Least expensive Jaguar repair I've ever had
 

The door brake (you know, the mechanism that holds the door open) became inoperative, and when open, the driver's door would swing freely. Somehow, this led to the pull handle and inside door panel coming loose. The result of that was the bottom of the door panel would jam against the lower door sill, and one couldn't open the driver's door from the outside. Best to fix everything at once. Upon disassembly, I discovered nothing wrong with the door brake, except that it had torn the door sheet metal at the attachment points. By putting over sized washers on the attachment bolts, the door brake now works fine. The door panel's problem was from broken "christmas tree" fasteners--those plastic things that are simply pushed into the receiving hole, instead of threaded screws or bolts. While the repair was a little aggravating, it wasn't very difficult. Total cost of parts, less than $6.

Hi sharay38,

Thanks for reporting your successes! It's always a nice feeling to use your personal ingenuity to resolve issues without having to spend big bucks.

Cheers,

Don

my cheapest was fixing broken windscreen squirter.
I went to wreckers and found some from a Toyota van. Wrong shape, but glued onto the black plastic base piece across bottom of windscreen, and connected up to hose - works fine. about $5

Thanx to all for your comments and encouragement. I did forget to mention that the "christmas tree" fasteners were a design unique Jaguar, thus, the replacement parts were available only from the dealership.

The oil pressure sender, $29.00 for the part from Jaguar and 10 minutes to put it in.

The front lower shock bushing was $3.17 and eliminated a terrible clunking.

Absolutely marvelous. How are things in the "Burgh"?- my original stomping grounds.

Free!

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...carman-111454/

I needed to buy on of those "Tee" twist nuts that one finds in the engine compartment holding some of the vanity panels in place. The part is tiny but quite expensive, being over $10 if I recall.

Well, I was removing the undercarriage plastic panel to work on my radiator lower bracket, and out fell the nut onto my chest.

Free :D

.

my 97 xj6 has this annoyance as well! the driver's door swings freely and it also gets stuck on the sill. if I were even a little mechanically inclined I would try to do what you did, but I'm too ascared

Don't be scared. The door brake really was a simple repair, just do one bolt at a time. If the inner panel is only unattached at the bottom, you may not have to remove it. The plastic "christmas tree" fasteners have a hook that attaches to the panel, which is what breaks. Just pry the broken fastener out of the door, hook the new fastener to the panel and simply press the fastener into the grommet on the door. Good luck!

Cheapest & simplest fix was the very first repair on my 1996 XJ12. It's really a great story.

Saw the car on eBay motors, 90k miles, beautiful body and paint, very good interior, "bad engine." I drove 50 miles to see the car. It started and idled perfectly, smooth as silk. CEL on and wouldn't get over 35mph with my foot to the floor. No power AT ALL. Owner's gas station mechanic wouldn't touch it and said the engine was probably bad or the cats were plugged.

Over the next week, I got the very odd owner down from $3000 or so to $1850, and had the car towed home (another $300). I started to regret the purchase when it was rolling off the flatbed in the driveway, thinking I might just have a really good looking lawn ornament.

I pulled the codes. Just one for the MAP sensor. No converter or misfire codes. I opened the hood that afternoon and gave the engine a once over while it was running. I opened the throttle, the engine would rev SLOWLY and bog down. Sounded terrible. I noticed something didn't look right. Both throttles (left and right bank) weren't moving exactly the same. Turns out the RH throttle wasn't opening at all. The nut that tightens the throttle linkage around the knurled throttle shaft was loose!!! The linkage was just slipping around the shaft. I tightened it and BAM! Smooth, silky power. The car was only running on 6 cylinders. That's why it idled perfectly but wouldn't rev, and why the MAP code set. One sensor (LH bank) reading zero vacuum with your foot to the floor while the RH sensor was high vacuum (at idle).

Net cost $0.00. 2 minutes with that spanner gained me about $4,000 in book value. And the car has been excellent since, that was 8 months ago or so.

Nick