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Also, you can split the engine and supercharger cooling into two completely separate loops
The supercharger intercooler has it's own pump so you just divorce the plumbing and add in a reservoir for the intercooler. You should also upgrade that pump while you're in there.
Bingo, that's a great guide, especially reusing the stock rubber mount. To my knowledge, the ZZP pump is the best on the market so that's what I went with.
Thomas is absolutely correct that replacing the valley hose is more important. Plus if you already have replacement or repaired radiators, well that kinda settles that.
Apologies for not thanking you guys, too much is going on. We filled that the normal way and so far, so good. So I got my car back ) Two interesting things:
1. Grille - the cheapest one I could find here was about $800. I had the X350 one available from the donor. I took this round jag emblem from the shattered one, paid $30 to paste it in the x350 grille, bought two of those plastic "tuning" meshes for $5 each, and spent an hour cutting and forming them on the grill cover itself. Not the best picture, since a close up, you and I know its not the original, but trust me, it looks good enough for all the others not to suspect it has not come out of factory. I will still decide if I want to keep it, or will I get the proper grille from Japan, as suggested by Jaroslav. Especially since the original is heavier on chrome, and I'm not sure I like it.
2. Fender - the cheapest one I could find was almost $700, but the guy that had it left for vacation and I would have to wait. I had two: the crashed x358 and x350 from the donor. I said: I'm taking all the risk in case it fails, let's cut them in half, leave the x358 rear and x350 front and weld them together. They were reluctant - the aluminium is too thin, like a can, I insisted. Knowing what happened I examined the end effect from very close and haven't noticed a smallest hint that fender has been two fenders before. Both the body guy and the welder imho represent world class skills. Both fitting and welding have been closer to $200 than $700. I assume the stakes are abstract for some of you
It's not just because I'm cheap and poor, I like to be creative and find it satisfying to be effective Besides, I was not sure the car is worthy and didn't want to invest prior I know. Once I got the car, I went for a MOT or whatever you call this mandatory inspection. All good except the LF absorber, that according to the computer had 0% effectiveness. Got back, took the absorber from the donor, changed it (was surprised, that Portfolio has red shocks, not green - the one I had) and finally passed the inspection. I thought I had it, but after the change an Air Suspension Fauit comes up 5-10 minutes after ignition. I thought maybe it's a calibration issue only, but after the car stood for 30 hours I see that the RF side for a change has deflated completely. So my assumption is I need to replace the second absorber and hope for the best?
I hope I'm really close, will post more pictures and a summary of all costs. So I got myself new radiators (the intercooler one was fixed), obviously changed the oil and want to change the gearbox oil as soon as it works. I think the coils and plugs have been changed already, what else would you suggest? Braking fluid. diff oil, power steering? If the car is good enough, I'll think of a separate intercooler line, etc.
So I had some issues with suspension, turns out that my old shocks solved my problems so far, I had to exchange 3 out of 4 to get rid of the air suspension fault. I'll replace with new as soon as I get confident with the car. Then I had to replace the stabilizer links in the rear. And finally, when I was ready to floor it and enjoy the whine, something's wrong with the tranny. Everything works lika a charm on low revs - thankfully this car is roadworthy even below 2,5 krpm, but when I floor it, there's a bang, it seems it loses the gear and starts to rev like it switched to neutral - no torque transferred to wheels. That's my instant impression, I've tried it twice for seconds and was too afraid to recreate the effect without getting some advice first. I managed to get the original ZF pan and fluid for a reasonable $200, but didn't touch it, since the current pan seems new and someone wrote 03'2025 on it. It could be the case the oil and pan has less than 1000 km. I'm reading and will reach out to 6hp26 gurus, but any advice would be very appreciated. I hope so much this will be the last piece of the puzzle
So I had some issues with suspension, turns out that my old shocks solved my problems so far, I had to exchange 3 out of 4 to get rid of the air suspension fault. I'll replace with new as soon as I get confident with the car. Then I had to replace the stabilizer links in the rear. And finally, when I was ready to floor it and enjoy the whine, something's wrong with the tranny. Everything works lika a charm on low revs - thankfully this car is roadworthy even below 2,5 krpm, but when I floor it, there's a bang, it seems it loses the gear and starts to rev like it switched to neutral - no torque transferred to wheels. That's my instant impression, I've tried it twice for seconds and was too afraid to recreate the effect without getting some advice first. I managed to get the original ZF pan and fluid for a reasonable $200, but didn't touch it, since the current pan seems new and someone wrote 03'2025 on it. It could be the case the oil and pan has less than 1000 km. I'm reading and will reach out to 6hp26 gurus, but any advice would be very appreciated. I hope so much this will be the last piece of the puzzle
Actively rooting for you man. I've been lucky in only working through relatively minor issues but I know my battle with the suspension will soon come.
