brass screw. Under the radiator and motor shown below, replace these plastic screws with two brass petcock screws under the radiator and a brass screw under the motor. When these fail, you will smell coolant, but not know where it is coming from. They can blow your motor and you won’t even know it was there if failed completely.
Radiator Pressure Release Petcock
under radiator
Motor Petcock
under the motor
Change out all the plastic coolant pipes and thermostat out of the engine with metal replacements. Make sure to clearance the orifices in the metal part with a drill bit and clean and flow test them to make sure they pass coolant at the right flow rate before you put them on. Also order the factory rubber seals to replace the cheap ones they come with. When the OEM’s crack and go bad, you have no warning it happened and your car will not let you know soon enough to shut off the engine. If you see the red coolant low or overheat message pull over immediately and get a tow although it is probably too late. You need to do all these plastic coolant modifications as soon as you can. Search threads here for more info.
Change out the S/C isolator coupler with OEM. It fails. The aftermarket hard plastic one also causes problems due to not having shock absorption. It needs to have some shock absorption. Search threads here for more info. You will know yours is bad if you turn off the stereo, roll down your window and shut off the car. It will make a knock sound when it stops. We need one made in Urethane or Sorbothane to really fix the issue, otherwise keep replacing with OEM.
Your plastic OEM intake pipe bakes from the radiator heat and cracks introduces air in the system past the MAF sensor causing drivability problems (spuddering and such). VIEZU makes a silicone XFR intake to replace it that will not crack in the future.
JAGUAR OWNERS APPROVED PART NUMBERS for XFR (DON’T DEVIATE)
OTHER BRANDS ARE MIDGRADE OILS WITH MIDGRADE BASES. THE ABOVE COMPANIES HAVE SUPERIOR BASES AND ADDITIVES TO KEEP CARBON FOULING TO A MINIMUM WITH REDUCED WEAR. THE OTHER BRANDS WILL WORK BUT HAVE MIDGRADE PROTECTION. HIGH MOLY OILS REDUCE CALCIUM DEPOSITS IN THE ENGINE. REDLINE IS THE BEST IN THAT REGARD AND HAS THE HIGHEST SHEAR PROPERTIES OUT OF ALL THE OILS OUT THERE. IT ALSO REDUCES OIL BLOW BY - ITS WHAT I USE.
TRANSMISSION
Transmission Cooler is on the driver side of the front bumper (USDM) in front of the wheel. It gets clogged from paper clutch material. Be sure to clean it out. If transmission gets over 207 degrees F it causes failure. The auto transmission stock paper clutches is one place where I would not go with the OEM part. I would use the metal ones by Raybestos or the ones I use are EXEDY stage 2 clutches from the Ford 6R80 transmission. ZF who makes the JLR 6HP28 and transmission also made the Ford 6R80 with the same exact internals. They directly swap out with each other. The only differences are the case and the TCU is internal on JLR and external on the Ford. This is great because the mustang guys build their 6R80’s with clutches and billet parts to handle 2000HP and those parts directly swap into our ZF6HP28’s with no modification. The ZF 8HP70 8 speed in the 2012+ cars does not have any parts for it for modification. So if you are going to build one of these cars to a wild power number use the 2010 XFR (has more metal in the cooling system from the factory more than any other year)
Someone makes an aluminum pan for this transmission, but it isn’t necessary to use it. What is necessary is to ONLY USE THE FACTORY FLUID and filter. ZF Lifeguard 6 fluid, 6 quarts, and factory plastic pan has a filter built in. I have heard the MERCON LV Ford fluid will work too no problems. This fluid needs to be changed every 50K miles or else your transmission will start to eat itself and fail catastrophically. Other brands or performance types of fluids will cause it to malfunction over time.
The other thing that goes bad on these are the seals. There is a rectangle seal in the transmission called the mechatronic seal. It is plastic and cracks from heat and pressure. You will know your transmission has a cracked one because it will lurch the car forward on a 2-1 shift when you come to a stop. On ebay there is a guy who sells these seals made out of billet Aluminum. Get that one because even if you replace your cracked one with a new plastic OEM one, it will keep cracking every 30K miles or so until you get fed up paying someone to replace it and get the metal one. There are other seals that need replacing as well, look up 6HP28 seal kit, bushing and solenoid kit and it will show you a bunch of parts. The bushings also go bad on these and you can get new bushings from ZF or SONNAX for it if you are rebuilding yours.
