Dear Forum,
For me the main bugbear with these wonderfull cars is NOT the Air Suspension; the problems with that are invariably very obvious, OBD11 coded and very solvable?
My rancour is reserved for the cooling system, with its pretend temperature dial on the dash and its over-reliance on plastics? I do understand that (like the airsprings) this was perfectly adequate for the first 100,000 miles for the buyers who bought these cars new, but that does not help me? I also have an old Rover P6 in the UK and it is bullet-proof!
Personally speaking, I find our cooling syatem over complicated and very fragile!
What do you think?,

 

Hi Esray,

you touch two topics, and the matter of the temperature gauge is not really an issue.

What a lot of car manufacturers (definitely not only Jaguar) have introduced, I believe in the '90s (at last my VW Golf 3 from 1995 already has it), is a system that makes the temperature gauge keep showing the standard temperature as long as the real temperature keeps within a certain range.
Only if the real temperature is outside that range, the gauge will show the real temperature. That's why you see the gauge rising in the warming up phase, and only if there is a problem, you will see the gauge rising above the normal temperature to alert of a problem.

Why was this introduced? Quite simple, lot's of people were starting to panic when they saw the temperature gauge risoing above the normal levels... I know it from my Mercedes 200E from 1990, but I also know how to interpret it and know when to start panicking...

For the second topic, I agree that the cooling system is a bit complicate, and that some parts would be more reliable if built in metal, like the thermostat housing on the n/a cars. But then, we all like our comforts, which adds to the coplexity of the system, and quite a few of older cars tended to overheating because the cooling system was undersized...

My main problem is actually the spare parts policy of Jaguar. For xample, why do I need to buy the metal hoses including the rubber hoses for the heating system, if the only part I need to replace is the rubbr hose?

Unfortunately, nowadays cars are costructed for easy and cheap building in the factory, not for easy maintenance. The same applies to how spares are sold...

Best regards,

Thomas

 

My motorcycle forum is FULL of posts from people panicking because the temperature gauge moves as they ride. "I was in traffic and I got another segment lit up on the temp gauge!!! Should I pull over and shut it off?" (Segment is because the gauge is a series of digital dots on a linear scale, not a pointer dial.) Even though the normal operating range is clearly marked, people go nuts when they see something they haven't seen before.

The "normal until it isn't" mode is precisely to keep the unnecessary service calls down.

OTOH, my Miata is known for being set too far on the "stable" side. Word on those forums is that if it shows overheat, you need to go back in time 15 minutes an shut it off.

 

I have a Scan Guage plugged into the obd port which gives me live info when the car is running. I can pick what I want to see as I drive. I have it set to watch temperature,fuel pressure,charging and mileage. The gauge can also see codes so the unit is very useful.

 

I have an OBDII port powered head-up display plugged in on my Honda and it can display the engine temperature in degrees. It was useful recently when I noticed the temperature fluctuating on the head-up display. This was completely invisible on the instrument panel gauge, which is very damped.
I replaced the thermostat which showed signs of wear. Now the temperature rises more quickly, and stays stable when driving.
Perhaps this could be used in the x350 too, as another way to show the actual temperature.

Pete M

 

Thomas, thank you for your suggestion.

I use an old apple iphone, laying neatly in the (unused) ash tray and connected to the power outlet in my glove box. it connects to a 'car scanner' OBD11 app and (like you) I set it to display my digital speed and my engine temperature. Far from finding this constant readout disturbing, I find it a great comfort, even when it rises when sat at the interminable traffic lights here in Dubai?
In my humble opinion, a dash guage that only starts to react at around the 115 degrees C boiling temperature is too late?
But then, it is only an opinion?