Hello everyone. I have a newly acquired 95 VDP with 128 K miles.
It has a multitude of issues that I'm getting sorted out using the search engine on this great site. One thing I cannot find is that the whole car leans to the right (no political affiliation either).

My first guess is subframe bushings but the sag is both fore and aft and leaning to the right. A previous owner had new front shocks installed which are black. No labels so I don't know if they are Bilstein or Monroes. Can spring pads or the springs themselves be causing this lean.? Just wondering if anyone else has experiences with body lean.

Thank you for your time.

 

Hi Sadiedog,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums!

It is possible that one or both road springs on the right side have fatigued and are sagging, but an even more likely culprit is the large foam rubber "donut" rear spring isolator bushing, Part 5 in the diagram below, from jaguarclassicparts.com:



The bushing is over 1 inch thick, and over time the foam rubber deteriorates and compresses, and a corresponding amount of body ride height is lost. The right and left bushes can deteriorate at different rates, so it's possible your right one is worse than the left. And when the rear end sags, it tends to pull down the front corner on the same side due to the stiffness of the monocoque body construction.

Unfortunately, to check that bushing the rear shock/spring assembly must be removed from the car, the spring compressed, the shock's top nut removed and the components separated. If you're going to go to that trouble, you should just replace all the bushings while you're at it (and possibly the shocks, too, unless they're still performing well). Here are links to photos showing the rear shock/spring assemblies on our '93 XJ40, which are similar to those on your car:

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page


At the front, the road springs are the primary determiners of ride height, so I don't think the shop that installed the new front shocks could have gotten anything so wrong that it would affect ride height. You can check to be sure the front shock top bushings are installed correctly, one bush on the underside of the wheel well/inner fender, and one bush above:

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page


Aside from the road springs, other components that might affect ride height to some degree include tire inflation, the rear subframe bushes, the bushings in the differential "dogbone" struts, and the front subframe Vee mounts and pivot bushings.

Let us know what you find.

Also, since we're a friendly bunch around here, please visit the https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/n...-intro-must-5/ and post an introduction so we can give you a proper welcome and learn something about you and your Jag.

Cheers,

Don

 

I once talked about this issue with many Japanese enthusiasts and a former dealer clerk, all of them claimed the rear right side is a bit lower than the left side (about 15-30mm).
When I drove X300 I didn't care about it at all and I didn't even compare nor measure the height, so I didn't know about my car, but it seems to be the tendency of X300.
That might be because of the large heavy battery in the trunk.

If no problem was found and the RH rear height is still low, you can add spring packers (2 in the diagram Don B provided)
There are 2 part numbers for the packers, one is for thin one and the other for thick.

MNA3562AA 3.4mm/2.9mm
MNA3562BA 6.55mm/6.05mm

In most cases, 1/3 - 1/2 of the packer thickness of the height difference is needed.
If the RHR ride height is 15mm lower, a 6mm packer should be added.
If too many pacer is needed, then of course the original other on the other side can be removed to adjust the height.