The valve body is the last thing that needs maintaince. You will need to get all new solenoids for your transmission by the 100K mile mark and once back together with all these good parts will shift like a dream again. VEIZU has a reprogram for your transmission to shift better and faster than stock once you are done with your refresh. It will last as long as you keep servicing it therefoward.
The only maintaince you will need after all that is fluid, filter and seal kits every 50K miles afterward.
DIFFERENTIAL
The stock differential in the XFR is a 3.31 ratio torque vectoring diff. It gets hot on track and can overheat easily. 70W140 gear oil, replace every 50K miles and check the breather for clogs. Every 100K miles will need clutches and probably electric motor for the torque vectoring part. High torque electric motors usually do not last longer than 10-15 years. Axleshafts are weak and can snap with stock power with sticky tire.
CHASSIS & SUSPENSION
Good idea to check for rust, worn shocks, play in wheel bearings, all worn bushings and bearings whenever you have the car on the lift. Your swaybar end links and torsion bar bushings will probably need replacing often before 100K miles. The Gueebo joints goes bad at the 100K mile mark (rubber isolator between diff and propshaft and transmission and propshaft) and the carrier bearing support in the middle of the propshaft. Too much play in the carrier bearing support can cause driveline vibrations. Jaguar will only sell you the whole shaft, so either fix the bearing support or get a one piece carbon shaft from Driveshaft Shop will do for probably the same price as stock getting rid of the carrier bearing.
If you drive your car in winter salt have the underbody washed often. Remove all rust and treat the steel with a ceramic paint or raptor coating to prevent rusting out. If you don’t do this it will rust till it is unrepairable and the rear subframe is like $5,000 from JLR. Wire brush and paint anyone?
JLR uses Bilstein B4 shock from the factory on all iterations of the XF. Great thing about Bilstein they have lifetime warranty on all their shocks. You can send them in to get fixed for free if yours are bad. If you send them into the motorsport division you can get them revalved to higher damping setting if you are modifying your car. If you are DIY your setup, OHLINS racing valve parts can swap onto Bilstien shocks because they are the same diameter shafts and tubes. KW makes an adjustable spring perch for the stock B4 shock if you want to lower the car or set it up for HPDE track driving. Do a search about that if interested in learning more.
Can’t help you there. Just kidding. The ECU usually does not go bad on these cars but Batteries! The culprit to most 85% of electrical issues on Jags IMO are to do with the battery and alternator interface. This chronic low voltage wreaks havoc on all the electrical systems in this car. If I can get you to understand from an Degree’d Electronics Engineer, please understand chronic low voltage will fry electronics quicker than high voltage.
Using the wrong battery type will cause you chronic problems with Jaguar’s. You need a good alternator, preferably one rebuilt with a slightly higher than stock amperage at idle with a LiPo4 Lithium battery. Braille and Antigravity make good Lithium batteries too. Stay away from Optima on a Jaguar XF. Lead acid get to hot or cold they won’t charge or if they go under a 11.8 Volts they are no longer good. I have had lead acid go out in less than a year with my car that is garage kept and has a smart trickle charger. Apparently I have read the AGM style battery needs more juice than the XF is programmed to give to it and it will have lower voltage than it is supposed to over time. Jaguar’s all need a smart battery tender when parked at home. It should be sold with one built into the car with a plug in the wheel well. Would solve 80% of the issues. Check your alternator amps with a tester every 50K miles. Test the battery. Should read 12.6V with the car off and 14.8V on. If your battery is not between 4F-122F degrees then lead acid will not charge. Lithium is 32F- 113F degrees or it will not charge. So if you are in a cold climate, you probably should not use a Lithium battery because it doesn’t work well in the cold. If you have a lot of stereo and screens in your car, aftermarket coil igniters, Standalone, ect you might want to consider a
on the battery in conjunction with the high alternator.
If the ground connection of the chassis or the engine goes bad in your XF due to rust or corrosion, you will face all sorts of electrical issues, including battery light illuminating in the dashboard. The alternator relies on the ground connection of the engine to function properly. When the ground is bad, the current supply from the alternator will be reduced or may fluctuate. Additionally, in rare cases the contact between the engine block and the alternator can also go bad due to corrosion.
