I want to check the control arms on the XJL and can't see any metal subframe. Can somebody give me a hint about where to place the jack?

 

Does anybody have a link or can you provide a clue about how to jack the car up on the front end?

 

Yes I posted pictures of this a while back.
Take a look at this thread. Both the owners manual description plus picture's I took of my car are in there.

Jaguar XJ Jacking Points
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Thanks a bunch; you got me on the path to enlightenment! What's odd is that my car's Owner's Handbook shows Nothing about changing tires...nothing. The whole section on Tires is about tires, there isn't even a photo of the spare or jack. Date of my car's manual is 2013.

Also, there's no indented triangle in the sill, but your photo showed me What to look for. I was looking for a metal box or plate or something, but that vertical piece is all that we have to use. The photos show that there's about a 4" cutout in the underside of the sill; I cleaned the vertical metal and left the rest in order to highlight what to look for. Placing a piece of 2x4 or similar on the floor jack will allow it to contact the vertical plate without putting upward pressure on the plastic sill.

Vertical plate is directly above the wood block

Note the Cutout, with the vertical plate that has Rivets. That is the target.

Position the block on the plate, avoiding the plastic sill (foreground of photo)
A 3x3 piece of 2x4 wood is all that you need

Thanks again, Clubairth1, for pointing the way. I was chasing causes for a brake shudder, and needed to remove a wheel to check control arms (they're fine)

 

Your most welcome!
It's an oddity on the XJ as I have not seen it before. We had a thread on after you jack it up where do you place the jack stands? All the lifting points are taken?
I had a 2 post lift so it was perfect with 4 arms.

Are you sure there is no arrow? It's pretty subtle unless your directly under it. Maybe they did add that as the years went on?
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Well, Sir, you are most Correct. It's comical that Jaguar would place the arrow in such a way that only those looking for it would stumble across it. For reference, this hard-to-see unless you're lying down on the ground arrow is 7 1/4" aft of the wheelwell.

Arrow indent at sill edge, 7.25" rear of wheel well

 

From the X351 Workshop Manual:







Graham

 

That's goofy engineering, IMO. Requiring two floor jacks pretty much eliminates 99% of DIYers in their own garage.

Looks like the schematic is wrong for floor jacks, too, because the Black dots on the front should be where the White ones show; same locations as for the TwinPost hoist.

 

Yes thanks for that Graham but it just confuses matters even more as bamaboy473 said above. How can you get the floor jack into those places and then add a jack stand? Possible maybe but what a royal pain!

Just look at the rear placement? How can you jack up the car at the black dot? If you come in from the side then the jack is in the way of the jack stand. If you come in from the rear the jack is so far under the car you won't be able to operate the jack handle?

As an Engineer I find this very embarrassing and I know exactly how it happens because I saw it at my various jobs over the last 40+ years. The problem is this; Yes they are highly educated Engineers and are very smart. No argument at all about that! Where it falls apart is the total lack of any kind of practical hands on experience. Remember the failed left wing media has convinced everyone that twiddling on keyboards is the only thing of value. People that know and work with their hands are considered to have no value. It's all about keyboard twiddling.

So we hire guys/gals that are very good at the computer and putting models on a screen but there is a strange disconnect between that and a total lack of understanding about what is being designed. I paint,weld,fabricate and fix things but none of the Engineers I worked with did any of that. They are NOT going to get their hands dirty!

This type of knowledge and experience has simply disappeared and is just not important anymore.
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Bravo! Very true!
I'd go at least far as to expand responsibility to the academic establishment complex (from pre-school to the "higher-education" industry of colleges, trade schools & universities) that's directed and fortified by an esoteric upper-level of privileged leadership that exploit human nature and liberal ideals that have never and can never work in the real and practical world.
AND of course corrupt politicians in power of all political parties that enter politics as middle-class, and leave multi-millionaires.

But in reference to the prescription for requiring two jacks, how does that work for the XJ with a flat tire on the side if the road?
My wife's 2012 XJ came with a single (piece of junk at that) scissor jack in the trunk, not two.
So if the spare donut needs to be installed on the side of the road, it will get you home or to a repair facility, but your frame may well be permanently damaged?

 

Perhaps even more concerning would be if those of us with two jacks wanted to do work on the car at home. How would one avoid permanent physical abuse by asking their good wife to help jack up the car??

 

OK we just ALL need lifts to properly service our XJ's! The heck with jacks and jack stands!
That would solve it.

If I get a flat I am going to call someone. Too much work to change stuff and I paid for the road side service option so I am gonna use it!
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If I get a flat tire I'm going to stand by the car waving a $20 bill and wait for some guys that want to spend 10 minutes working and drive away looking for beer.

 

This discussion recalls what happened to me, this summer. I decided to get new tires for the XJ-L, and of course, bought them online. I made arrangements with a local "indie shop" that I trust, to dismount/remount the tires, so the next question is how to jack the car, in order to remove the wheels/tires.

I usually place a piece of wood across the pad of my floor jack, and lift the car by rolling the jack under the a-arms. Thanks to previous information posted here, at "Jaguar Forums', I had already cut 4 blocks of wood, ready to go into the pockets under the chassis. HOWEVER, in the front, the plastic air deflectors on the lower a-arms wouldn't allow the jack to be placed there. Consequently, I had to lift the car with the wood blocks in the recesses. Fortunately, I have two floor jacks, so I could lift the front (and rear) at one time.

That meant that I could only remove two of the wheels/tires at a time, and shuttle them off to the shop, to be worked on. Quite annoying, to say the least. At least my shop was understanding of my dilemma.....

 

Lucky you. There are no lower A-arms in front. There are an main arm and front control arm (the one with air reflectors) with quite weak bushes. If you add weight of the car to the control arm you propably bend the outer pin of it or at least add heavy load to the bushing. (these front lower control arms are anyway quite short linving things on x351)
You can add weight of the car for main front arm, but i donīt recommend, since the jack can slip off from it by ease. Better to use correct jacking points.