It's a 2006 XJ L. Found out the active air suspension is disconnected. Is that a bad thing?
The KBB on this such vehicle is around 7 to 8 K.
Seems like all the dealers ask double from what they are worth. Is that normal?
Getting frustrated.

 

Well they're certainly not selling the vehicle because it's working. In any case, I wouldn't put any money down unless you give the car a test drive at the very least, and perhaps check the cruise control, air conditioning, windshield washers, brakes, tires, exhaust system, etc. Personally, I might split the difference, and offer the dealer $10,500 tops. Note that you will likely be spending an additional several thousand dollars in the repairs.

 

Might try offering $7,500 or $8,000, no more than $9,000.
Offer to leave your number, then walk away.
Wait a week or two, check back to see if it's sold.
Jaguars still have a bad reputation, from years past.
Lucas Electrics were not up the task, to say the least.

 

Thanks for the wisdom. I think the seller was telling me that these cars are better without C A T S.

 

Disconnected may simply mean the struts have been replaced. Only the OEM Bilstein struts ($$$$$) have the CATS system which uses the electric plug. The aftermarket struts do not support the CATS system.

This is not a dealbreaker. That CATS system's only function is to switch the shock valving from a softer setting to a firmer setting in certain driving conditions, such as a twisty road with lots of maneuvering, braking, acceleration, etc.

It's also important to note whether the replacement struts are still air struts or if the air springs have been replaced by coilovers. Again, absolutely not a dealbreaker. My own air system was in such a bad state when I bought my '07 that it only took a few weeks of troioubleshoting to determine that I'd be better off with coilovers. I don't have self-leveling, but I don't care. I also don't have repeated "Car too low" messages, and I don't have to wait 10 minutes every morning for the car to rise off of the bottom stops. Going to coilovers instead of replacing narly everything in the air system was economically the only choice for me. The car is still a supremely comfortable car, and a thousand times more reliable.

You used the word "active" in your post, and you need to understand that the air suspension is not "active suspension." It does not respond to handling loads in the suspension, only to the static load of the car. You throw a couple of hundred pounds of luggage in the back and the rear will level up. That's it. The air system keeps he car level at rest, and does nothing about suspension loads from the road and from the steering, braking, whatever. (Not to be confused with CATS, which does stiffen the shock valving by driving conditions, but CATS has nothing to do with the air system.)

The dealer saying the car is better of without CATS is sales-speak, but it's not seriously worse off without it, either.

With the age the cars are reaching, properly working air suspension systems are getting rarer and rarer. They are well past their design life, and while there is a dryer in the compressor, it's not serviceable without removing and disassembling the compressor, which nobody is going to do. The dryer ought to be reconditioned annually, but it doesn't say to do so in any maintenance schedule. Once water gets into the system, it can't be removed. Valves will rust and get sticky. When I tried to service mine, the dryer chamber of the air compressor was literally a water tank, so I bailed on the air system and have never looked back. My Arnott coilover struts are more comfortable than my failing air system was, and stone reliable,

If I were buying one of these cars after the experience I've had with mine, I'd probably prefer one that's had the air struts replaced with coilovers. At the very least I'd want to know that the air system had seen proper servicing and that the car didn't sag overnight. Being in Florida, I don't think an air suspension system can live more than a few month without REGULAR reconditioning of the dryer in the air compressor, simply because of the humidity we live with here.

 

You didn't say how many miles it has. I see them regularly from private sellers between 7-8k (between 85-100k miles). Some are a bit more depending on mileage. With any used vehicle it's good to pay a competent inspector if you are not mechanically inclined and don't know much about the particular vehicle. Headliners, air suspension, loose speaker wires, paint corrosion, and suspension components are just a few things that may need attention on most of these being sold. You need to find out if the airsprings were replaced and with what. There are a few good options and a lot of cheap bad ones out there. Knowing what's on the car is a definite must.

I would seriously have the suspension checked if you are unable to do it yourself. Replacing all the suspension parts (excluding the airsprings) yourself can easily set you back a couple of grand. Then if you do need new airsprings it's another $1900 for a set of Arnotts if that's all you need. As wfooshee stated, there are many components to the air ride that can go bad if not properly maintained. Coilovers can be had for around $1300.

Since they stated the air suspension is disconnected my guess is there are coilovers on the car. Be sure to have it thoroughly looked at. Especially the inner front fenders. I have seen several cars where the suspension had dropped and owners were either driving or attempting to drive them and the inner fender wheel arch showed obvious signs of tire rub.

 

Listen to wfooshee! I did almost exactly what he did before I went to the spring suspension. Yes the pump and desiccant beads were swimming in water as I did rebuild the air compressor.

I installed the Arrnott kit that comes with a bypass module so no error lights on the dash. Really made that car reliable and trouble free.
One of the strangest things on these year XJ's is all the speakers that just stop working. I had 6 dead speakers. There is a simple repair for some and I repaired 4 and purchased 2 used ones to get everything working. I have never seen that many bad speakers at once!
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Thanks for all that time and knowledge. I'll only buy one with coilovers to eliminate a lot of expense and problems.

 

70,000 miles

 

I mean 44,000 miles sorry.

 

That is a low milage.car.

 

Thanks for the link but it comes up "Invalid forum specified'.

 

I did look at a 2008 Vanden Plas yesterday. They said that it will sit really low, wheels almost on wheel wells, in the morning. Start up and back to normal in 2 minutes. From what I learned from you, thank you very much, I looked in the trunk where the spare is and saw a battery, of course and a black square unit about half the size of a battery right next to it. I was puzzled by it because I thought I'd see a roundish silver/chrome compressor which it wasn't. Please enlighten me as to what that is.

 

Air tank is under the spare. The other box is the rear electrical box, fuses and relays. The compressor is behind the front bumper, ahead of the left wheel.

If it drops like that every day, then plan on troubleshooting or replacing the air system. It should take days to drop like that. Also, you say "start up and back to normal in 2 minutes." Are there any dashboard messages about the air suspension? If not, then maybe not so bad, but any messages coming up about the air system means something's wrong. Also, once the air suspension controller throws a code and displays a message, it shuts down and stops trying to level the car, ostensibly to keep from the compressor running 24/7.

If the car is otherwise acceptable, I'd think up whatever offer I was going to make, subtract 800 or 1000 dollars, put difference that towards a set of coilovers from Arnott and dump the aged air system once and for all. The car dropping like that in one night is NOT correct!