I have owned my 2015 XJR since 2016 and it has now done 47,000 miles. Fantastic car and difficult to think of anything to replace it with. Reading the forum I can expect problems with water pipes, water pump etc. In the near future. Were there any improvements to these parts before 2015, as Jaguar must have been aware of the issues by then? Other matters - I had the low battery warning soon after I purchased it, but the battery seemed OK and is still on the car. The only way I have found to temporarily fix this is to charge the batteries overnight at 5 amps (not a Ctek) using the underbonnet pins. The warning disappears and does not return for a couple of weeks. It seems the alternator only charges the batteries up to about 50% capacity hence the warning returns. I assume this is a fault of the battery condition module which does not reset properly.
Regarding the roof creaking, I sprayed WD40 silicone spray liberally around the various slides, channels etc. and found this worked very well. Only the occasional creak now.
So I have to decide whether to replace the water pump, pipes and fix a very small oil leak or hope for the best!

 

Kem, it is not so much that Jaguar has figured out the problems, the aftermarket industry has. If you do some searching here on the site, you wil find that there are 3 pieces that you can replace the plastic parts with metal parts. This will make the motor much more reliable and make it something that you will not need to worry about. Yes the parts are a few dollars more, but that is it. That is the route I would go. Going to cost you the same to do the maintenance on the water pump as you should replace all these parts anyways. I would find a good indy in your area and talk wtih them about installing these aftermarket parts and see what they say. Yes, this is going to be a bit spendy, but if this is the only maintenance that you have really needed to do on the car, spend it. It will be money well spent.

As for the battery. It has been said here more times than I can admit to: newer Jaguars need a top quality battery that has nearly 100% capacity. To not have that is asking for trouble. I would tell you to replace your factory battery with a quality name AGM battery. Do not cheap out and get a standard battery. They do work, but you will be replacing it in a very short period of time when the car starts throwing codes at you. In your case, I would let the car go "dead electric" and then just power up the car with the new battery. This is going to force the battery maintainer to learn the new battery and that should solve your low battery warning. The other thing I would tell you to make sure you are doing is locking the car when you walk away. Sure, you may have it in your garage. But, the car needs to be locked so it knows to go to sleep and turn off all the computers. If you just pull into the garage and get out, most of hte computers shutdown, but not all. This can also be leading to your low battery condition.

As for your oil leak. If that is coming from the valley under the supercharger (you do not say where the leak comes from), this would also be a good time to fix that leak. T he oil cooler sits under the supercharger and when they are doing the water pump, they are going to need to pull the supercharger to get at the one tube. This will be a good time to replace the gasket on the oil cooler. 90% of the parts are going to be already removed.

 

I totally agree with Thermo's reply......new quality battery!! As far as your first question, should I keep my XJR, I think you answered it with your first statement--fantastic car, can't think of anything that would replace it......sounds to me that the maintenance is not that bad and it will only hurt your wallet for a few minutes.....just saying!

 

My first thought is that you should get rid of it post haste, and send it to me!

I know nothing beyond what little you've described, but I know enough to know that it's a beautiful vehicle.
The problems you're describing are minor, normal wear & tear.
Cooling system components & many other things need to be replaced over time.
The oil leak(s) is/are most likely the valve cover gaskets.
I've replaced mine on the XJ & it's sibling an LR Range Rover of the same year/engine.

SO if you're tired of it, it's time for a new car. Otherwise, it's a beautiful car that just needs reasonable (but not reasonably priced) maintenance.

 

Thank you for your replies gents, much appreciated. I didn't take much persuading to "keep it" so will start organising the necessary work to ensure reliability for the next few years - hopefully. Incidentally the oil leak is tiny, but lands on the alternator which died a couple of years ago. Regular cleaning stops it happening again but fixing the leak will be part of the work. The only (!) other issue I have had is the diff seal which has needed replacing twice. Another saga.. Anyway it's all worth it for such a special motor.

 

Another common spot where oil leaks over time is the vacuum pump gasket.
It's on front of the engine, between the crankshaft pulley & the alternator.
Not a hard seal to replace, and there are plenty of existing posts in The Forum that chronical it's leaks and replacement.
I've (myself, as in DIY) have replaced both the vacuum pump seals & valve cover gaskets on my wife's 2012 XJ & my 2012 LR Range Rover, both with the naturally aspirated 5.0L.
There are a number of other things that need to be changed after years of wear & age that are discussed within The Forum, so you would best read as much of the existing posts as you can, and learn all you can to keep it in great shape.