You can check the quality of the ground connection in XF by doing a conductivity test between the negative terminal of the battery and the engine. Take a multi-meter, change its settings to ohms symbol. Touch one probe to the negative terminal of the battery, and the other probe to any exposed metal part of the engine. The reading should be at or very close to zero ohms. Do the same between the negative terminal of the battery and exposed metal part of the alternator.
If the conductivity test fails, check the condition of the ground connections in your XF. Inspect the connectors of the ground cables (battery to body, body to engine) for any signs of rust or corrosion. Clean the contacts with a sandpaper or wire brush. You may also have to remove the alternator and clean the ground contact area on the alternator and on the engine block.
Furthermore I have seen instances of the actual battery and alternator cable corroding to the point the entire wire no longer conducts electricity. You can see this easily if your alternator measures the right volts but the ECU does not register the same number with your OBDII scanner. Then it probably is a bad ground or the cable itself has corroded. So the first thing would be to sand the cable connector and ground connection and bolt it tight. If that does not improve it, the cable is probably bad. I have seen cables and wires disintegrate into powder with heat and corrosion. In certain climates if your car is having issues when all the hard parts are good, you probably need to replace the chassis harness. It can and does happen. I have a Lexus that has that problem now. Its also 30+ years old.
Battery terminal corrosion can cause low voltage too, if you live in a climate that white scale builds up on the battery, clean off the terminals and leads with wire brush and coca cola, clean & screw the clamps tight, and spray a red protective battery coating on the terminals to keep them corrosion free.
If your XF is having rough running issues, and the voltage is low or has bad grounds, fix these first. You are literally killing your car with low voltage. If you go more than 7 days without driving your Jaguar, the battery is probably close to half dead. Try to always keep it plugged in and topped off. Once you have solid battery/alt/grounds, then go to the fuel system to get it running right. Rule out the fuel system, check for carbon deposits in the intake, check MAF sensors and 02 sensors, then check if the catalytic converter is clogged. If it still is running bad, check the wire harness for damage to the wires or clips. Pull CEL codes. Research those codes.
OEM Battery # C2D61169 but recommend LiPo4 Lithium instead if your in a warm climate with a really good smart battery charger wired in permanently. Just plug it in plug it in.
off amazon for less than $25. Torque Pro cellphone app can do basic diagnose check engine codes and clear them with the reader. Intermediate users can get
OBDII computer. Change battery, reset modules, program keys and such. Advanced users get a laptop (Win10) and get JLR’s https://www.ebay.com/itm/225748860049?_skw=jaguar+SDD+CABLE&epid=17062871954&itmmeta=01JFASM04XCG7555PGWFJHGW9N&hash=item348fae3c91:g:jPgAAOSw0fpmgu2e&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKm%2BTKejuYbia2qMDNZOX7zJfvw7Fa%2FerTtCjYU4m78PgtdsRlcCz6n8k2RDObyrAFnYojGyZBgjavpXDcOrdLwOsoFxVhLfC9Xa%2FyUieVN8HV%2Bz6Qcs66Zc2Ufjk%2Bh6rnAR%2BPtjEGJqJ%2Bq1cg1ivNsIGqHSeP4hvQUE8ERCKpL5nh%2BmJdwH6LRpp0NrapE2Gw155Ysr0jS%2B6urX38s5vHqfoinaEHywgA30Hz0W3UWtyvjz5tOzNEqrKPuPVeyo9s3OhGaMkfkrzD1plYqbLNrwchv9jBM81MVuvVP0apw7xg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBM4ILQ2fpk / https://jlridssdd.com/ if you know what you are doing.
Why if you are not working on the car why do you need this? Well, I am glad you asked! There will be situations where you will need to know exactly what code is being thrown and what is the probable cause for the code. Then you can go to a website like ALLDATA for pros and Repairpal or similar for regular people and look up the cost estimate in hours for the repair. Ask the mechanic what is their hourly shop rate and then multiply that by the estimated hours. Now you know exactly what they should charge you before they even open their mouth. You can even call ahead of time to know what the shop rate is and know the bill $$ before you set a tire in their shop. Now when extra charges show up, you can drill them why the bill does not reflect the repair honestly and have good ammo for proving your case. In most cases it isn’t warranted, although sometimes on older cars things are rusted and take longer than usual to finish. This keeps thousands in your pocket over time.
is the best quality. There are so many knockoffs here I cannot confidently recommend anything else. Moog which typically are really good, have bad ratings on the Jaguar wheels so how do the knockoffs fare? Always replace the bearings on the whole axle when replacing bearings. Ideally you will do all of them if one is bad. When you replace one failed part, usually the other parts in the car are of similar life and strength left and the new part will put more stress on the old parts and break them. Have you ever went to a shop to fix one thing and another fails? This is why. This is also why you replace associated parts when you replace a failed part. You are getting in front and cutting off of the future cascade of failures.
