Hi everyone,

I've been a XJ lover for a long time and now I have the opportunity to buy one, relatively low miles. It's a really nice 2019 3.0 petrol engine, AWD XJL in black. The catch is that it was in an accident. Luckily, it's only a small accident affecting the front and back bumpers, the boot (trunk) and the rear reinforcement bar.

The question I have is whether these parts are interchangeable across different years and SWB/LWB? Can I use older generations' bumpers and boot, because they are significantly cheaper? Will the mounting holes, the holes for PDC and the air vents and grill at the front match the ones from earlier years? In general, which parts can be used across all years and SWB/LWB?

I ask because I want to save some money and not have to throw away perfectly good parts.

Thanks for your input in advance.

 

Are you fixing it or are you taking it somewhere?
If so I would let the shop find the parts you need. They do that everyday so are pretty good at it.
.
.
.

 

Unless it's extreme, mileage on these cars should be the least-important factor in your decision-making process.
It is absolutely imperative that someone who is familiar with the X351 performs a pre-purchase inspection. For example, some codes may have been set even in this minor accident that can be very expensive to fix. Keep in mind that this car is nearly entirely aluminum, and what may be an easy repair in other vehicles can be frightening on an XJ.
Perhaps you could post your location, and another member could recommend a qualified shop. You'll need one in any case to perform maintenance beyond the amateur level.
This forum is littered with tales of woe from buyers who have bought a "bargain" XJ without an expert inspection. Perversely, this is even more prevalent with buyers who possess mechanical skills, thinking that they can spot "obvious" defects.

 

I believe the gentleman is in Bulgaria from his profile.

 

Interesting comment by Baltobernie about the Aluminum construction and how difficult it is to repair.
I am on a Ford GT forum too. So I can dream a little! That car is also Aluminum and about $500,000.

Very difficult to get them repaired at all because of such limited production numbers. The suggestions have been to find a place that is qualified by Jaguar to repair the XJ as those two cars share the same style of construction so take similar skills to repair them.

It's not surprising when XJ's are found to be unrepairable after even small accidents. The cost of repair is just too high.
.
.
.

 

On x351 Service and Repair manual have very well illustrated where and what kind of body panels shall be replaced and process how to do it, if desired. (rivets & bonding clue) As alumium there is not recommended to straighten the bended parts, only change them.
Another question is where and what cost the replacement body parts can be sourced?

 

Thank you all for the helpful insights. @clubairth1 I am buying it with the intention of fixing it and using it for long road trips across Europe. I will call the dealership and ask about the parts, but I fear that they might quote me number that makes the entire endeavor pointless.
@Baltobernie the car is running and there are no faults to be reported. From what I can see, someone has confused the reverse with drive and backed into a lamp post, which totaled the rear bumper and the reinforcement bar, I don't know if the boot is salvageable, but that might need replacing as well. There doesn't seem to be any structural damage. As per location, @Freddy J is correct, I am located in Bulgaria, but I have found a mechanic/shop that specializes in Land Rovers and Jaguars, so they will (hopefully) take care of the XJL.
@Vasara cost is the primary reason I am looking for more experienced opinion on this forum. Especially for the plastic parts, if bumpers, fenders, boot, even wiring for the parking sensors can be salvaged from older generations and models that would save a lot of time, money and hassle.

 

You might like to seek an donor vehicle. (exsample from Germany, like with front collision etc) The facelift (2016-> ) have different bumber and lights, but the mountings are same. Reverse camera is also different but not sure about parking sensors.
There are an thread on this forum with a fellow member repaired rear collision by himself. Worth to look, since he took lot of pictures.

 

I am looking into donor cars with damage, but I have no idea how or where to look at in Germany/Austria or any other country in Western Europe. I have found some candidates in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Lithuania, but I don't know how salvage yards work west of Vienna if you have experience or knowledge, please let me know. I will definitely look at the thread for the rear

 

I am looking into donor cars with damage, but I have no idea how or where to look at in Germany/Austria or any other country in Western Europe. I have found some candidates in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Lithuania, but I don't know how salvage yards work west of Vienna if you have experience or knowledge, please let me know. I will look into that repair, thanks

