Hello,

I found a 1995 XJ6 however it has a leaking head gasket. The current owner said he drove with it for 30 minutes and then the car was parked.

I wanted to buy this car, but before doing so, I wanted to know, how much will this cost to fix? And when changing the head gasket on this car, what else needs to be changed?

He did lower the price by a lot due to this problem, which has me wondering if I should even buy this car to begin with.

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

Welcome to the forum. A leaking head gasket is not a common occurrence, it may have been overheated and the head is warped. There a many X-300's without major problems at a very reasonable price, so I would stay away.

Please visit the new member area and introduce yourself. Link below. There are many helpful members here willing to offer advice, and much information you can read, including buyers guides.

New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

 

I wouldn't even try to answer that till I knew the "price" and overall condition of the car.

 

Hi George,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums.

You've received excellent advice already. Head gasket problems were common on the '88-'94 cars, but far less so on the '95 and later cars. If I were driving the car when the gasket failed and immediately parked the car, I would have no reservation about replacing the head gasket myself. However, since it was driven for about 30 minutes after the gasket failed, there's no telling what damage may have been done.

If the head is warped, it's possible a machine shop may be able to resurface it. If the surface of the head has eroded between a coolant jacket and combustion chamber, that will have to be addressed. I've done it with J.B. Weld high-temp epoxy, but you may want to have the professionals fill it with new metal before they resurface the head. While the head is off, I would lap/reseat the valves and check and if necessary adjust the valve clearances; check the upper timing-chain tensioner and probably replace the O-ring as well as the tensioner blade; replace the cam cover gasket, spark plug well seals and coil cover seal; check the drive belts and replace if necessary; replace the coolant thermostat; consider replacing the water pump and all the coolant hoses that are difficult to access with the intake manifold in place; and probably some other items.

If you can do all this work yourself and only have to pay for parts, the car could be a good deal if you don't run into any insurmountable issues. If you have to pay someone else to do all this work the car is probably no bargain at any price.

My two cents.

Cheers,

Don

 

I agree with all of the above, but would add that there are cylinder heads available online for relatively modest amounts, some with valves cams etc. Of course they bring a degree of risk too, but if the car is cheap enough, and you would be able to do the work yourself, it might be an interesting project. On the other hand, If you need to pay to have work done, it would be worth having the car assessed by whoever you would be using to do the work. As has been pointed out already, there is no shortage of working examples for sale at very modest prices which would seem like a simpler and safer route to an X300.