Tonight I went to look at a 2004 XJR.
Salvage title, owner claimed he bought it with front bumper hanging off and left front strut broken, not much else wrong with it. He put it back together and fitted a refurb strut.
I noted two small dents in the A pillar (windshield pillar) and a ding in the wheel arch, otherwise car looked straight, all panels looked original colour etc. Door had sticker with matching VIN number.
On the test drive, there was a little knocking noise from that front left corner, is that more trouble with the strut or something more serious.
The seats looked like they were coming apart a little, the leather was not secured to the front underside of the frame. Does that suggest the airbags had been deployed? OR would they have destroyed the covers?
Headlining needed replacing, trim round the outside of the windows was fading, some little scratches on paint, sunroof stuck open at an angle. Everything else seemed to work, parking brake worked, ac worked, seats and windows moved, lights came on automatically, no warning lights on dash.
I need to find a more expensive one to compare the test drive, it was not as smooth nor as stable as I expected. (I have had a couple of Series IIIs in the past).
I also need to do a lot more research here, but excuse my enthusiasm, you know what it is like when you first fall in love again, that rush to snap it up, tempered by her in doors' voice of caution.
Appreciate any comments................

 

'Er indoors sounds like a wise woman ;o))

As with all these sorts of things do your home work.....
Being an XJR, it will natuarally have had a harder life.
That rattle in the front could be something as simple as a loose under panel
or could well lead to something more serious.
Body dings are easily repaired but see if you can get some codes read, if any.

Has the air suspension been fooled around with?
How does the gearbox behave?
Does the engine oil smell, or is black?
How is the coolant level and condition?
How is the general underbonnet/hood area look?

You are obviously going to buy this car at a knock down price but it's a case of caveat emptor my friend ;o]

 

We bought an '04 XJR last August with 74K miles for U.S. $9,500, which was about $5K below Kelly Blue Book at the time (we got a good deal from the PO who is a friend). Only known issues were a few small areas of flaked clearcoat, the typical sagging headliner, curb rash on all four wheels, and an inoperative Adaptive Cruise Control. I don't know everything about the car, but some of the things in that front bumper area to check include the front parking sensors, mounted in the bumper cover (four of them), the Adaptive Cruise Control module and Air Suspension Compressor (left of the radiator & other coolers when viewed from the driver's seat), and proper operation of the HID main beams, which I understand raise and lower automatically depending on whether the Low Beam or High Beam position of the left column stalk is selected (I've never understood the Main Beam/Dip Beam terminology used in the U.K and its former colonies, so forgive my ignorance - hopefully Max will educate me!)

A "paintless dent repair" specialist may be able to sort out the dents, but I have been told that not all body shops are knowledgeable about or even willing to work on aluminum-bodied cars.

Could be as simple as a bushing or two that needs to be replaced, to something more serious like a broken control arm. That should really be checked thoroughly prior to purchase since it could represent a serious safety issue as well as a substantial cost to repair.

I have no idea about this, but your suspicion about the air bags is worth checking out. The first thing to do might be to see if an Airbag warning lamp illuminates on the dash when you turn the key to the first or second position - if not, it is possible that a bulb has been removed to conceal the fact that several airbags deployed and were not replaced.... Have the codes read on this car before you put down your money!

The sagging headliner appears to be very common, which is disappointing given that it was common on Jaguars at least as far back as the 1987/88 XJ40s. Jaguar should have solved this issue by 2004! But you can recover the headliner yourself if you're willing, and while you have the headliner out of the car you can probably repair the sunroof mechanism (it may have just been jolted out of position by the force of impact) or replace it with a salvaged mechanism (a few hundred dollars).


Check the download area of this forum for the owner's manual to see what warning lights should illuminate when the key is turned to Position II, just in case some clever person has removed some bulbs from the instrument display... You will want to have the Electronic Park Brake setting changed by a dealer (or by yourself with the JLR SDD computer-based service tool) so that it does not set itself automatically when you shut off the car.


There is a high likelihood that the suspension of this car is not behaving properly. Our XJR has had some cold-weather issues with the right front shock leaking, and when that happens the suspension flops around like a boat. I've replaced the piston ring in the air compressor (easy job) and things are better, and at temps above the mid-30s F, the suspension is tight and well controlled.

You're preaching to the choir, here! Let us know how the car checks out and what you decide.

Cheers,

Don

 

LOL, yeah passions have cooled after a long nights sleep.
Hopefully I can test a better one, then return this weekend with the OBD kit and see what codes there might be.
I have had a paintless dent guy tidy a car before and he did well, I can ask him about these.
Yeah, checking which lamps illuminate during start up, or don't, seems a wise choice.
Yes, the car is cheap, $6500 obo, hence my interest.
I will post back after the next visit.

 

Except it's not cheap if you have to spend another $5000 fixing it. The car sounds like it has been seriously neglected. Not a good start !

 

I guess we are going to find out. The car will be mine on Sat. He took it to get the sunroof sorted today, was quoted $1000, so we negotiated a $500 discount and I get the car with the sunroof closed, but non-operational.
As I will be taking the headlining out to replace that, might as well have a go at the sunroof too. I have found an XJ8 locally that is being parted out, so hopefully the sunroof there is good.
Only the strut to worry about. It makes the noise when rocked up and down while stationary, so perhaps just a loose bolt, or worn bush. We will find out.
As it is bolster, not seat back, that is loose, it makes sense that it is not the airbags that destroyed it, just the clips came loose from the subframe.
I connected the laptop to the OBDII port, only code was a pending P1111 indicating successful testing, so hopefully all will be well.
I imagine I will update as I progress, I will certainly be spending a lot of time reading the forums anyway.

 

As Fraser already pointed out (now $6,000) is not a steal when you will be dumping $$$ into the car. I would really think twice about this. The sunroof is the least of your worries... (EPB, ZF Trans fluid/filter/pan/sleeve, suspension compressor & struts, bushings, control arms, cooling, aux pump, blocked heater core... And on and on)

I would also be worried about that "pending P1111" - basically means the OBDII code(s) were recently cleared. I'll bet if you hooked up the OBDII to a Jaguar level scanner you will find hidden codes and issues the basic scanner won't uncover.

Just my $0.02 - good luck and read up...

 

I agree, abonano. P1111 was the only code that either my Equus 3130 or Torque could read. Once I got JLR SDD running (the dealer-level diagnostic software with a Mongoose Ford/Jaguar/Land Rover specific pass-through cable), I had eight other codes stored, four of which remain after clearing them all. Cooldood needs to have the codes read by a dealer or independent with the Jag-specific setup.

Cheers,

Don

 

Fraser picked a number out of nowhere, and stated the obvious, no car in this price range is a bargain if you have to spend as much again to fix it, but if it costs me only $800 to fix it then, I think it is a bargain.
Okay, but what is the alternative, spend $11k on a better one? That seems to be the going price around here for the other ones on sale. I have a lot left in the budget before I exceed that amount.

The sunroof seems to be available on eBay for $300, and I am capable of fitting it myself.
Nothing other than the strut is of any concern, and the worst scenario there seems to be buying another strut for $500.
If it needs rebushed, that should not be too much trouble, and is apparently a requirement for any XJ with more than ~70k miles on it, and I cannot afford a car with less than $70k.

I appreciate the warnings, but as this will be a hobby car, and cars have been my hobby for 30+ years (before Youtube was there to show you how to fix everything, before service manuals were available for every car) I am hopeful that I can make something of it.

At least it is a Californian car and most of the nuts and bolts will not be seized.

Time will tell.

 

How serious were these other codes?
I already stated the EPB is fine.

 

Hi cooldood,

I don't yet know how serious the codes are. At least some of them are related to the inoperative Adaptive Cruise Control, which the previous owner had investigated by the dealer and was quoted U.S. $3,800.00 for the repair. Obviously I can drive the car forever without cruise, but in a car capable of going from 80 to 110 in a heartbeat, cruise may save me some trouble, so I'm going to continue to try to fix it. The other codes seem to all be related to the CAN bus having communication problems, so who knows how long they may take to track down or how serious the problems may get before I resolve the underlying issues.

My advice is to have the actual Jaguar codes read so you know what you're getting into (or can back out before it's too late).

No one is questioning your ability to repair this car, so please don't take offense. We're trying to help you make a fully-informed decision, but since it sounds as though you've already made your decision, so go boldly forth and keep us informed!

Cheers,

Don

 

Dont forget to check the hot air heater matrix, not just the AC. The seat and steering wheel heater too.
The gearbox will probably need an oil change too shortly. (don't fall for the lifetime oil statement.)

Oh and be very wary of the P1111 code, thats the reset indicator on my jag absd OBDII system.

 

I picked up the car today, all seems fine.
Drove around a lot, freeway and in town, went to dealers, tried to buy hide food, they did not have a listing, bought leather conditioner instead, ordered Connolly kit off ebay tonight.
Asked about a paint touch up kit, was quoted $50 for a small tin of paint. I did not ask about a full service.
Did browse the new XKRs in the for sale section, but out of my current price range.
Cleaned and polished the car tonight, did an oil change, dropped the tire pressures as they were 35F and 40R.

Going to see local owner that is scrapping a XJ8 tomorrow, expecting $150 for the sunroof, some chrome trims and a plastic piece for the seat.

Then time to work through the other service items.

Car goes well, supercharger sound puts big smile on owners face.

 

Hope all goes well, would be interesting to see some pics and hear about the project progress, in the UK we also had a 3.5 V8 version that I have , mine is a 2003 model ( they were out here a year before over there ), mine has 200400 miles covered and runs like a dream

 

I am an ex-pat, so understand some of the differences between the two cultures.
I uploaded some pictures tonight to my profile/album, let me know if you cannot get to them.
I found one problem, a sidelight was out, luckily I had a pack of LED ones lying around, so the front sidelights and the rear number plate light are updated.
I ordered some touch up paint tonight too, so hopefully that helps hide some of the stone chips.
I collected the sunroof ($150) and the trim piece for the drivers seat ($10) along with some power steering fluid.
I loosened all wheel nuts and re-torqued to 74 lb/ft, so we should be good there too.

 

Hi cooldood,

I just checked out your photos and they look great. That's a beautiful color!

Thanks for posting the pix and for keeping us informed!

Cheers,

Don

 

I didn't realise you're a car hobbyist, (like me !!), so hope you enjoy bringing the car back from the dead. I know how satisfying it can be doing restoration work with one's own hands, so good luck, the money is secondary ! There is now quite a lot of stuff on the internet for these cars now. I saw new-old stock for air spring units at reasonable prices just today.

 

Hi Fraser, indeed, what started off as needs must to keep old bangers on the road when they were all I could afford, has turned into a hobby that allows me to rescue old cars. Gone are the days when I relished lying in the dust changing an engine or gearbox, but hopefully I can still do it if needed.
Biggest issue at the moment seems to be matching the colour of the headlining, my sticker just identifies the trim as "AUX", so my plan to order new material last night has been put on hold and I will try calling the dealer today.

Driving on the freeway, the suspension is lovely, but over the potholes it does clatter a bit, so with a day off coming on Thursday, I might hold off on the sunroof and get under the car and check the bushes and re-torque all nuts. Then power steering fluid replacement and maybe tackle the rear diff. Must order transmission fluid kit too, and a million other service items.
At least I do get to drive this one, and enjoy it, while working on it.
Best sort out radar detector hard wiring too, it is a lot quieter at 80 than my other cars and so much easier to get there without noticing.
The compliments from everyone that sees the car is the added encouragement to make it even better of course. This forum is the font of knowledge to make that task easier, that and the 10,000 page workshop manual.

 

and here we go, a quick use of the "contact us" link on the Jaguar website brought this response to me supplying the last six characters of my VIN.
I am impressed at the 5 minute turn around time it took them to fetch that information and that they would do it for a second hand car that is 10 year old. And I told them so.

Trim Color: Sand
Bond grain Leather Seat
Sand /Sand Facia
Oatmeal Headlining
Sable Carpet
Sand / Sand Console
Twin Needle Stitching
Sable Seat Belts
Sand Stitching
Burl Walnut Veneer

 

If your car is operating correctly the only code you should have is P1111.

It does NOT mean the codes have been recently cleared. If you have a P1000 now that is what you get after clearing the codes. As the readiness monitors set one by one you will see the P1000 gone and the P1111 in its place. Now with a new car I would clear ALL the codes just to see if anything pops up and now you will know they are recent codes.

Be sure and get a cheap ELM327 code reader. Wired or wireless they are just too cheap to not have one!

Suspension knocking is very much pointing to sway bar end links. Since you are a DIY guy you can check these yourself very easily. Remove the end link where it bolts to the front spindle and let it hang. Then drive where you were getting the knocking sound to see if it's any different or gone.

These are wear items and I would just replace them along with the rear sway bar end links.

Finally if you want to get up to speed on Jaguars then get the JTIS and the JEPC . Which are both free to download from this forum. These are the factory shop manual and the factory parts directory.
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