I finally decided to get rid of my 2012 xjl after six attempted fixes to keep the roof and headliner quiet. It started with a simple rattle from day 1. Had the official fix which made the headliner and the sunroof creak and rattle more. Had 5 more fixes done and each time had jaguar North America get involved. The last fix they sent a tech from jaguar North America down and they kept they car for a month. Was silent for about a week. Life is too short. I tried to get Jaguar North America to buy the car back. They wouldn't. Beautiful car and absolutely loved it. But just couldn't take creaks cracks and finally bangs from the headliner and roof from just about any type of imperfect pavement. Traded it in on a new 2014 Audi A8 4.0 T Quattro without panoramic roof. Just normal sunroof.

Because of Jaguars dismal design with their panoramic roof I will never ever buy any car with a panoramic roof. I feel sorry for who ever buys my 2012 xjl and hope they test drive it first. It's still under warranty and I didn't feel any need to disclose this problem when I traded it in as it's a known problem with this model and not my particular car.

And obviously I will never buy a jaguar or Land Rover again. And please if you haven't experienced this problem with your xjl then don't comment because you don't know how awful it was to drive with all these roof noises.

 

I think a tube of Super Glue is the only long term solution!

 

Couldn't believe it when I read your post Venture, I also traded my 2011 XJ for a 2014 Audi A8L 4.0T. I did get the panoramic roof though. This one is even more complex in that the rear section also opens. 2000 miles and so much as a peep though.

In fairness I didn't trade mine due to the roof. That issue seemed to be fixed and I was ready for something else. Loved the jag and never had a car that got so many compliments. Roof issues were frustrating but mine were apparently easier to fix than yours were. Hope you have better luck with your Audi. I've had mine for three months now and so far it's been perfect.

 

Thanks for the advice. I have owned BMW, AUDI and Rang Rover. This is the first Jag. Beautiful car love the engine. Hopefully they can fix

 

After a replacement car and no joke about 10 attempts to fix the popping it is still there at the slightest twist in the road it just f***ing annoys me ?
I am seriously thinking about getting rid of it?

 

Hi Aceeg

I see you posted much earlier. Your car is a 2011, bought new, I presume. Very sorry to hear about your problems, because I know a person who was at Jaguar in the UK around the time of this cracking "epidemic", and he told me the factory almost shut down whilst the problem was fixed. There was a real panic at Jaguar about it, it was definitely not ignored.

It sounds to me like your dealer needs to employ some better technicians because this problem was fixed and all cars should have been modified.

There is a Jaguar rep on this forum, Mike somebody, who should be able to assist you. Clearly the roads in NJ are not up to much either !! We also have dreadful roads here in Cheshire, totally neglected for at least 10 years.

 

Hi All,

Sorry to hear some of you are having issues. If you can provide me with the following details via PM I will be more then happy to pass them onto my colleagues who can help resolve your concerns:
Full Name
Email
VIN
Dealership Involved

Many Thanks

Mike

 

You are one of the lucky ones. I tried many times to get Jaguar North America to replace my 2012 XJL. I was in love with that car from day 1. I had the slight rattle in the sunroof and was told easy fix. Well I had that about a month after I purchased the car. From then on I had the popping headliner. Rattling panoramic panels. I had it fixed no less than 7 times. And always came back and usually in a different spot. I just had to part with the car. Even after Supposed Jaguar techs flew in and said it was fixed it always came back. It's just a very bad design. Whether it's because of the aluminum body or the bad roof design the car couldn't withstand twisting or even minor road irregularities without some kind of crazy noise from the roof.

So I traded it in on An audi A8L with a standard sunroof.

 

For those of you who may not know, the Audi A8 is also built of aluminium, but uses a different construction technique, based on a space frame of aluminium extrusions plus bolted on outer panels.

 

I took my 2012 XJ S/C in last week for the roof popping and they have ordered up "the kit" to correct this issue. Hopefully this will work on my car. I have read the posts and "your results may vary" on this fix. This problem is very annoying as it sounds like your driving around in some old truck with all of the rattles and creaking. What I find interesting is that I picked the car up last December and I didn't notice any of these noises, but come spring it has gotten worse and worse.

Rob

 

This is my 4th Jaguar in seven years. "My Latest Pride"... the 2012 XJL Supersport 3.0 diesel with Jet leather roof, extreme full option...so everything you can imagine is on the car... even rattles!


The car has been at the dealer 4 times with the roof rattling, side pillars creaking, doors creaking, etc.
Two days after the last time it was in the garage for 3 days...the roof started rattling again!


I am getting sick of it. This is driving an old truck like you describe this perfectly rob.drummond. "The flagship" of Jaguar is a sinking boot at the moment.


The car has only 30.000 km(18640 miles)! ... price in Belgium (2012 catalog): 128.000 Euro's.


God what a mess!

 

I am seriously thinking about getting rid of it too Venture!

 

From reading this thread the roof popping seems to be almost exclusively from long wheel base XJs prior to my2013, or am I mistaken. I've had my 2013 SuperSport for over one and a half years with over 28k miles and never had any roof issues. I am not trying to rub salt on anyone's wounds, but maybe the long wheel base was the issue.

 

You are not rubbing salt at all.
My XJ is from april 2012!
This is indeed prior to the 2013 version LWB. The center section of the roof
is longer in the LWB and much more sensitive to vibrations.
The car was launched in 2009...3 years without an effective solution?

 

Looking again at these latest posts on the issue of roof popping reminds me of the problems I had with my 7 series BMW. They could never fix what was wrong with the automatic transmission. I switched dealers 3 times over a 1.5 year period, and I went to "huge" dealers that service tons of BMW and sell tons of them. One time my BMW was in the garage for 3 weeks, and they told me they had daily "conference calls" with BMW in Munich trying to fix the problem. At the end of 3 weeks nothing was fixed. A few months later I found an independent mechanic in the area and no kidding he fixed the issue in less than 2 hours... This was an independent mechanic....


So regarding the roof popping, my XJL supercharged 2011 was fixed in just a few hours in a Toronto Jaguar dealer. This was 2 years ago. the noise never came back. So the issue I see here is that same I had with BMW. The issue is really with the car dealerships. Many it seems have very poor mechanics and they do not know what they are doing. The only thing they want to do is sell the cars, but if you have a problem then tough luck. On top of it, sometimes they completely "bullshit" you in their comments. Like with my BMW they could not fix for 3 weeks while talking daily to Munich.. Yeah right like I believe them... when an independent mechanic just fixed it in less than 2 hours. He knew exactly what was wrong...


So it is really a shame there seems to be so many incompetent mechanics at Jaguar dealers. The issue can be fixed. I wonder if Jaguar knows about all these dealers that cannot fix anything...


We should probably make a list of "subpar" dealers that cannot fix anything, and a list of good dealers that really have good mechanics and know what they are doing...

 

I can attest that this is not limited to long wheel base models. I have a 2012 XJ Supercharged. Build date is 12/11. Roof has been popping since I took delivery in November of 2013 (left over 2012 from a jaguar dealer in Southern California). After 4 failed attempts at fixing the problem, each time resulting in the squeaks rattles and pops getting worse, my dealer has requested and Jaguar has granted an entire new sunroof assembly. Should be arriving from Coventry in two weeks. If this doesn't fix it will be moving forward with lemon law buy back claim. If I end up going down this route I will be extremely sad as it's by far the best car I've owned.

 

Dear lakerholic,
My first XJ, a SWB had the rattles too, but now in the LWB it is much worse.
My dealer in Europe is almost forced by Jaguar Inspection to work in phases (try this , try that etc.). My problem will be solved in time they say and that will finally be an entire new sunroof assembly I suppose. That means month's of waiting and many visits to the dealer! The cost of the poor design quality will be enormous with all these hours of work and new parts.

 

Hi All. So "the roof kit" was installed in my 2012 XJ S/C to no avail. They had a call with Jaguar Canada and they have book a 3rd party company to come in and "fix it". I'm not entirely sure what they are going to do but I have the impression that they are changing the roof somehow. It is suppose to be a 2 day job, so I'll let you know how that pans out.

Rob

 

Hi All. I am happy to report that the roof on my XJ is now tight as a drum and quiet as it should be. They had an outside company come in a replace all of the seals in the sun roof and the moon roof. It took a little longer than expected (6 working days) but it is all good now.

 

My XJL was at the dealer for 5 working days last week. The roof rattles are better, but not absent. New seals, new roofclips etc.