 

well, I finally did it... bought myself a 2019 XJL 3.0 AWD under 30,000 miles with a rear end damage and now am awaiting delivery. I went through the repair manual and found that the rear aluminium parts are repairable and replaceable just like @Vasara suggested, so fingers crossed that the damage is only as light as it is visible.
As per the interchangeability of parts between years, I can say that the front and rear bumpers have slight but visible differences between the pre- and post-facelift models, like the lower air intakes on the front and the diffuser at the back. You can fit older parts into the new car but it ages the car. The boot lid is the same across the years. As per SWB vs LWB of the same year, there doesn't seem to be a difference in the bumpers or the boot lid, the main difference comes from other places.
I now have another issue with the ccf file that needs to edited when importing a US car into mainland Europe, but that is a different matter (if anyone has experience with this I would appreciate your input)

 

You can try famous car selling platforms like www.mobile.de or www.autoscout24.de
Just set the filter for damaged vehicles to seel donor car.

 

Well, the car finally arrived and I’ve had a fair bit of time with it so I can say a few things.
1. Most of the parts on the facelift models are ever so slightly different, which makes it extremely annoying because you can use parts for the older model but you’d rather not. There are however parts, like the boot (trunk) which can be sourced from any year can as long as it is for the right wheelbase vehicle. Same goes for the boot floor.
2. Sourcing said items is turning out to be slightly more challenging than I expected, with the rear bumper being the most difficult to find since I’m looking for one with the camera and sensors attached, ready to be painted. So if anyone has some leads I will be very thankful.
3. Structural parts are interchangeable (mostly). Things like the wings, rear wall, rear crash bar are same among years, so if you have a donor car with the same wheelbase, you can use it. One thing I have noticed is that the diesel boot floor is slightly adjusted to fit the converters.

As promised, I’m attaching some photos of the car at its current state and will try to update you once things get repaired. The next bit is to take the rear part of a donor car and weld it to my car. I don’t see any structural damage beyond this so I hope it doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg to get the car back on the road.

P.s I have noticed a few weird things, one being that the soft close on the car works on all doors except the drivers door and that the volume on the radio doesn’t work at all and when I turn the volume knob, it is stuck at 9 without any sound. If anyone has experienced similar symptoms, feel free to share.

 

For soft close drivers door: There are an connector next to the trunk fuse box (right side of trunk) what dealer should connect before handing car to the first owner. This activate the driver door soft close function, what is disabled during factory storing and transportation. (not the 1st vehicle found where this have been left undone)
For radio volume: No idea. The amplifier sitting left sidewall of the trunk. Maybe it or cables have got some hit?

 

As posted above look for this in the trunk/battery area.
Look for the unhooked purple wire. Sometimes it's been pushed back where you can't see it. Standing at the back of the car with the trunk open it will be on the right hand side of the car.



.
.
.

 

Thanks guys, I will look for it once i get back to the car, from what I saw, there wasn't any major damage to the electrics of the car so it should be a relatively easy fix. (hopefully)
As per the audio, I haven't found any similar issues in the forums. Perhaps it is due to the fact that there was no good battery connected to the car, only a booster.

 

Update number 2: After what seems to be an eternity the car is alsmost ready. The guys at the local bodyshop have done a good job and the car is put together ALMOST completely. I just dropped off what I hoped were the last parts of the car that needed to be replaced (as well as some additions). Unfortunately, there are some more parts that I now need to find and order, before this cat gets back to tip top shape.

