My 19 year old son recently purchased a 2005 Vanden Plas. The car is in pretty good shape and we are going through some minor issues one by one. I have a few questions.

1. We replaced a leaking oil pan gasket which saturated the foam on the lower cover. Is that a replaceable part? Also one of the middle cover nuts is missing and I'm unable to find another with that thread pitch. Looks like an M6 or 1/4-20 but neither fits.

2. The air struts have been replaced with Arnott coil-overs. The front shocks feel off. Are they replaceable or must you get a whole shock\spring assembly?

3. Is there a good source for owners and service manuals?

James

 

Regarding the foam: get rid of foam, keep plastic tray. Some would say remove that too, but then you will need to remove plastic piece between under tray and bumper.
Regarding missing but it is a European car, so all hardware is metric. Take an M6x1 tap and restore thread. I may be off on pitch.
It could be that under PO someone tried to force improper but.

 

Define "shocks feel off." There are two versions of the Arnott coilovers, one intended to replace Comfort air struts (most X350s) and one to replace Sport air struts (mainly XJ-Rs.) If the incorrect kit has been installed, the ride may not be correct. A Vanden Plas would 99.5% need the Comfort set, and if the P.O. installed Sport, they might be a bit harsher than you like.

I have Arnott Comforts on my 2007 XJ8-L and it transformed the car from all but useless into the most comfortable car I've ever owned. My air system sagged overnight so I had to wait at least two minutes in the morning before driving, and the air system would throw codes within 15 minutes. I could get to work and back, but actually going anywhere was unthinkable. It's now the best highway car I've ever had (other than fuel economy, but why is fuel economy a concern with one of these?)

 

I'd follow ebay for an owner's manual. The only service manual I could find for my '04 XJ8 were the thumb drive type which I don't care for but it's the only game in town.

 

Tons of service CD's all over Ebay. Next if you plan to DIY which is the only way a used Jaguar will work. You need the proper manuals. You want the JTIS and the JEPC these are the JLR's OEM documents that were used in the dealerships.
Both free on this forum but will take some work to find and install.
Be aware that these are not good manuals and have tons of repeated junk and are thousands of pages long. But it's pretty much all we have.
.
.
.

 

I agree on the workshop manuals being readily available on the bay as a CD version, but you actually do not need JEPC as you can find the spare parts number online on the official Jaguar homepage:

https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.../brand/jaguar/

I have been using it since I tried to install JEPC without success.

Apart from the manuals, the most important thing is get a Jaguar specific code reader and/or SDD, which is the Jaguar specific software.

Best regards,

Thomas