If you're eager to tackle it yourself, this gentleman has a great video series where he talks through the various components and what to replace:https://youtu.be/aX0bhui8UXA/
As always you start with the codes. What scanner do you have and what codes does the car have?
It does not look good because if the transmission has been serviced so recently and your still having problems.That tells you the fluid is not the problem. Now these are not simple to refill and I would for sure check that the transmission has the proper fluid level. That can cause all kinds of problems. Next let's hope (Assume?) that whoever did the service used the correct fluid. Might be worth taking a look at a small sample?
I would NOT jump to some random video and start following it!
Many times what looks like a transmission problem is the transmission trying to adapt to the car but the car is not working right.
Post back with what you find.
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Very nice of him to share so much. I've been driving an x350 since 2012 and do have some experience of the tranny not being smooth. This time is different - it's super smooth if driven lightly, then I press the pedal, get transmission fault. start again, it's smooth again. First I went to the ZF people. They said the problem is they can't connect to TCM at all, first the connectivity needs to be restored. I didn't trust them, went to an indy with SDD. With SDD they had no problem connecting to TCM, reading gears or oil temp, but it had NO fault codes whatsoever. They couldn't connect to five other modules for a change. All I could get today.
Attached is the SSD. My gut feeling tells me it might be about the first 0402 - ABS receiving invalid data from TCM - intuition tells me its electronic, not mechanical, Maybe someone could relate. @clubairth1, thanks, can you take a look?
If SDD is not connecting to 5 modules I think that will need to be fixed before you can move forward?
Have the codes been cleared to see what comes back? U codes (Network Codes) tend to point to low voltage situations and I ignore those. At least in the beginning.
There is a general reset in SDD but not sure if that would do anything for your problem or not.
The 171 and 174 codes are very common and usually indicate air leaks somewhere in the intake system. On old cars the plastic intake piping can crack. Look underneath the plastic and make sure the air box lid is on right.
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... took the absorber from the donor, changed it (was surprised, that Portfolio has red shocks, not green - the one I had) and finally passed the inspection. I thought I had it, but after the change an Air Suspension Fauit comes up 5-10 minutes after ignition. I thought maybe it's a calibration issue only, but after the car stood for 30 hours I see that the RF side for a change has deflated completely. So my assumption is I need to replace the second absorber and hope for the best?
Sopa-suds test it. Cooler weather, the common age-driven failure leaks at the top of the strut.
Worst-case, swap-in one or a pair of newly-made Chinese replacement air struts. My US source was "Strutmasters".
They have no electronic shock modulation, but I do not really miss it as much as I WOULD miss the auto-leveling function they still DO preserve. A downgrade to steel-spring 'coilovers' has to abandon that nice feature as well as abandoning the shock modulation.
Worst-case, swap-in one or a pair of newly-made Chinese replacement air struts.
Turned out I had a leak at the rear and had to replace 3 shocks from the donor, so far so good. Surprisingly I had no problem with them in the donor for the last 13 years, so who knows. I heard the Chinese are very rough, and imho stripping the comfort and CATS takes so much of the car's character, I'd hate that. But heard Arnott is different story and they preserve everything - great if someone could confirm. They're more expensive, but not that much.
@Jaroslav - I have my old X350 to strip / scrap, so if you need something...