 

All good advice ! Especially from Thermo as I really like the replacement Aluminum parts too!
I did not see it posted but are you able to DIY things?
I also assume (Yes I know not a good thing to do!) that you are off factory warranty by this time?

I have a 2014 XJR that is modified but I just have not had anything other than very small stuff happen. I got the car at around 20K and it now is close to yours with around 58K on it. Still surprised by the good gas mileage and so far I have only had the following repairs in about 6 years or so of ownership.

1. Water pump and 2 front cooling pipes. Done under warranty at 32K miles. This was a bit of luck because this forum had educated me about those items so when I went in for an oil change I mentioned that I smelled coolant? Well the mechanic came out about 30 minutes latter and said we are replacing the water pump and some cooling hoses because of a leak. Note that I have the improved Aluminum pipes for a future install as these were released after I had that work done at the dealer.

2. Secondary O2 sensor failure. Which by the way Jaguar has an extended warranty on those parts. Since I fixed the O2 sensor myself and not at the dealer. Jaguar would NOT refund me the price of the O2 sensor which was a whopping $56! So not really a problem. See the attached Jaguar document about the extended warranty. Note it does include your car!

3. My drivers door soft close quit working and a plastic drive gear was broken inside the soft close actuator inside the drivers door. Believe it or not there is now a Aluminum replacement part for the crappy plastic one! Have to admit this is apparently a rare failure on the XJ as I found zero info about it until I started reading the Land Rover forums where it must be more common?

I went to the effort to get a working SDD so I can avoid using the dealer. As much as I don't like to recommend this as it's hard to use and all that but there is nothing which can do as much either. I consider having a working SDD as necessary if you plan to keep the car long range.

Now post some picture of your rare cat!!
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Here it is

Blue and tan interior looks great

My cat's face

 

Nice! I have a IRR one with that exact same interior but that Blue is a sweet color!
What's it called?

I believe you also have the SWB version like me.
Is that CF or some kind of wood on the door cards? Mine is CF inside and out.
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Yes it is a SWB and the colour is "Dark Sapphire". The door finish is "Piano Black". No CF anywhere!
The dealer was not very helpful regarding warranty claims (it was covered for the first three years). They did replace the diff twice seals under warranty but the third time they failed they said it was too late for a further claim despite only having done 5000 miles more. By then it was very noisy. They wanted £2000 + plus fitting for a new diff so I found a shop who charged £600 for the repair with new bearings etc. Apparently the dealer hadn't set it up properly. My indy fitted it all up and no more problems. I haven't been back to the dealer since..
I can do small jobs myself but wouldn't take on anything major so the cooling system repairs will be done by the same guy who did the diff.

 

Yours is the only one I have seen in that color. Very unique car!

Sorry to hear about the problems with the E-Diff as we don't see much of that on the forum. Shame the dealer could not set it up properly either but at least you found an independent that got it right.
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I can only strenuously support these very shrewd comments by clubairth1 and prior, Thermo. On my two W140 MB's there is a double TT (rubber) coolant hose close (or behind? I can't recall exactly) to the firewall. They always fail and when they do, you have seconds to turn the engine off before the engine is almost certainly toast. I replaced both with either Aluminum or steel TT versions (that ironically MB made for these S and CL cars until 1994 / 95 when they "upgraded" to useless rubber on the 96 - 99) and at +/- 180,000 miles on both of my W140 cars, never a single issue, when so many other W140's ended up as scrap. (and one of mine is the V12 M120 engine, which almost everyone says never lasts - nonsense; most reliable car I have ever had - but only with this level of occasional attention to (preventative) detail) So apologies for not being a Jaguar comment directly, but thought it was worth mentioning to share how important it is to put those aluminum alternatives in... On another note it is stunning to me how manufacturers cost cut like this, on such tiny savings whch risk the entire car, and drive customers away. Madness.

 

Thanks again folks. The new parts are being ordered! Far too risky to hope "for the best".

 

Would you elaborate what 3 plastic hoses are now metal?
Thank you,
JD

 

You can find them listed on Ebay.