Hi all I am considering an 05 with a 4.2 and need the low down... I am no stranger to Jaguar especially the 4.0 V8 but im new to the 05 year 4.2 so please fill me in on the nightmares of this motor and how it compares in problems to the 4.0.... Timing Chain Guide and Tensioner issues????? Head Gasket issues????? Plastic Thermostat Housing Issues??? Ceramic Water Pump Issues???? Carry Extra Coils around where ever you go issues???? Please let me know if they have the same curses..... I am well aware of suspension probs... Just fill me in on all else... If it has a ZF Tranny whats the deal with that please school me for what I am looking at... Thanks all....

 

Wow i gotta say I thought i would get a little help... I guess not....Is it my breath????? LOL Anyway Happy Easter to all enjoy the day and your families.....

 

I' unfamiliar with any problems, but it is Easter weekend and there are a lot of family, car shows, and driving to be done. I'm sure when everyone settles in you will get some helpful response. Not everyone lives at the computer.

 

My two cents:
I have a 2005 VDP with 99k. Bought it 2 yrs ago and have had good experiences thus far. Just normal maintenance so far...just replaced the spark plugs and thermostat. Will be doing the rear brakes (rotors and pads) next month. Been quite happy with it. Fantastic car on the highway and gets 28 mpg.

 

Well, could be; do you chew garlic ? (sorry, only joking !!).

Essentially the X350 4.2 litre engine is a whole lot better than the 4 litre one fitted to the previous model. Out of your list, I think the only one still around is the plastic header tank splitting, the rest is all sorted out. Having said that, the introduction of air suspension put a whole load of new issues up, as you will see if you search on "air suspension". However these cars can run the marathon, and many owners are well into their second 100k miles. I believe one or two cars are well into the 200k miles. So, they can be expensive in parts, but are reliable. A few parts suffer from premature wear, which I call "unfair wear and tear", but like all Jaguars there is an active aftermarket with parts at a lot less cost.

The ZF tranny is pretty much bullet-proof, but the control software seems to need updating when the box has got some (normal) wear on it.

If you have an X308, then an X350 holds no terrors !!

 

Yes, I forgot to mention that the fuel mileage is a whole lot better due to the lightweight aluminium construction. There is very little steel in the car.

 

Just in case you live in a cold environment, prepare for Air Suspension Fault and Vehicle tool low. Mine is quirky in the cold and throws these faults. They fix themselves after the temp increases, but it's always a PITA when you're needing to get somewhere on a cold day.

I am considering the conversion to springs, but will ride out my air bags until one goes south.

 

Thermostat housing, also watch out for the motor mounts, bushings, and tranny pan leak... You know the drill with the suspension, but don't worry, it's a great motor.

 

My wife's '05 with the 4.2 has been great. In fact, we were just talking the other day about how for the first time...ever...she has not wanted a new car after 8 years. The engine is beautiful, strong and nearly problem free.

The only problem we have had is the electric throttle. The TPS in the unit started to fail, which caused the car to go into a limp home mode every 6 months or so. When it reduced to every month, I replaced the throttle unit...in the time I waited the cost dropped from $1300 down to $300.

I have had friends that hated their cars, but the one thing they have in common is they let mechanics touch the car. The more mechanics messed with their cars, the worse they got. It is impossible to find a decent mechanic. I have not ever let one touch our Jag.

Edit, just checked the reciept...The new TB was $560...oops!

 

Difficult but hardly impossible. Your statement insults a lot of good folks.

 

No insult intended. Any good mechanic would not be insulted, but rather would agree that there are a lot more bad out there than good. The good mechanics are swamped with jobs, and so are impossible to get into...

I do not have this oppinion without good reason, so don't get me started on the shoddy workmanship I have had to fix over the last 40 years!

 

Sounds like you need to learn to fix your own stuff.

 

Bingo!!!

That's why I do.

Current project is a 1955 Triumph TR2 that's rusted so bad I have to replace half the metal.

 

Right there with you! Here in South Florida good mechanics are few and far between and the ones that do know what they are doing are swamped. So unless I have to take the heads off, I'm doing it myself.

