This is a long and somewhat rambling post. Feel free to skip to the pictures. I just wanted to share how my new Jaguar adventure started.

I needed to sell my 1970 Mustang to free up some funds to move forward with my XJS. I put it up for sale on CL last year before Thanksgiving with no takers. The Holidays are usually not the best time to try to sell a hobby car. I relisted in February and it was sold within two days. I had been thinking that I could use a more practical hobby car, as there were three Mustangs at my house. I was getting tired of the small trunk, tiny backseat, and rough ride of my older models. I missed having a plush car as I had driven many Cadillacs of different models and vintages. I had always been attracted to the XJ6 and had admired the styling and interior of these cars for years. After a lot of research on this forum I decided to go with the X300 series. I liked the clean low styling and the beautiful interior design. It looked to me as the perfect evolution of the Jaguar sedan, updated tradition based styling combined with modern features and driving characteristics.

I found a real nice 95 XJ6 listed in Los Angeles on CL. It looked really great in the pictures. It was BRG with a two tone grey interior. It had a mesh grille and best of all had these beautiful 17 in. wire wheels. Why not drive 350 miles and look at an old Jag? I figured if the car was pretty good I could drive it for awhile then put the wires on my XJS. I called the seller and asked some questions and told him that I would be down to see it next weekend. My wife was glad to go (and let the house pick up the bill) as we decided we could go to the Long Beach Antique Faire that weekend also.

When I finally saw the car it was a bit of a surprise and a let down. First of all it was an XJR. I thought that it might have been, but it was not described as such in the ad, I don’t think the seller, a sort of used car broker, was too familiar with Jaguars. The paint was a little thin in a couple of places and there was a noticeable scuff on the rt. front fender and a very shallow dent/scuff on the left rear quarter, The front bumper had a little damage to the underside and there were a couple of little dings. The interior was in great shape. The leather was a bit dirty but almost perfect and the dark smoked woodgrain was perfect. The owner’s manual had the original window sticker from a San Diego dealer bearing the list price of over 66,000 dollars. Overall the car would make a fine driver. Except it didn’t. The supercharged engine fired up right away and sounded fine and settled into a smooth idle. I stepped on the brakes and nothing. He called his mechanic over to take a look at it and he decided it needed a new master cylinder. I was kind of annoyed as he had a week to get the car in shape before I got there. Still the car was not bad, the price had been lowered to 1,800 dollars and that, was also negotiable. The seller said that they would fix it that day. I had planned to stay in the LA area until Monday morning and told him I would check back with him tomorrow, as I was still interested in the car. I disregarded the seller’s claim that there was another buyer coming down later.

I called the seller the next day and he told me that the next buyer had taken it just like that. Okay fine, I wanted a driver, and I noticed that the back seat was kind of cramped. What to do? Well I was still in LA and I still had money burning a hole in my pocket. So back to CL. I saw many XJ6s’ listed but one caught my eye. It was a 97 XJ6L and it was white and looked pretty clean. The seller was a mechanic/ shop owner and stated that the car had been tuned up, oil changed, cam cover gasket changed, and would be smogged and ready to go. I went to look at the car on my way out of town. The seller, an older gentleman named Vic, had a little garage in the Eagle Rock district nestled among a small group of used car lots. He said he handled a lot of repair work for the little dealers around him. These lots contained some very interesting cars for sale, 1980s, 1990s, early 2000s Mercedes, BMWs Jaguars and even a clean little Porsche 944 for sale. (This would definitely be a great place to browse for interesting cars.)

I saw the car and it was very clean with shiny paint, only a couple of really small dings, and really nice interior. I loved how much legroom was available in the backseat.I was looking for a driver so I was glad to see that it had good tires, all the lights and accessories appeared to work, the motor displayed some new hoses and it was quite clean under the hood. The underside was clean with no oil dripping down. I took it for a test drive and it drove very smooth and quiet and Vic told me he had just charged up the A/C which was nice and cold.The title was clean and the reg was good until the end of the year. I was hooked, this was a real beauty and still smelled clean with a little of that new car smell still lingering. A deal was quickly made. A price was agreed upon. I gave Vic a deposit and told him I would be back in a week to pick it up. My poor truck had towed my XJS home last September but with the V6, I didn’t want to put it through that again. Going up the Cuesta grade outside of Paso Robles had been quite an experience.

