I've been getting an "Adpative Dynamics Fault" light on the car. Ye olde diagnostic computer at the dealer says the front-left shock is bad. The dealer wants about a grand in labor to replace it, since it's a wear item not covered under the CPO warranty. It appears to be a modified upper/lower control arm suspension, so doing the shock should be fairly trivial: Pop lower ball joint, disconnect shock/spring assembly, compress & remove spring, replace shock, reverse procedure. I thought I might just do it myself. Has anybody messed with their front suspension?

 

Would never go to a dealer for a shock replacement.

Find any alternative.

 

It will probably be a Bilstein adaptive damping shock for the CATS system. So any old shock won't really do. If you look at the top, you'll see an electrical connection to the shock so it can be swapped between Hard and Soft. You could try disconnecting it and then reconnecting, to see if it starts working again. Corrosion of the plug socket contacts can give a fault like this. Bilstein shocks are usually very long lived and very good quality.

Jaguar dropped air springing on the front with this model so a repair shouldn't cost too much, but depends if you can get the shock from a normal shock supplier rather than a Jaguar main agent.

 

Don't you just love a warranty when the "wear" item list exceeds the "covered" list. I remember the 2006 XJ CPO that I had and the panels on the backs of the two front seats dropped off. That was considered "trim" and they refused to cover the repair. Ultimately, it was handled.

 

Jaguar 11 13 XJ Front Suspension Shock Absorber C2D16483 | eBay


Cost of brand new oem front shocks. They also fit the he 2013-2015 per my dealer. Only the front springs changed for 2013-2015.

Due to the weight difference, you would think the spring rates would be different for the V6 engines and the V8 engines.

 

Wow !! That is a whole lot cheaper than replacing an air spring.

The thought strikes me that maybe these, and the spring coils, would retro-fit my X350 if I ever have a shock/spring problem. After all there can't be much different, in fact the basic car is the same apart from the Avant Garde styling.

 

Well, somewhere between the tech, the service manager, and myself, there was a miscommunication, and when I went to get the part it was the left rear shock they'd ordered. So, after double-checking with them, it turns out it was the rear shock that was bad, not the front. Bad news is the rear is 3x the price of the front. Good news is the rear is easier to replace than the front, since the spring is integral to the unit.

Took about two hours. Only two snags: The toe-control link got cockeyed in the knuckle and took a bit to wiggle free, and compressing the shock to get it to line up with the bolthole on the lower control arm was a pain. Otherwise pretty easy.

 

That figures, as the rears are still the old air springs. Oh well, at least the compressor only has to keep two going, so should last longer, (we hope !)