Have not been driving the Cat very much lately. Fixed a couple small items and decided to start it more.
But in two days it developed a “squeak” when running over small bumps in the road.
Decided to fix it if possible. Found pushing down on passenger fender would generate the sound. Checked all four corners and passenger front was the only wheel that made noise.
Drive up on the handy Rhino ramps and looked. Sprayed all the bushings with silicone lubricant. Drove and sound was a little better.
Looked at the strut and the plastic cover was loose at the bottom. The clamp had fallen off.
Lubed up the inside of the plastic cover and it is very quiet now. Was going to replace the strut.
If your front end makes noise take a look. May be an easy fix.

 

Love those cheap, &easy fixes.

 

Well, squeak is coming back. Will try a tie wrap to attach the dust cover back.

 

It's not your cover it's the shock mount. Spray the top of the shock mount REAL GOOD with WD-40 on both sides and do it again in a week. I had the same problem and some good person on here gave me the fix...

 

Bill,
Did you just spray in the hole around the shock?
Whatever I did at first helped, but squeak is not totally gone. Spraying everything definitely fixed for a few short trips. But has not proved long term fix.
So spraying lube around the top of the shock will work down to where the rubber is moving around?
The few days it was quiet reminded me of why I keep the car. Smooth, powerful, good looking. The squeak over bumps just ruins the feeling.

 

It could be the ball joint on the top wishbone.

 

Yes, the shock tower has an opening and you can see part of the disk. I sprayed WD-40 all around the top and let it soak in for a few hrs and redid it again 3 times. It's been a month and the squeak hasn't returned. If you do that and it still isn't fixed then you need new disks. Just make sure you put in Urethane disks. You can find them on Ebay for around $170. ( Jaguar XK8 (1997-2006) Urethane UPGRADED Shock Mount PAIR - MJA2170BD) Good luck.

 

I will try the lubricate multiple times. Plus spraying all the rubbers seemed to help before. A couple of days of total silence really made an impression on me.
I really hope it is not an upper front ball joint.
When I bought a he car it was a shock once the condition of ALL the suspension bits was seen. I thought maybe the car was soaked in gasoline or another rubber eating chemical.
Replaced all the rubber; new upper wishbones and ball joints front and rear, new lower rear control arms add ball joints, new front tie rod ends, new rear toe adjusters, new roll bar links, new roll bar bushings front and rear, checked the frame bushings when it was all apart.
The front lower curved arms looked new, rebushed the front lower straight arms. All airsprings are rebuilt and have a new compressor.
The parts from Ford were way cheaper than Jaguar five years ago. Seems they are about the same today.
Only have maybe 12,000 miles on the cars since the complete suspension replacement. I should have the tightest X350 XJ on the road. The squeak is killings me.

 

"The squeak is killing me."

I know. I drove my car home 212 miles after purchase and by the time I got home I wanted to burn it. It was worse than having the wife in the passenger seat.

 

It was worse than having the wife in the passenger seat.


That IS bad.

 

I drove mine to a Greek Festival last night. By the time was headed home the squeak was bad. Got under it his morning.
Mine is the air spring bushing. It has shifted and the nut is rubbing the curved control Arm.
It has shifted more since I last crawled under to look.