We decided to rent a car one way and drive the Jag back. We also decided to take in the Ventura flea market that Sunday so the house would pay for most of the weekend’s expenses. This was going to be a baptism by fire, over 340 miles one way in one day. We loaded up all our flea market finds in the trunk and backseat of the XJ6. What could go wrong? Plenty, right? I had faith that Vic was being honest with me, but even more important, I had extended range towing with AAA. Tie all the tows together and it could be delivered to my driveway if need be.

We left LA with high hopes. As I went along I figured out how work the AC, the radio and the cruise control. Set it at 70 mph. and that beautiful Jag sailed up highway US101 like a dream. No problems at all. I thought to myself “This is what it must feel like to be rich!” I think I found a keeper.

 

Well done.

Confidence MATE, must have confidence, and Jags are soooooo reliable, especially the X300.

The XJ-S will get prissy, but will settle EVENTUALLY.

 

I can see why so many people love these cars. I plan to use this car every day.

 

I use mine everyday and on every trip, LOVE it! I still get compliments on it daily. The X300 is a very refined, smooth motorcar that is exactly what Jaguar stands for..Grace, Pace and Space!

 

Congratulations on a nice find! It's not so easy to find these cars still in decent condition. Welcome to X300 ownership, one of the "easiest" Jags to own! Good read too.

 

I've been driving this car everyday since I bought it two weeks ago. Believe it or not mileage is about 750 miles so far. It's been running really good. However now with a break in the weather I'm going to turn my attention to my XJS. I've checked out a transmission shop and I will set up an appointment for an evaluation. I needed to have an extra key made for the XJ6 as well as the XJS. I went to Schwenk Lock and safe in San Jose near Valley Fair mall. He had blanks for both type keys. The replacement 1997 stick type key was 65.00 since it didn't have a sensor. I think he said that a sensor key would be 120.00. The keys for the 1989 XJS were 6.00 ea. The ignition key worked fine, but the door key only works in the trunk. I will go back later with the car to have another key made. The owner of the business is a pretty gruff old man, not really rude but he doesn't like to waste his time. The address is 60. N Winchester Blvd. and the phone number is (408) 978-0403.

 

Just came back from a 300 plus mile trip to Sacramento this weekend. The car ran great Total mileage in my care is now over a thousand miles. A couple of days before I left, my rear window mounted brake light fell off. I tried some high strength double sided tape but it fell off after sitting in the sun for several hours. I found that the mounting pads just slide out of the light assembly. I scraped all traces of tape off, washed them with solvent, then filed the mounting point flat. I discovered that these were made of black finished aluminum, not plastic. I was going to use rear view mirror mounting adhesive but the package stated not be used on plastic. Since I thought that the brake light mounts were plastic I looked for something else. I used JB Weld Minute Weld. It's a two part adhesive that comes in one of those double tube syringes and dries clear. It has held on for five days so i think it's gonna stay put.

 

Heh, just about 4 miles down the road from my old house in SJ

 

I see that my last post was at the end of March, here it is almost in the middle of August. It's been over four months. I've put on almost 8,000 miles, the speedo will pass the 151,000 mile mark this week. I'm taking the family to the Pismo Beach area this weekend. In other posts I described the trip I took to Washington State. That was an almost two thousand mile trip over two weeks and the car was supremely comfortable. I'm taking advantage of my good fortune by driving the car every chance I get.

Yesterday was the first oil change of my ownership. While I often do most of the regular repair and maintenance myself, I know a very good mechanic and I wanted to have the car put on a hoist so that I could take a look underneath. We inspected the rear end found no leaks and the universal joints looked fine. The exhaust system and hangers were all in good shape. The trans was not leaking but there was a very small leak at the front of the oil pan. He cleaned that up so I could better isolate the cause. I had not found any drops under the car so far. The front suspension looked fine. I check all four wheels for looseness and all checked out fine. Best of all, there was no sign of rust or collision or suspension damage. I was quite happy about the inspection result.

There are myriad small things to be attended to: The hood and trunk struts, the fuel sender unit, the loose door panels, and the loose rear view mirror. The mirror actually fell off on the return home from buying the car. It was loose and bounced around and slipped off. My wife got pretty good at putting back on while we were in motion.