But before that, here is a recap of what I already purchased and what work has went into it.
As can be seen from the photos the damage was to the rear of the car, which for me it meant that I need a new bumper, a new boot, rear light break light, rear frame panel and crash bar (as well as some things on the front that we will get to later). Underneath the surface however (or in the boot) there were additional small parts that now need to be sourced. First order of business was to find a salvage car and have the rear half cut off so that it could be coupled to my car. That cost a pretty penny but I was happy that there was a salvaged car close to me, because the online marketplaces refused to ship that quarter to me. Then I purchased the rear light and the bumper, which are different for the facelift models, but are not exclusive to the LWB car. I purchased the trunk from a older LWB car that was being parted locally, but needed to do some work to it since the idiot hit a wall as he was unloading the car. In the meantime I had to buy a front bumper and front grille and badge for the car, as they were damaged as well, and had an awful experience with a Spanish seller, who had the parts on ebay and other marketplaces where he refused to make a deal and fulfil the purchase before taking the listings down for a few days and putting them back up. I had all the parts painted and worked on as everything was second hand and needed some love. I DIY repaired some of the plastic brackets that were broken at the back and had to purchase a new trunk guard that hides the latching point. There were also some other bits like a new boot floor that was slightly damaged, some hinges, some clips, some plastic trims. Which brings us to today, when I dropped off the front bumper with grille,rear break light and some clips, and was welcomed with another portion of "good" news, that we will need some more parts. One of the parts is GW93 3B484 AC (the air suspension compressor) and the other had writing PA6(GF20+GB20). These parts are non-essential as it is mostly broken plastic, the suspension works fine and the electrics seem ok (except for an issue that no sound comes out of the speakers and I can't change the volume), but now I don't know where to find only the plastic bits. I would appreciate if anyone knows how/where/if I can purchase just the plastic mounts (I don't even know what the second part is, but it seems like some sort of fuse box without the fuses). The other thing was that the front left headlight plastics were cracked, which means that I need to get new ones (I really don't want to buy a new headlight).
As per the work that has already been done, the workshop guys said that it is quite unpleasant because it is all aluminium, which means that they had to work a little harder than they expected. I am now waiting for the panel bond and the sealer for the repaired parts and then for everything to be put back before it goes for paint and finally MOT.
That is it for now, unfortunately I don't have any photos, but I promise I will upload some the next time I take parts to the car.

 

Good work.
Not sure if this helps but exsample BMW:s use same suspension air compressor, but output is for different direction. (pipe routing only)
Much more available as second hand.

 

Hello everyone, I’ve been waiting to write this post for some time now. I have the car on the road and it I’m almost done with it. After months of waiting and buying parts, it is now ready, assembled and driving, although not so well right now. As promised, I’m uploading some photos of the beauty. I still can’t believe the mileage on this car is 45k km.
After everything that was done to the car only a few things are left and I’m not sure how much of this I want to tackle. So far I’ve noticed the following small, but rather annoying problems: 1. The amplifier - since another user has had similar issue and posted a thread on a forum recently, I’m assuming my problem is similar. There is no sound of any kind coming out of the speakers, which I assume the issue is in the amplifier (I have a meridian system) or it’s a blown fuse to the amplifier. I will try to trace the wires to see where the issue lies and I really hope it’s just a blown fuse. 2. I need to get a glovebox latch because after the accident I assume they couldn’t open the glovebox so they broke it and removed the latch. Now the glovebox is just open with no way to close it. The worst part is, I don’t even know how many and which parts I need to fix it. 3. Sunroof and the cover - so the sunroof is working just fine, no leaks, no sneaks, but when I go on the close it, it just hits something and returns to an open position. When I give it a small push, it latches and closes just fine. It might be dirt, it might be something else, I don’t know (if anyone else has had a similar issue feel free to share how you solved it). As per the sunroof cover, as it retracts the cover is doesn’t retract fully and it folds on itself at the very end. Again, a small push by hand and it works just fine, but I want to fix it. 4. Rear right window - the window was working fine until it decided that it doesn’t want to work fine anymore. The switch only operates the window blind (which doesn’t automatically go up and down, but rather you have to hold the button), while the window remains shut. This issue I don’t even know where to begin to tackle it. 5. Body parts fitment - so there are a few parts that need to be fixed, like the sagging exhaust and a gap in the rear wheel arch, but I’m planning on tackling these next week. 6. Check engine light - I have an appointment with a specialist first working day of the new year.
I managed to fix the infotainment system and register myself as the owner of the car thanks to the customer support in the USA and a 100 Euro maps package that I had to upload to the car. Almost all instruments and dials now read in metric.
What’s to come? Tomorrow I’m gonna go and take the car for an extensive MOT, once that is done, I can register the car. On the first working day of January I have an appointment with a JLR specialist for mandatory oil, filter, belts etc check and replacement, as well as a full check on all the repairs, electronics and bits/bobs that I haven’t fixed. I have a feeling I’m gonna need to buy a few more things before this car is perfect, but my joy right now can’t be toppled.
if you guys have some suggestions, tips or any help on how I can fix the last few issues, please let me know. We are so close to finishing this beast

 

C2C32948 is the part number for the exhaust hangers