Still no clue with the gearbox, I've tried to gently rev it over 4 kprm limiting to second, third and fourth, all seems fine. The thing left is that I need to ensure tranny is filled up to the top with oil, since the radiator was exchanged, but the oil symptoms are different, those trannies rode fine even missing two or three liters. So most likely it has to do with downshift. My OBD gives me values called 'Pressure Regulator X Driver' (1-6) as 0.05 - 0.85 Amps. Is anyone familiar with that? Google doesn't know.
I heard the Chinese are very rough, and imho stripping the comfort and CATS takes so much of the car's character, I'd hate that. But heard Arnott is different story and they preserve everything - great if someone could confirm. They're more expensive, but not that much.
Not so. Ride is very pleasant, good road and bad. 'For a time' there were even Chinese ones WITH ECATS modulation. Haven;'t seen those in a year or three.
Not to forget the major makers, JLR and Benz included,. but not-only, all have JV factories IN China and make or buy a LOT of parts for brand-new production right there, 'locally', and insist it meet their QC.
IIRC, Arnott BEGAN in the shock/strut bizness as a rebuilder, refurbing OEM Bilstein shock innards and replacing the Goodyear-made air bladders. THOSE early days Arnott's would have retained the ECATS modulation solenoid. Their current products do NOT have it.
Absence of ECATS doesn't affect ride smoothness as much as it means giving-up enhanced anti-squat on acceleration and anti-dive on hard braking. I said "enhanced" because it didn't really add so much extra as to make a huge difference to a suspension geometry that is already rather good at managing both of those extremes.
Keep in mind that very few cars EVER had CATS/ECATS, and folks are generally happy with 'coilover' conversions that are simpler yet.
Easy to test. Won't cost you anything. Simply pull the electrical connector at all four shock tops and ignore the amber warning LED and error message. Auto leveling still works. The CATS only affects shock absorber rate - stiff or not so stiff. Nothing to do with the AIR strut side at all.
Now go and drive your favorite roads, 'as usual' for a few days. Or weeks. Your own spine & attached softer goods will tell you - to your own standards, not mine - whether CATS is a big deal ....or mostly adverhooring hype.
Besides..... at an hour or less per-corner to change, and at only about 3/4 the cost per-corner of the Conti gummiwerke rubber 'DWS' high-speed-rated beach sandals my X350 wears?
Struts are no longer a major issue. Run your salvaged ones until they leak (cold weather coming..).
Swap-in whatever you can best afford.... and carry-on.
BTW.... The 2005 MY X350's's are old enough to VOTE, this year. How much 'same as new' do they still owe us?
Are newer Jaguars better? Not with depreciation AND Loudoun's County's confiscatory Personal Property Taxes they are not!
I haven't bought a NEW car since the 1984 "Wagoneer", and I am far the better for it!
Absence of ECATS doesn't affect ride smoothness as much as it means giving-up enhanced anti-squat on acceleration and anti-dive on hard braking.
So in theory it also stiffens LH or RH or both on lateral acceleration, theoretically improving handling and making the car safer. Sure I agree it's subtle, but why resign if it's already there.
Originally Posted by Thermite
Simply pull the electrical connector at all four shock tops and ignore the amber warning LED and error message.
I've re-experienced both Air suspension fault and CATS fault lately, latter due to a loose connector on the front shock, when the car switched to stiff mode, and that was a pain imho Wouldn't happen if all were disconnected, but it was a good reminder why I like the air suspension so much
Originally Posted by Thermite
Are newer Jaguars better?
No bloody idea, completely lost interest in the brand post 2009
Since I'm stuck with tranny, one additional question i didn't see urgent:
When I saw the car under the hood, I just assumed the previous owner just mounted some insulation and a larger intake. Larger to the point, that a piece of cloth under the hood had to be cut out. I thought there could be no harm in that. But the SC (intercooler) covers are different, your have Supercharged written on them, I don't. Can you help me guess what happened there and what could be the reason? The fun of buying from Copart
) Two interesting things:
