Hi XJ4Life,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums. It's great to have you with us, though I'm really sorry to hear about the vandalism to your Jag. In over 25 years of Jaguar ownership I've worried that some fool would mess with my leaper but so far I've been fortunate.

Since leaper size and mounting points vary with model, it will help others help you with suggestions for sourcing a new leaper if you will use your User Control Panel to edit your signature and add the year, model and engine displacement of your Jaguar.

Was your hood damaged? Your auto insurance may help with the cost of the repair and the new leaper.

Cheers,

Don

 

That sux! LOW LIFE's
i kind of thought the same when i converted my car from no Leaper ,
to a car with a hole in the bonnet/hood and Leaper.
i thought it was maybe introducing an invitation for damage .
ive had no issue thank fully , best of luck with your replacement one.
i bought one from china on ebay regardless ,
5 years ago , its still there looking pristine !
they are great quality especially for the price .
i payed $30usd 5 years ago .so no big deal if the idiot doesn't damage
the bonnet/hood to get there fix.
i see they are $20usd now . cheep as chips

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Jaguar-...3eUi:rk:1:pf:0

 

The hood wasn’t damaged. It was like they yanked it and broke the cable then just set it down. Vehicle is a 2004 Vanden Plas 4.2 litre. I had put that down as my signature when I first joined and saved the changes but it never shows up. I even checked just before replying. It still there as my signature, I don’t why it doesn’t display it.

 

Thank you. A cowardly act indeed. I had the hood ornament on my Cadillac broken as well. Luckily my Lexus doesn’t have one, because I’m sure some reject would break it too.

 

This may not have been vandalized. My cable rotted, and the leaper just fell over on the hood right in front of my own eyes. Look at the cable. If it's rusty, thats what happened. Most of the time when they are vandalized, they steal the leaper.
Search the forums, and you will see it's a common issue, and can be repaired as I did with bicycle brake cable and some swedges.
Mark

 

15 years ago I worked as a detailer at a Jag dealership. I was washing a customer's X308 and when I got to the leaper, it fell off in my wash mitt. Similar to your experience, the cable had rusted through.

 

I remember the older leapers were not spring loaded. When some jerk stole the leaper, it bent the bonnet all to hell. Then you were really pissed.

 

My wife walked in last winter and asked what happened to my hood ornament. Rushing to the driveway I could see it was missing! Fortunate for me it was laying in front of the car. The old carbon steel wire had just corroded after 14 yrs. All the other bits, springs, etc. were there. I replaced it with stainless cable and Cu crimped ferrules.

- William