The tires are the only thing keeping your 4500lb death missile from hitting anything and keeping you and your family safe. I never skimp on tires. Bad tires ruins the entire experience with the car too.
Michelin PS4S or AS4- Best all-around all weather performance, best treadlife, and quiet too
Firestone Indy500 - Fantastic tire. Great Dry and Wet traction, decent life and quiet and cheapest!
Nitto NT-01- great endurance track tire- one of the best for the $, does not fall off like other tires
Nitto INVO- good at everything, decent tread life and price
Yokohama S Drive- Mediocre traction dry, good in wet weather, good tread life, decent price
Yokohama A052- Fastest street tire I have driven on, short life, loud, expensive
Toyo RA1- Good tire for track and street, dry and wet and inexpensive great tread life on track
Toyo RR- Best track only slick for the $$ w/great traction and better treadlife and Half price as Hoosier R7
Toyo R888R- Excellent traction one lap, heats up too fast and falls off. Don’t recommend.
BFG G-force All Seasons- Great traction, great treadlife, loudest tire I have used; these drone in the car
Falken Azenis 615- Good traction on street, bad treadlife and loud but good price.
Dunlop- mediocre traction and low tread life, loud and expensive.
Continental- IMO worst I have used, very subpar on sidewall cuts, treadlife some of the worst I have used. Louder than others in the cabin and 4K miles a set is atrocious with correct tire pressure and fresh alignment with no peeling out at all on a 500tw tire. Went through 3 sets of these in 15k miles. AVOID
The stock front brakes have 380mm X 36mm rotors with twin 46mm piston slide lock calipers with steel pistons. They have decent power and heat capability for street use but HPDE track use you will run out of brakes quick.
The stock rear brakes are 376mm X 28mm rotors with single 21mm slide lock caliper with steel pistons. These have inadequate thickness and size and will wear out faster than the fronts.
RS slotted G3500 High Carbon Rotors
Centric makes a high quality solid rotor front and rear for the stock setup.
Unfortunately, would not recommend Brembo components period. They have an exceptionally short wear rates compared to any other brand. Their subpar metallurgy (on purpose) are designed to be finished when the pads are which if you remember are too thin and small- wearing very fast. One single 20 min HPDE session on track from brand new can crack a set of these. Would not recommend ever using these unless you like to burn money to see the pretty light it makes.
Would not recommend any cross drilled rotors either. Solid or slotted only. Our cars are way too heavy to use Drilled; will crack every time, all the time, its just a matter of time; don’t burn your money on these. Don’t even think of going on a track with drilled. I smell burning money already! If you are looking at a set of rotors not listed here make sure they are G3500 grade high carbon and have the large vanes for air to cool them solid or slotted.
Once you have selected a good rotor setup for your needs, Send the rotors off to be cryo-treated. Doing this aligns and organizes the grain in one direction and de-stresses the iron, increasing it’s ability to hold heat and reducing wear due to increased hardness. You can expect 2-3 times the life out of the same rotor. No one will do this for you. Remember planned obsolescence? Yeah that is going on here. Spending the time and a little bit more $ to do this is like getting 3 sets of rotors for the same price as one set. Does this sound like a deal? It’s like printing money in performance car. Put it this way, if you are spending $800 on a set of rotors every year, Imagine getting three years out of the same set by spending a little extra. Worth it? Absolutely, Just need to plan ahead to have them already ready and treated before your current set wears out.
If you really like your car, there is a process called HVOF that will apply a WC-10Co-4Cr coating on the rotor that makes the iron surface harder than any race pad. This effectively eliminates rotor wear completely. Cryo treated, this rotor would be the last one you need on the car for life even racing it on track with aggressive pads. Porsche uses this on the Cayenne brakes and of course they engineered it to wear out faster. Why? Say it with me, “planned obsolescence! Yay!” How can they make money on these if they don’t wear out?
