Hey all, I just purchased a 2012 Jaguar XJL Portfolio as a daily driver with 55,000 miles. Service history isn’t perfect but better than the other XJ’s I was looking at. I drive 50,000 miles a year and was wondering what problems to look out for before 150k miles and what preventative maintenance I can do. Thanks!

Jordan

 

Hi Jordan and welcome. There are numerous threads about this so my suggestion is to get familiar with forum first as what you seek is in here!
.
.
.

 

You sir are correct, I've found numerous things after a couple hours on here! I must ask as I am still a tad confused about one thing. What plastic pieces are there that cause damage to the engine or transmission that I can have upgraded as soon as I get my XJ? Thank you again.

 

Jordan, the big piece I would convert from plastic to metal is a little transistion piece that goes from the back of the water pump to the oil cooler. This is known for failing catastrophically and it will fail such that it will split while under pressure but close up when the engine is off. Makes finding this leak hard unless you pressure test the system. The next group of piping is going to be on the driver's side o fthe engine bay. There are tons of small plastic lines that go from the water pump over to near the overflow bottle. These can be bumped and crack, leading to a loss of fluid.

 

Thank you very much Thermo, this will all immediately be addressed as well as a couple other things I’ll be doing for preventative maintenance.

 

Hello Jordan and welcome.
At the time of my retirement, I was covering 13 states and three provinces. While I truly love my XJ, I wouldn't dream of using it as a daily driver if I still drove that much.
In just three years, you'll have more than 200k on this car, and its residual value will be zero. While several members of this forum have indeed racked up big mileages, this platform is not known for longevity, and repairs are not cheap. There's also the issue of premium fuel, at a penalty of almost $1/gallon. A set of OE-quality tires will set you back more than $1k, can't be properly rotated, and they don't last very long. The list goes on.
Maybe think about an Accord, Camry or Maxima for your road warrior exploits, and save this unique and special car for occasional use. They won't be making any more of them.

 

Balto...thank you for chiming in with some advice! Something I forgot to mention but probably should have,, I just sold my 2021 Tesla Model 3 ($0 owed on it) for $50,000 and only spent $25,000 on this XJ. (Terrible car for any sort of long distance traveling, BTW. Just ask questions if you'd like to know more about the Tesla's) This leaves me with about $25,000 free cashflow for any repairs or preventative maintenance I may need. I have always been a luxury car owner, from Mercedes, to Audi's, to old 1950's-1960's classics that I also consider "luxury" vehicles. The one time I went and purchased a new Honda, sure it was a well put together car, BUT it didn't last me longer than two weeks before I sold it for quite the loss to go get another mercedes... I did own a 2017 Jaguar XE 25t which was built with superb quality, and the only problem I had over the course of 39,500 miles (car had a total of 62,000 miles however) I only did regular maintenance, and had to replace motor mounts, which was covered under warranty. This is the main reason I went to the XJ as it is definitely my favorite looking Jaguar, hell, car in general, to date. As always, thanks all for the responses!

 

I've seen a lot XJ's with more than 200K + miles & still performing reasonably well at Craigslist. As long as you go easy on your car, it will serve you well and be of good service to you in the years to come. 50K year, WOW!! that's a lot of mileage. To start of, If it was me, I will buy a jug/bottle of Jaguar coolant, at least 3 qt bottles of engine oil and a 12 oz bottle of brake fluid in case of an emergency while on the road. Just be on a look out, for every 10 gasoline fill ups, open the hood (bonnet) and take a quick glance if everything is OK inside the engine compartment, check the engine oil & coolant as well. Tire pressure & reserve tire pressure checked.

You stated your XJ has 55K miles on it, I would recommend have the brakes checked, 4 tires OK or in need replacing?, tires re-balanced & wheel alignment, check if there are leaks on engine & trans pan, fuel filter, air filter (every 30K miles replace), check serpentine belt & shock absorbers/air suspension,. Anything I've missed , I hope someone in here fills in . If everything seems OK, perform this check list again in the next 50K miles or in your case, the following year

 

2018XF25T: Thanks for the response! I am generally easy on my cars, but of course love to speed around once in awhile. Everyone always seems astounded that I drive as much I do! Work keeps me busy, and when it doesn't, I'm often visiting elsewhere around the country! I definitely planned to tend to all plastic parts mentioned above, tires, brakes, shocks/suspension, all filters, drive belts, and then I'll be looking over for any leaks, especially the rear crossover coolant leak I read about. Are there any gaskets that will need changed by 100k miles? If so, I'll be throwing that on my list of preventative maintenance for my second service after a month and a half or so. (I will be servicing every couple months with how much I drive).

 

I am with you JordanXJL on this one. If I have to deal with high profile clients/customers, and corporate top executives, I would buy myself an XJ as well. I believe it is a good PR vehicle. I would invite them for lunch or dinner and a ride in my XJ. I have a strong feeling with the addition of this vehicle to my portfolio and presentations, I would seal the deal in all every aspect. It is just me. But, there is always someone that can argue, he/she can do it too in a MB S-Class or a BMW 7 series

 

Couldn't agree more 18XF, I have a very great feeling about this XJ being apart of my "First impression" on such Lunches/Dinners rather than the Tesla. In my very biased opinion, it both looks and feels superior to my 2021 Tesla M3 in every way. (Granted, the XJ was twice the MSRP Price new) To add to that, I was in no way an Elon Musk fanboy as he deterred some of my Crypto Holdings for awhile, but that is besides the point LoL. And yes, there is always someone who will try to argue the same goes for their S-Class or 7 Series, but we can just let them keep thinking such

 

Jordan, something you may want ponder is getting yourself an XF and an XJ. Use the hell out of the XF. You can get them with the 3.0L engine which is plenty for that car and will last a long time. Still lots of prestige to the car to wow the clients. But, you will find maintaining may be a bit cheaper. Then you can enjoy the XJ for your long weekends and personal cruising. You can find a nice XF for say $20K that is fairly new.

 

The XJ saloons were built for long trips and are probably better for doing this, than lots of short tootling trips. Cruising down the highway doesn't harm these cars, it is what they are built for, for heavens sake ! I used to do a long trip every year with my two X350s the previous model, and never had the slightest qualms about doing so, and this was a trip to Germnay and back for holidays. Note that I normally took the car to my local shop, (an independent) before I set off to ensure there was nothing to worry about, as I was going to Europe with all those foreigner speaking languages I didn't understand (only joking). So all you'd be doing each week, is what I did once a year ! However, as said, these cars have one or two issues that may need sorting out, but you should have a good long-distance cruiser if you pay attention to these.

 

Thermo, I did consider ordering a nice used XE again as well, I just can't get myself to pay more than I did a few years back. I picked mine up with 17,000 miles for $16,000...I see them selling now for $20k+ with triple the miles! The car market nowadays blows my mind.

 

Fraser Mitchell, thank you for your response! I will stay on top of maintenance, and will keep an eye out for all known/common issues on the XJ's constantly. And that's quite the Drive! England to Germany roundtrip! Glad to hear you never had any worries or issues on these trips, makes me feel rest assured!

 

The real key to owning a used Jaguar is maintenance and DIY the repairs. Whatever you do don't let multiple problems pile up until the car is a mess!
Multiple problems really complicate the repair process so fix things as they occur. We get people driving with check engine lights on for years and never do anything because the car still drives. This type of thinking is also why the continue to drive even when the engine over heats.

Can you DIY any of the repairs/maintenance?
.
.
.

 

Clubairth: For one, sorry for the late response. I plan to DIY probably 50% of the work on the car, as I do get lazy and won't wont to bother with certain things myself. Nothing will go untreated, I plan to fix problems before they even arise! However I'm not too sure that's possible....received my XJ late this evening and I already have a few problems with the car
1) Interior dome lights are not working at all, neither are the mirror lights. I tried to do the 2-4 sec reset switch as I read about that being a common issue previously to the car showing up. At this point I assume it is a fuse. 2) Key fob does not work, I can't lock or unlock the car with my fob but car starts by push start so the battery is not the issue i'd assume. 3) One of the cupholder slide covers came apart as I opened my cup holder. Kind of frustrating as the dealership literally showed me it worked fine during my virtual tour of the car. 4) Glovebox will not open, tried it with valet mode on/off multiple times, and made sure my finger positioning was correct.
Aside from that, the car drives awesome. Shifts are smooth, suspension feels great. Brakes/rotors are in great condition, almost new. I'm sad to already have repairs, but this is what happens when shopping across the country! Still got the car $5,000 cheaper than any near me, so I believe I'm still on top..

 

The slide cup holder cover on mine came apart, I carefully glued it back with super glue and it has been fine ever since.

 

The slide cup holder cover on mine came apart, I carefully glued it back with super glue and it has been fine ever since.

 

Thanks Roviw, I figured that id have to put a new “roll” in or whatever that little levee piece is under the slide bc it half shot out when the holder came apart as well.