Well, first of all, I think this sums up this post

Anyway, folks, nice to meet you all. I'm looking for a car for what about is my best friend and came across a 2004 XJ Vanden Plas, loaded, very nice condition with 40,000 miles and one owner. Thought since I know British vehicles, get him something we can both wrench on. He prefers a Land Rover, but we're seeing that the ones with low miles, and years I have diagnostics and specialty tools for are $25k and up, won't work for him, "not the time for a immaculate car" though I have to disagree with him..

Couldn't find the answer to this, but do all XJs have EAS? I know it can be a pain so I minus well try to find something that doesn't have EAS.

Any thoughts on reliability? I shouldn't really worry about that though, I own all the worst years of Land Rovers

 

What do you mean by 'EAS' ?

 

Any thoughts on reliability? I shouldn't really worry about that though, I own all the worst years of Land Rovers



The main problem it seems from the many, many, many threads on the forum fall into two main areas. First is the durability of the air bags themselves and second is the compressor that keeps the system pressured up.

The compressor is an easy fix using Andy's reman kit and shouldn't present an insurmountable problem in either time or money. Just search the forums for info.

The second area, which is by far the most prevalent and costly in both time and money, are the individual air bags. That can lead you on a real merry-go-round of trouble shooting and spending. Generally speaking the bags seem to be good for something in the area of 60-80,000 miles but your mileage might vary due to the age of the vehicle. Also they seem to be more trouble in colder climates or at least more prone to acting up in periods of cold weather.

They generally start acting up by exhibiting an abnormal low condition at one corner of the car which may take some minutes to correct itself upon starting the car after sitting for a day or more, or you might have a catastrophic failure of one of them while driving, but I think the former is more common. If it starts with a small leak you'll find yourself trying to use one of the various copies of the Jaguar computer based programs (JLR's SDD) to try to re-level the car, diagnose which if any of the individual ride height sensors (3 or 4 depending upon date of manufacture in 2004)has gone bad, or if one of the other myriad electrical sensors or mechanical components has gone bad.

In most cases you'll find that after everything you do it will be that one or more of the airbags has a leak and sooner rather than later you're going to be faced with deciding upon a replacement strategy. There you have essentially two choices. You can replace each bag as it goes bad as a cost of +/- $500 a corner depending upon whose replacements you choose.

Arnott's appear to be the ones most commonly chosen as they have loads of experience, their of good quality, and the price is much more reasonable than your local Jag dealer will ever give you.

Your second choice and one that is initially more expensive but puts and end to the problem is to replace the entire air suspension with one of the quality coil-over suspensions on the market that will run you about $1200 plus labor (yours is free) for all 4 corners.

Given that chasing defective airbags and replacing them one at a time as needed may well spread the expense over several months or even a couple of years it also leaves you subject to the unexpected but inevitable scenario of having one go bad on trip leaving the driver limping along at a much reduced speed and cursing their misfortune.

There are plenty of threads here that go into greater detail and their are varying opinions about what course is best ranging from the purists who think the Jag should be kept as built and those who see the previous generation of XJ's and XK's as not being legitimate long term investments or collector cars but as a way to drive a truly wonderful machine at a very reasonable price.

 

All X350 and X358 have air suspension.

 

Sorry, EAS stands for "electronic air suspension".

 

I appreciate all the knowledge! I do have IDS/SDD, so that is a start.. I'm seeing that the air bags cost a bit more than a Rovers, as you can replace just the bladder instead of the whole assembly. I think I'm going to have to stand away for now unless I find one that has been coil converted, which I hate to get rid of air suspension, but since we live in an area that gets to -5 in the nights and a high of 2-3 in the days I don't think it'd be that great for him. I'd have to get up and drive over to his house every morning haha..

I do appreciate the help, maybe I'll buy a Jag (am I allowed to say that?) in the future.

 

FYI I am finding companies that are starting to remanufacture the Air shocks for about $300 plus shipping. Not as expensive as it once was I will post what I think of mine as I am replacing a rear shock that the previous owners mechanic over tightened the shock tower mounting studs and three of them sheared off. These cars are not for people with Air Wrenches as they are steel bolts that go into aluminum housings. A good wrench and selection of sockets are all you need. And o e more thing anti seize will save your threads and ensure you can work on the car for years to come.