This was a great post, exactly what I was looking for before starting.. Since I live next to NAFB and am retired I can use the auto hobbie shop to do the work. My only question is since I'll be using power lifts to raise the car, do I just pull in disconnect the battery and begin loosening the bolts under the hood. I get that i have to do it disconnect the battery within 30 minutes of turning of the car but is there anything else?

 

Love those photos

A few years back, I was on a DA Maintenance project to incorporate all equipment repair instructions on a 3D Repair Manual. It is based on software from a Canadian outfit “Ngrain” similar to what manufacturers have been using lately to show exploding engines and auto bodies. All we needed to do was “point and click” and the components would come apart in sequence with instruction boxes popping up where required. Would sure be great if Jaguar had something like this.

Would probably be kept under wraps?

 

Nice thread! Hey email pix too...

Thanks....

Ikon

 

Also, this should be a "sticky"...

 

Well guys I am all done with the jags. I got rid of my jag because of all the maintenance problems and I needed a bigger car because of my growing family. I never got so many compliments on my car but I don't think I will ever buy one again. One thing is for sure, I got a lot of experience working on them.

These are the things I have fixed.

Front Air Springs (Car would ride low and get fault lights)
A/C Blower Motor control module (A/C stopped blowing air)
Thermostat and Thermostat Housing (Housing was cracked and was leaking coolant)

Throttle Body (Car would go into limp mode because of bad throttle position sensor)

The last thing to go was the air suspension compressor and that is when I almost lost my mind.

I only had the car for about 2 years.

Anyway here is a link to download the pictures with the instructions. I hope they help you guys out.

xj8 spring replacement.rar

Thanks for all the help!

 

First, thank-you all for posting here. I have read most of the threads and am both terrified and encouraged to deal with the sinking front end of my 2005 XJ8L.
If anyone has any resources that they would recommend in the Los Angeles area I would appreciate knowing them.
I promise to keep you posted as I work my way through it.

 

As far as the car kneeling nightly that is normal. The XJ8 will kneel as they call it after being turned off. The drop is about 2" and then it will return to normal ride after starting up and compressor filling back up.

Your comments sound like it operating as designed, just watch for the air fault indicator. The car is pretty good about telling you when things are going wrong. Jaguars computers are whiners, they cry out at the first sign of anything....

If it is your front air springs, I remember when I had my issue finding a post from a pretty knowledgeable owner who shot photos of the entire process. The only difference I encountered was that the ride indicator was located on the left air ride not the right side one I was replacing.

At the end of the day the dealer did the job for me for $199.00 and I found a genuine Air spring from another dealer for $800.00...

I have tried aftermarket air springs in my Navigator and they were worthless, so didn’t want to take the change with the Arnotts. Keep it as original as possible on the mechanical items and it will be a great car. I have about 100K miles on mine and except for the monitor acting up in the cold she's been pretty good, knock on wood...

 

Please do not pass that around, that is a myth. If the front end drops more than an inch, there is a leak somewhere! Check the maint manual for specs. The prior owner of my VDP told me the same thing, I checked the specs and got his price reduced. My VDP would lower about 2 inches every night, that is about what the drop is when the front air bladders are close to empty. After replacing the shocks, I get about a half inch of drop on a very cold day.

Front: 386 +- 15mm Rear: 373 +- 15mm
Leakage
1mm per day
10mm per week
1 deg C = 1.2mm change

 

Aldo,
If it kneels there is probably a leak. Mine never did that.

 

I ran across this and did not remember seeing it posted anywhere. It provides a great perspective on the task. Worth watching before you start the job.

Download it
Arnott's Front Air Shock R&R HD video for XJ

Or stream it on YouTube
Jaguar XJ Series Front Air Suspension Installation - YouTube

Mine have yet to fail but with all the material in this thread I am not really concerned about it anymore.

 

Thanks to the forum I just replaced my front air shocks with some of Arnotts NEW units. Everything went exactly as outlined here. On my 04 there are 2 front sensors. The only surprise was when finishing the job it was obviously in the completely uninflated postion. Nothing would get the compressor to kick on. Out of the need to move to another spot I moved the car, carefully. Within 200 feet the compressor kicked on and everything is leveled out real nicely. I guess I did not confuse the system as no adjustment seems to be necessary. After a week of driving all seems great. I have basic mechanic skills and a limited tool box. This repair was well within my ability. I saved a bundle and the job took about 2 hours total. BTW, I had my local Jaguar mechanic do the diagnosis to be sure that this was the problem. These shocks are riding real nicely. I am glad I did not opt to remove the air system as I hear it makes the drive more stiff. I bought this car for comfort and I did not want to impair that. Thanks to all for the contributions here.

 

Well done!

This car sometimes needs to be driven around a bit before the suspension will raise-as you have accidently discovered!

 

I'm in the midst of a shot list of maintenance items and I've run into a brick wall. I've already installed new set of brake pads and used one of Andy's kits
to rebuild the suspension air compressor. I then turned to replacing the right front air shocks with one of Arnott's rebuilt factory shocks. They come with a lifetime warranty and after our 10% members discount it ended up costing me only $370 including shipping. I live about 200 miles north of their plant.

All was going according to plan as I had emptied what little residual air was still in the air bag, disconnected the pressure sensor, and unbolted the lower link and upper knuckle bolt. I only have the lower bolt that holds the lower shock mount to the lower A arm to remove....but it WILL NOT BUDGE.

It is something between a 9 & 10 mm. recessed Allen head bolt on one end and a welded on nut at the other. I've used a heavy 1/2" drive air gun, soaked it as best I could for almost 2 days in a bath of PB Blaster, hit it several licks with a heavy hand sledge and steel bar, and pretty much emptied a 14 oz. propane torch on it trying to run it through some heat and cool cycles to get it to loosen it's grip. It appears as tight as the first time I worked it. I don't even want to have to think about disassembling the whole damn front suspension to get it where I could possibly cut it off or drill it out but I may have to if one of you doesn't give me some inspiration.

Any suggestions welcome

 

I've had the same types of "fights" with my suspension. I've replaced 3 of my 4 shocks with Arnotts, as well as countless bushings and control arms to get rid of various "thonks" in the front suspension.

I'm sure you've already tried, but I'll offer that I had a hell of a time until I got a good, 1/2" x 30 inch breaker bar. (I think it was 30, it might be 24). You can't substitute leverage when trying to get these things to budge. They wouldn't budge with an 18" I was trying to use originally, even with the heat cycles.

Mark
'04 XJR

 

Try sliding a pipe over the end of your breaker bar thereby extending it 3 or 4 feet. That usually gets it for me.

 

Funny, but that bolt was mentioned straightaway to me by my local indie last week when I was asking for a labour charge to swap out my air springs for those with a Comfort setting, (it is Sport at the moment). The indie said they were happy to fit used ones provided I purchased them, so no comeback if they fail ! (reasonable enough in my view).

This lower bolt was badly assembled at the factory with no thread antiseize compound used to prevent salt attack. I think some cases there was excessive use of Loctite that locked up the bush inner to the bolt. Being an aluminium part, one cannot apply too much heat to the wishbone that holds the bush, as it will destroy the metal alloy structure. For this reason, they won't provide a labour quote, only an estimate.

 

I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago when I did the Arnott conversion. Everything went smooth until I tried to remove the lower bolt.( You require a Torx 60 bit by the way. ) I eventually got the bolt to turn with a 8 ft piece of pipe on a 3/4 ratchet but all that succeeded in doing was to spread the clevis on the side where the welded nut is. I decided to cut the bolt either side of the bushing, after removing the strut it was very apparent that massive amounts of red Loctite had been put on the bolt before assembly and then pushed through the bushing (instead of putting it on the nut of the strut!) I then made a puller to remove the old bushing and pressed in new ones. By the way the new bolts from Jag have pre applied Loctite. After the car was back together I attempted to press the sawn off bolts in a 50 ton hyd press no chance thar red Loctite is like a weld when close tolerances are concerned.

 

It sounds like poor design-the nut is welded so you can't turn that, you can only

try to turn the bolt which has a large surface area in contact with the steel

tube in the bush.

On top of that they have slapped loctite on it!

On top of that it's a bl##dy Torx!

We feel your pain!

 

Thanks Andy at least I now know it isn't just me. As Meiron added it's a bad set-up and a monster hex head with minimal depth so getting a grip isn't easy. I've arranged to throw in the towel and get it to my local mechanic whom I've used for years with the expectation that he'll have to cut it as you did.

By the way, where did you get a new bushing, from a local parts supply or was it a Jaguar specific piece?

 

Thanks for the several very instructive suggestions. I will report back as to what was eventually done to get the blasted thing loose so I could go about my business.

Any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions as to how best to tackle replacing the a-arm ball joints that have torn dust covers. The joints appear to still be in reasonable shape with no rust or serious debris damage yet but I'd like an avenue to either replace the entire BJ or perhaps just the dust cover. I did purchase a universal type cover for a 1/2" threaded joint that appears to be about the correct length but I haven't figured out how to best seal the top-end of it where it meets the A-arm and the ball portion of the joint. Perhaps I'll just not worry and just make sure it's well filled with bearing grease.

Again, thanks for all the feedback.