It almost does not matter how high these fluids boil at because the stock calipers use regular rubber seals in the pistons that will melt around 250F. I am working on a High Temp silicone seal that can increase that to 450F. I am also working on getting a seal set made out of an new material that can handle 650F. That would be ideal. I already made a set of Titanium 6L4ALV brake shims in 0.050” thickness to help slow that thermal transfer. As well as Titanium Pistons so PM me for info.
Titanium Shims
Titaninum Shims
Titaninum Pistons, and Steel. Can you guess which ones are which?
You will need two brake sensors when you change your brake pads. Single Front Sensor C2P12722 and Single Rear C2D2976.
WHEELS
Stock OEM threads and lugs are good but ARP Studs and forged steel knurled lugs are what is strongest. Don’t use tuner aluminum nuts. You don’t want your wheels coming off. Once you have this locked down pick a Flow Forged wheel or Forged wheel. The reason is the stock Jaguar Nevis Wheels are very fragile and will crack and split with the shallowest of potholes. I cracked one of my wheels and split the tire on a 1” deep pothole. It could have been the Continental tire, because I have never had this issue with any other brand of tire before or after Continental. I went through three sets of these tires before I vowed never to buy them again. If you track your car, get a mono-block forged wheel. That is the strongest wheel made. A 2-piece is heavier but you can replace just the lip or just the center if it gets damaged.
THE LAST SECTION IS FOR THOSE THAT WANT TO MODIFY THEIR CAR WAAAAY PAST STOCK. OR THOSE OF YOU WHO BOUGHT A WHOLE XFR/XF-RS AND WANT TO USE THE WHOLE XFR/XF-RS. WANT TO DO A HPDE TRACK DAY? KEEP READING YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE.
COOLING. The arch-nemesis to any Jaguar R. They are designed beautifully but do not have adequate cooling for the amount of power and weight on tap. The induction system and differential are the first to heat soak then the brakes. So all your focus is on those areas to cool them to the point where a 20 min HPDE session won’t result in coming into the pits or worse.
The engine heat is directly connected to the supercharger, the engine heat bakes the intake pipes, the radiator heat heats the induction inlets and the supercharger heats the air as it compresses, and the intercooler heats the air to coolant temp because the engine coolant is going through the intercooler. Also the gears/bearings in the S/C are creating heat. The engine oil cooler is inside the “V” of the engine getting baked. The trans cooler gets clogged with paper clutches and overheats the transmission. The brakes will overheat the seals, pads and fluid and cause a soft pedal. The Differential overheats and stops working.
Heat kills parts. Remember this and you will do well by your car. Weight uses energy that needs to be accelerated braked and turned. My car with me in it is probably 4550lbs and the lightest in its class. The engine brakes and tires will take so much abuse trying to cope with it. You have to plan your mods about managing heat. Fortunately there are a lot of methods of cooling all of these, and when you have completed these cooling mods, you can enjoy your car on the street and track for years as you fly by and laugh as the BMW’s on the track get CEL and pull in to the pits.
There is only so much $$ and time a manufacturer is going to put into cooling. You have none of these restrictions. Parts are one thing, time is another thing that manufacturers don’t have a lot of. These cars are built in something less than 30 hours. They can’t afford to have things treated with processes that the parts sit for days. We can.
Lets start with the intake air coming into the grille. Intake air temp (IAT’s) in my car have heat soaked to over 200F degrees in the pits. That is insane. Ideal would be ambient temperature. The air filter inlets are going over the radiator. That heat is baking that air as it enters the filters. Then it goes through the intake that is directly over the radiator fan. Then it goes into the supercharger where the gear heat, compression and engine heat are transferred into the air. Then the heated air goes through the intercooler to then get the engine coolant run through it to make sure its super hot and then goes into the engine. So lets engineer this in reverse.
