I admit that I've been a little remiss in changing the brake fluid on out 2016 XJ-L. I usually do it every 2 years, on all the cars in the family fleet, but somehow or other I let it go on this car. I decided that's it's time to do this task, and obviously, this requires removing the wheels and tires in order to do this. I did hear that when jacking an aluminum, unit bodied car, it requires caution, so you don't "tweak" the structure.

I started with the rear, of course, and was easily able to lift the rear of the car, using 2 floor jacks, with squares of wood on the jack's pucks. I picked it up by lifting the lower control arms, at the point where the shocks attach to the arm. No issue. The front, however, is presenting a challenge.

On our previous XF, I could use the floor jacks, and a longer piece of wood, that could span the two "legs" of the lower a-arms, and gingerly lift the front end. I thought that I could do the same thing with this XJ, but ran into a snag. It seems that the XJ has plastic "air diverters" attached to one leg of the a-arm, and these send airflow to cool the brakes, it appears. Problem is, they prevent me from spanning the a-arm with the length of wood, therefore preventing me from being able to lift the front end by that method.

Any suggestion on how I could lift the front end, as I'd hate to not be able to flush the fluid on the front end..........................as well as clean and wax the insides of the wheels and tires.


TIA!!

 

Brake fluid flush i would do with the front wheels on ramps (Rhino Ramps in my case). Quite easy to reach the bleed nipples then, without taking the wheels off.

 

leadfoot4, there are dedicated jacking points on the body for doing just what you are attempting to do. If you look right behind the front wheels and just in front of the rear wheels, there is a pocket that is about 5x5" in size in about 5 inches. You slide the jack under this opening and then you can lift the car. If you have 2 jacks, then you can lift the front or rear of the car pretty evenly and not tweak the body at all. Once you get it up, then you can find a spot to put the jackstands (like where you are putting the jack now).

 

I put two Jacks on each of the front jack points, then stands on the lower control arms, at the very end. I jack each side up a bit at a time, and release a bit at a time.

 

Thanks for the info, guys. I'm done for the evening, but I'll be back at it tomorrow. With respect to accessing the bleeder screws with the wheels still on, I did consider that, but I assume that I'd have to be able to turn the wheels "full lock" in each direction, in order to reach the bleeders. I'm thinking that would be pretty difficult to do, with the car already on ramps.....

UPDATE.........fount the "spot" on the underbody, and was able to lift the front end of the car. Flushed the fluid, and cleaned/waxed the inside of the wheels, as well as cleaned the calipers. We're back in business!