 

I don't call cjd's answer an insult. I have been associated with the older Jags since 1965 when my Dad brought home an XK 140 MC coupe. I then learned the Jaguars inside an out and was a certified tech in 1988 and am still certified but not by Jag. I worked in a Jag shop and took pride in my work with a no return for same problem by 100%. Same when I was a Certfied Marine Mechanic. Then I worked in a different field and tried to take my stuff elsewhere. When the oil change tech showed me the trans stick and told me my oil was full, never went back. Had a motor problem on my Bass Boat, took it to a known shop, brought it home unassembled, because I had to pay for what I already did and problem was not solved. So, with 45 years mechanical experience still do my own work and for the neighbors, My shop is prepped for full service and restoration and is private. I did find a shop that can be recommeded for domestic cars, but none to date for my Jags or MINIs. And I will try to help on the forum to the best I can without actually standing by the car and seeing what is going on.

 

You may not but I do. Whenever you use "never and always" you lose credibility. He made the blanket statement that you can't find a good Jag mechanic. Guess he never met you.

 

John,

I am with you 100%, If you want to have done something right, do it yourself, that's the only way.

 

Thanks for the support guys!

Red, I reread my posts above, and I don't see "always" or "never" anywhere in them. If you have found a good mechanic, why don't you share with us? I have not been so lucky. As I said, no insult intended for the good mechanics out there...just my straight experience. And that experience is that every time I have given my car to someone else...usually dealerships with factory certified mechanics...I have had to redo what they attempted to fix. Here are some of my classics:

On 3 occasions I received estimates for several thousands of dollars for airconditioning issues...only to find myself the problems were leaky $.50 schrader valves. (Jag dealer, Cadi dealer, Dodge dealer)

After a complete restoration with new parts, took a car into a Western Auto for an alignment and was told the entire front end was worn out and needed $2k in parts. I just laughed and left to put 150k miles on my "worn out" suspension.

Inherited my Mother's Jag. Had to fix the leak in the dif, turn signal, and the tail light. Found the gasket folded over in the dif, the turn signal cam installed backwards, and the tail light not plugged in. Later found receipts from the Jag dealer, showing my Mother had taken the car in and they had worked on....the dif cover, steering column, and the tail light...LOL!!

Latest car is Range Rover. Backup warning didn't work. Removed the bumper cover to find someone else had been there and pinched the sensor wire when improperly installing the cover.

I always (oops, just used that word for the first time) change my own oil, but my Lincoln came with free service under warranty. Let them do the first oil change. I did the second, only to find the tech had cross threaded the oil drain plug...Bwahahaha! One oil change and they screwed it up.


I could go on for hours, but the fact is, if it were easy to find a mechanic, then we would not need this BB!

Asked you not to get me started...

More on topic, My '05 XJ8L has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. My '87 Jag was the least reliable. Jags have come a long way in the last 20 years.

 

Going back to the original topic... I think you will find the engine quite reliable. The suspension issues are the big (expensive) problem with these cars and replace the header tank if that has not already been done. But once those are fixed, you should be ok for a good amount of time. Now that our XJ8L is 8 yrs old it is tending to throw a few more errors which trigger check engine light warmnings. They tend to be "misfires" and the diagnostic report will show which cylinders they occur on. Since it happens in the California winter and is evenly distributed across all the cylinders (not one coil specific or one spark-plug specific), we figure it is due to the cruddy blend of gas you get in California during the winter months (the only common element that would cause all cylinders to "misfire"). To be safe, we had an injector flush done and reflashed the computer. I have never been totally happy with the transmission shift behavior, even after reflashing the transmission a couple times. It will tend to get confused as to whether it wants First or Second when you slow down to a near stop and then accellerate. There is a momentary slip follwed by a grab... but it has never worsened nor failed, so I'll just consider this to be a "feature" and carry on. My wife is talking about getting a new SUV and I am seriously considering keeping the XJ8L for myself... even though I really don't need anything that big (I usually drive my MGA or Etype) - I would just hate to see the car go away. Tom

 

And my 1980 XJ6 I bought in 1988 was probably 10 times worse, yet I kept that car for 14 years !! Now I have another XJ6 which has to be 100 times better than the old one I had, but not fault free.

Why do we still love them so much ?