Lets move the intake from over the radiator to in the hood or side fender away from all the heat. We can use a inexpensive naca duct to do this. Then after the MAF we can insulate a dual walled intake pipe with aspen aerogel to keep that cool air cool. Now comes the tricky part. We need insulating spacers, to lift the S/C off the engine keeping that heat out of the metal. Then ceramic coat and epoxy aerogel to the bottom of the supercharger. Adding aerogel to the engine block below as well under the oil cooler. Now we can add a https://www.facebook.com/stiegemeierporting/videos/stiegemeiers-venom-cooler/552424358567832/ to cool the bearings. Now the engine heat is divorced from the supercharger. Then, we divorce the engine heated coolant from the intercooler, with a https://fiinterchillers.com/product/baffled-interchiller-tank/, and put insulation https://fiinterchillers.com/product/foam-insulation-sheet/ and https://www.ebay.com/itm/286050454488?_skw=line+insulation+ac&itmmeta=01JFCY30PFNXQJE9FTDPPQNT7T&hash=item4299ef8bd8:g:52AAAOSwI0xm3MNf&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKm5ntHhjcOsOu1MjbTfRWTN0%2F1PhoMiqqIBXflKiKdlLC3HB%2FB8UJfKXbPLFt1QVMReA5JD8BXjFvGA9d0daGmNzCcQ1ubgbA3NNw%2FYs8mDmNy4RdUta37MFu9pwPWSP0eT4AcPJ5zanuOgpbVp4RrJOLgDKVk2t9No2P8VEvxobcwWYm%2Be2p3SIOZmegkKDgPQwZJfooRtIx26VHjh0eygaDXRFUtwdywqX7Jg3a68HC7ldpXvVh12Y98zh8e8upU%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7yLjJ77ZA.
Then add an interchiller to the intercooler to cool the coolant below ambient. Now the engine coolant is divorced and the intercooler coolant is chilled. From here we can add water injection with a snow performance water injection system. This will dump heat loads on straights so the rest of the coolant system is not overwhelmed and can maintain below ambient IAT’s. At this point the heat soak is fixed and now we work on actually cooling the engine itself.
InterChiller
Upgraded radiators for the coolant, oil coolers, power steering fluid, transmission cooler, and adding a differential cooler is paramount. I run
, because it cannot cavitate nor have boiled gas pockets next to the cylinders that will overheat the block, and is lighter than water so it won’t put pressure on the seals or corrode the internals. It also has a much higher boiling temp.
When at the track or HPDE event, run a higher weight oil 10W30 Redline Racing or 5W30 XPR Royal Purple oil. The extra heat and loading from track driving will push the oil viscosity past the stock parameters and leave the engine under protected. Increasing the viscosity by one level will compensate for the extra heat to keep the engine properly lubricated running to redline for extended periods. When you go back to street driving, change it back to your REDLINE API SN/SM/SL LICENSED STJLR.51.5122 5W-20 FULL SYNTHETIC
Now the IAT, Engine and fluids can stay cool, we can move to the brakes. The best brake systems period are made by AP racing and Performance Friction. $$$$$ I am working on getting a 6 pot track setup for the XF from Paragon and it looks like there is a 8 pot solution in PB Brakes already. They look to be pretty good (much better than factory SPB) and hardy, and they are plug and play. There are brands I would not recommend like CIEKA, Stoptech, Brembo, unless you do absolutely no HPDE track driving whatsoever and need a pretty brake behind your wheels. The way you can tell which is good, is if you can change the pads from the top without taking off the caliper, has steel or Titanium pistons, and the most important part- high temp seals. Most BBK’s like the Brembo have rubber seals with aluminum pistons and subpar metallurgy in the rotors that wears out on you like one ply toilet paper. That’s like putting lipstick on a worm and calling it a supermodel. It won’t work period. Aluminum pistons will transfer that heat so easily into the fluid and the rubber seal melts as low as 250F degrees, not much above ambient. Brakes can get over that temp just driving in the mountains. I have seen so many Brembo calipers even bend from the heat of track driving. You’ll know yours are bending when your brake pads look like this->
Tapered Pad Wear
You will know you have Brembo rotors when new after one session on track for 20 min they look like this->
Brembo rotor 1 session
And your Brembo Calipers look like this->
. Differential cooler recommended, as stock does not have one. Suitable replacement Diff would be a Ford 8.8 from an Explorer / Thunderbird or Ford 9 in IRS differential with the OEM 3.31 gear ratio. Racing LSD from OS Giken called the Super Lock is the best LSD for all around performance. Driveshaft shop makes bulletproof axles.
Fashion some brake ducts. I want to get brake seals made for all of us that is high temp silicone for the stock brakes, I already offer a Titanium shim set and then use the highest temp brake fluid Torque700. Titanium has a low thermal transfer rating and we use it to block heat. You can have the Ti shims ceramic coated with the stock pistons to increase heat rejection. Now select a good tractable pad, preferably one that can handle over 1200F+ degrees for a HPDE track day, higher if you have mods and more power; Cryo treat your new rotors. If you have significant power over stock, then stock brakes will most likely be inadequate for this and I am getting a track brake system made from Paragon that we can enjoy without deleting the bank account. Track BBK’s are eye watering expensive when they can handle the heat loads of track driving. ($5K+ per axle) Most BBK’s cannot handle track heat loads. The Paragon kit should be just over $6K for all 4 wheels.
Once this is done, your car is HPDE Track Prepped. Now the tires have to be ready for the abuse. Track ready tires are listed above, and those can handle more abuse that will not overheat like an ordinary street tire will are listed. Putting them on some strong lightweight forged mono-block wheels will be the best case scenario. Now we can drive the car without worrying about what is going to let go first.
If this sounds like a lot, it is because it is. This is a big heavy car and any car in this weight class will have to do everything listed here to live and have no issues with HPDE track driving. Managing the weight creates intense heat. Engineer/Manage the heat= Years of enjoyment trouble free. Know going in what cannot handle the heat, will ensure you will not get your wallet deleted with repairs.
Now that we go through all of that, here are some interesting facts about the XFR and XF-RS.
Lowest weight in class @ 4350lb
Lowest drag cd in class @ 0.27cd for 1st gen XFR and .31cd for XF-RS. RS has no lift at speed.
XF-RS is 50/50 weight distribution XFR is 52/48.
Stops from 60mph in 109ft on stock Conti’s or Dunlops. Upgrade your tires improve your stopping.
Quarter mile in 12.1@114mph. Light bolt ons, Drag radials and tune can get to 11.4@119 and the fastest is a 10.9@125mph at the moment. If your mph is low you are suffering from heat soak and the car is pulling power. Apply cooling mods above and repeat.
Roadholding .79g with stock Conti/Dunlops. I have Indy500’s and registered 1.16g in a corner.
The tests of the XFR vs M5 and CTS-V the Jaguar was slightly slower. But the car is actually faster than both of them. The stock all season tires are so limiting that if the M5 is on Michelin PS4S and the XFR is on all season Continental DWS, it will lose by default. Same tires against those cars will show the XFR is actually faster stock. Get rid of the stock all seasons.
Now that all of you are now up to date on how to get the most enjoyment out of your XFR and XF-RS I sincerely hope all of you enjoy your Jaguar for decades to come. If you have read to this point, and think it’s not worth it and go with another platform, unfortunately its worse with other brands. V10 M5 has catastrophic engine bearing failure even driving easy on the street only. It’s not a matter of if but when. It also has a VANOS system that fails blows the motor. A Single brake rotor on a M5 (Brembo) costs $1000.00 each and can be junk in one 20 min HPDE session on the track from new. BMW’s in general have just as much trouble or more with water pumps failing. They have the plastic coolant issues too. With no metal parts available. AMG’s are blowing engines left and right, have water pump issues and plastic cooling woes also with no metal replacements. Search AMG or M catastrophic engine failures. They also have the same Brakes as the BMW (Brembo) that will delete your wallet. Alfa Romeo Gulia Quadrifolio has so many electrical gremlins that will make a BMW feel lonely. Mclarens overheat after one lap sometimes less and only have enough fuel for three laps. If you crack the windshield it almost totals the car. It costs over $20K to replace it. Batteries are deleted like a black man by LAPD. Ford GT350’s have a faulty oil filter that unscrews itself on track and blows the motor. Ford refuses to warranty it too. Porsche 996 Have a catastrophic Metzger engine flaw with the bearings that will brick your motor. C7 Z06’s have a overheating heatsoak issue on track, C6 Z06 LS7 have an oil starvation issue on track that will paperweight the motor faster than driving into a lake. They both have brembos too. I could keep going on and on. Ferarri F355 crack their exhaust headers from factory manifold flaws. NSX have glass engine/transmissions. Evo’s/WRX motors blow like bubblegum on Halloween. There are few “track ready” factory vehicles. You want a cheap track car go get a 85 CRX and engine swap it. It would probably dominate most of the cars above and be more fun.
