The maintenance service record shows a fairly consistent upkeep but I'm curious as what to look out for in a XJ that's above 100k. For example; My S-type is pretty straight-forward with just regular oil changes at 140k but shes' also had issues with a faulty electronic e-brake module and other one-time off smaller electronic issues.

 

Based on mileage alone (a year would be a lot more helpful), I see 3 things that if you are going to have an issue with, it will be these:

1) Coolant system. There are tons of plastic coolant lines in the car that handle the major cooling functions. Spend the $1000 or so and have these lines upgraded to the newer cast aluminum pieces. This is cheap insurance for the car. You overheat the motor once, you stand a good chance of having to spend way more than $1000 to make the engine right again.
2) Battery(ies). yes, depending on the year, you may have 2 batteries in your car (14-early 16). You have the main battery for starting the car. This is the one that everyone thinks of. You get less than 75% capacity (can be measured at your local auto parts store for free), the car can start coughing up hairballs (random DTC codes) and make you think that you have a ton of different stuff going wrong when it is nothing more than the voltage in the car moving around a little bit, confusing the computer. Then some cars (those with the early Start-Stop function) have a second battery that can fail and cause the car to start throwing codes and will make it act funny when driving (not always starting, may just go dead on you, etc). This is a smaller battery that gets set next to the main battery in the spare tire well in the trunk. You have 2 solutions: A) replace the battery with a new from the store (a bit pricy), or B) simply remove the battery and tape up the battery leads. Depending on where you live, this may violate a law or two because you are defeating the emissions of the vehicle as it was designed from the factory. So, if you get annual state inspections, you are potentially going ot have issues (depends on whether the state even knows your car has this feature as not all Jaguars have it).
3) Fuel injectors. These are touchy little critters. When they work, they work great. But, you get the slightest bit of dirt into the fuel system and all hell can break loose. So, something as simple as getting your coolant system worked on can lead to injector trouble (trust me on that one) because the mechanic let the tiniest of something get into the fuel system. sometimes the fuel injector just fails on its own. When you experience this, you will find that the car becomes very hard to start and if it does start, runs like hell and you will have a flashing check engine light (indicating that you are damaging the catalytic converters). This also will tend to get fuel into your oil system and if not cleaned out (ie, complete oil change), this can damage the engine internals. A new set of 8 injectors will run you around $2500 if you pay a shop to do the work for you. $800 if you do it yourself.

Sure you have some of the other needs brakes, needs oil change, etc stuff. But, that is all easy stuff that is part of normal maintenance. The only other thing (and may just be a coincidence), but the right side suspension seems to have issues where the left side will be just fine. Seen a lot of people having issues with their right front shock absorber (puts the car into effectively dynamic mode - stiff suspension) because it cannot control the ride softness/stiffness or the right rear hub will fail and if not dealt with immediately, leads to damage to the speed sensor, then you get a whole list of issues with the car, but everything leads back to just the bad speed sensor.

 

its a 2017. I know they make metal coolant hose kits to alleviate this common issue but I've been unable to locate a reputable seller.

 

Biggest thing is can you DIY the repairs?
Jaguars are just cars and this forum has all you need to fix and maintain it.
Start by getting some service manuals. CD from EBay.
Now the Jaguar manuals and documents are a bit cryptic to read and understand but that's all that's out there.
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Do a search here. Lots of members have bought these pipes and most have left some sort of feedback about the parts. You will find a reputable place to buy them by going that way.

 

I use to have a copy of JPart but my understanding is the program was retired, is there a new equivalent I should know about?

 

First you need to understand the different documents and their purpose?

JPART is 3rd party software to use and access JEPC which is from Jaguar.
JEPC is the parts catalog. More information below.
Next is JTIS. This stands for Jaguar Technical Information Services. This is the shop manual

Nothing has been retired and JPART is current?
It's used with the Jaguar JEPC (Jaguar Electronic Parts Catalog). There are several versions of this out there and the last one released by Jaguar was version 18. Jaguar has totally changed their service setup and have gone to a 100% on-line versions for the newer cars. Which means you now need to have a paid subscription to Topix. They charge by the minute of connection.

So the later cars are not covered by JEPC but your XJ is. Depending on the model of car it was somewhere around the 2017-2019 when Jaguar went to Pathfinder and the paid Topix subscription. The XJ is covered by JEPC until the end of production in 2019.

The biggest problem is Jaguar never released JEPC for public use. Too further screw things up as time went on Flash player (Which was required for JEPC) has been removed because of security problems. This left us with JEPC BUT no pictures at all! It was done by MS so you could not avoid it. It was a mandatory update that was automatically installed. One day you had Flash Player and the next it was gone.

Lucky for the forum an IT guy (Steve) took pity on us and wrote JPART. So we can use JEPC! All for free too!
JPART

Note that JTIS has also gone away and there is not one for your car. This leaves the service CD's on EBay and they are huge and terrible to use. But they are cheap. I have several versions.They are useful and for $10-$15 it's too cheap to NOT get!
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Worn suspension components would be worth checking, especially on the front end, such as top of shocks, lower control arms, etc

 

I hear the back airbags could be worse but I'll have the dealership do an inspection along with a total fluid service.

 

The rear airbags aren't a common failure point, the air suspension is pretty robust on the X351. Rear swaybar end links commonly fail (cheap and easy to replace), front swaybar bushings fail causing a slow speed rattle over bumps (cheap but not so easy to replace), as mentioned, the front strut mount bushings fail causing a clunk.

 

I agree with Jaaag_drivah. For some reason when Jaguar dropped the front air bags we stopped getting problems. The rear setup has had little failures but some have happened.

I would add the rear toe links will also always have torn rubber boots and need replacement. I just did the rear sway bar end links and the rear toe links as well on my 2014 XJR. I think the total parts cost was less than $250. About an hour or two for me to install them. A lift will be much appreciated when doing this job!

One thing to note about the front upper strut mounts mentioned above by Jaaag_drivah is they make noises that you will swear are inside the car and dashboard. I had a friend also with a 2014 XJR and the noises were horrible and very loud and metallic sounding. We had a thread on the forum when this first started happening and the cars were still under factory warranty. I can still see the pictures posted of one guys car with the entire dash board taken out by the dealer trying to find this!

I drove his car and said the noise sounded like what I had read on the forum. We got a set of upper strut mounts and it was fairly simple to install and the best part is you don't disturb any of the front end so no front end alignment needed after the repair. After I posted about changing them one guy gave me a GREAT bit of advice I wish I had thought of! The lower control arm is fighting you as it needs to be pried down to gain enough room to remove the strut assembly. BUT if you remove the front sway bar end link from the lower control arm now there is way less force to fight. I had to use a 6' pry bar on the lower arm to get it down enough to get the strut assembly out.
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FWIW Jaguar now makes metal pipes as well. Not as cheap, but OEM. LR186859 & LR186917 I believe (please verify).
There have been reports of hit-or-miss quality on the aftermarket kits. Not sure which one I'll go for.