I said all that to put into perspective that if you want to enjoy your Jaguar, like it was designed to, you can. You just have to know some things first and do some things to it and it won’t ruin your day. Because it is easy to fall for the BS hype of marketing and buy some other platform for it’s “track prowess” only to find out it was built to a world homologated mass production standard just like the car you are driving now and it has to do the same modifications but now those mods don’t cost hundreds of dollars each but tens of thousands to get it truly “track prepped” So enjoy what you have! Its good enough. The XFR doesn’t cost more than any of its competitors to get “track prepped” I promise you. The part replacements are three times cheaper too.
Now that you all know what you are doing, go out there and take down these other brands like fat kid through cake. You’ll have a blast doing it too!
My $2,000,000.02
XFR Race Car XFR Race Car XFR Race Car XFR Race Car
Side note: if you ever get a bill for more than $8,000 on your XF for engine work, check this out. AJ133 5.0L S/C Engine $7K back up and running. IF that is too much there is This Kit if you have someone else to do it. Either way you need a different opinion and shop IMO. See if there is a Eurocharged shop nearby to get the work done. Dropping in a new engine might be cheaper than fixing your old one. The new ones have the problems fixed already.
We have a upgraded blower available for our Supercharged Jaguars. Harrop 2300 TVS is a direct swap for factory. 20% larger than stock. You can use the factory belts, intercooler and pulley even so if your S/C needs replacing you can just upgrade instead of replace. Curious if anyone on this forum has already switched? More than power I am more interested in IAT being lower with less heat soak.
I have been investigating that the R2650 blower could be swapped for the 1900 we have and run it slower, which will result in a little more power, but more importantly half the heat input. This blower is 18% easier to turn than the 2300 and 15% larger. 25% more airflow. 4% more efficient and better sealing performance. I am hoping with the mods below we can get close to 800HP with close to ambient air IAT.
It's pretty bad when IAT's get that high the ECU pulled all the power out of the car. I was sitting in the pits of a racetrack when I really noticed it. The first runs was going about 82mph on the straight, the third run the heat soak was already 180+ degrees IAT and I only hit 60mph on the same track.
Car handles great, brakes were strong enough, the engine was great but the heat soak is an issue.
To combat this I have a plan to eliminate the source of the temps. I researched the problem extensively and found there are a few design flaws in this system. To fix:
-water-jet an ePTFE spacer to insulate the S/C off the block. Also have ports in spacer to add
.
-Replace the 1900 TVS blower for a R2650 blower and turn it slower to make less heat in the IAT charge while still making more power than stock.
-Epoxy Aspen aerogel to the bottom of the Supercharger to keep motor heat from baking it.
-Divorce the engine coolant with the supercharger heat exchanger and run a separate insulated tank with this add Piedburg pump.
-Add a interchiller to the intercooler and insulate the lines and possibly ceramic coat the intercooler housing with bigger intercooler radiator.
-Add a Stagemeyer Venom Cooler to the S/C.
-Run a Prius electric compressor on the system for the interchiller to have its own compressor.
-Have a dual walled insulated
made with ceramic coating and aspen aerogel inside the dual walls.
-Remove the stock intakes from over the radiator and find a different path side of the intake to the fender or straight through the hood with a dual
I plan on recording the intake temps as I do each one. Most of these are inexpensive. Some like replacing the blower are very expensive. Most are in the middle. The results of having ambient air intake temps are worth HP but more importantly the heat soak will not be prevalent like it is now. The car makes plenty of power as long as it doesn't get hot. It would be awesome to do a HPDE session for 20+ min on a race track and not have any power pulled by the end of it with ambient IAT. I think that is more than achievable.
This is AMAZING, thank you so much! New 2014 XFR owner. I've done a lot of research and am ready to work on this car and get it fairly bullet proof, but having all the Things in one place like this is just awesome. I daily drive the XFR, and a '96 Vette with moderate mods. The one is effortless and profoundly powerful, the other is rowdy and visceral--perfect combination for me. The XFR is an amazing car and a joy to drive. I'm not afraid of the proactive maintenance, just need to get in front of it (and stay in front of it). I bought it to drive it, I drive about 40K miles per year.