I tried to tighten the mounting clips without much success. I used gorilla tape to hold it in place. This worked until one day in Santa Rosa the hot sun melted the adhesive and the mirror slipped off again. I cleaned everything off then tried again using velcro straps. Two strips along the sides and two over the top of the base. This actually worked pretty well, it only slipped forward a bit but didn't come off. That mirror is so darn heavy. Since it's loose in the mount it really flops around going over bumps. This causes it to slid forward off the mount, but it can't move far enough to actually fall off. I thought that maybe there was originally some kind of rubber ball or shock absorbing material in between both halves of the mount. This could dampen the mirror's bouncing. I used a piece of closed cell foam tubing which I placed inside the mount as I slipped the mirror on. I found one of those little foam Nerf arrows that the neighbor kids shot over my fence. I used about an inch long piece. It seems to have worked to dampen the bouncing and allow the mirror to remain in the proper position when held by the velcro straps.

I was at the wrecking yard and got an 98 XJ8 mirror which uses the same mount. If I get tired of messing with the original. I also picked up a nice oval Ford mirror that I might use if I get tired of messing with either of the Jaguar units. I bought the repair kit that comes with the glue and the windshield button. so I'm covered either way.

I'm trying to clean out my garage so I can put my XJS inside and swap out the trans. I think clearing out the garage is going to more work than swapping the trans. I have been having second thoughts about whether or not I even need the XJS, I have been perfectly happy with my XJ6 and it is just the perfect car in my life, beautiful, capable, useful and satisfying to own and drive. But I'm not in any hurry to make any decisions. I will fix the XJS first, then decide.

 

Just thought that I would post an update a year later. I managed to put 12,000 miles on the car since purchase. It still looks great and I still love it. It's about time to go through the front end and replace some suspension bushings. It had started to pull to the right a bit and after time its getting worse, I wore the left tire down on the inside edge before I noticed. I've had other things going on, not only with the XJS, but my Mustang GT and my other vehicles. I'm in the middle of the trans swap on the XJS and since I have it in the garage, I am taking my time. Unfortunately my back isn't as good as it used to be and I have to take it easy. Still need to be able to make it to work!

I think that I will have to conserve my efforts and and physical endeavors in the future. I really do need to cull the heard. I can handle working on one old car but not three or four.

I made the decision to use my XJ6 as a driver, and have used it for everything. Luckily my total daily commute is only 22 miles, so the XJ6 is still used in the driving rotation. I don't like the idea of letting it sit for days and weeks at a time, it seems that these cars don't like to be ignored! I won't use it for any long trips until i address the bushings. I'm still very happy with this car and I hope to keep it and use it for a few more years, maybe even longer. I don't want to replace it at this time, though I'm always doing my research. In the future I plan on working my way up the XJ ladder. My next car would probably be a 2007 or 2008. Then I would like one of the later models maybe a 2014 or so. I would like it to be new enough to be a CPO or something that still had some warranty on it.

I hope to have the XJS up and running soon so I can sample the driving experience My XJS really makes for a great collectible car. Looks, engineering and heritage. Best of all I already have a pretty nice example that I bought for peanuts. All I have to do is hold onto it and preserve it the best I can. If I get too frustrated with it I would probably just get an up and running XK8. Those are beautiful cars also. My Jaguar experience is a lot my Harley Davidson experience. (which lasted over twenty five years). Both marques have that mystique of heritage, engineering (?) and beauty. It is fun. Keep the faith!

 

I put the XJ6 up on a jackstand and pulled the left front wheel to have a look at the suspension. I put a pry bar into the joints and found that there was quite a bit of play in the lower A arm bushings. There was a little play in the top bushings also. Not that this comes as a surprise. I can see that the hardest part of the job will be compressing and removing the springs. I have read several posts describing how to build a homemade spring compressor tool. I am very aware that my old American car type outside spring compressors aren't going to work. My MacPherson strut type compressors aren't likely to work either. Has anybody had any luck using this type of compressor? It goes up the inside of the coil and uses two slip in plates. I could really use a response because while I'm prepared to pay the 150 bucks it costs, that's only if it will work. Anyone have luck with it? Those long curving springs look very ominous.




What do you think.




These are out





I used these on my '96 Mustang, still not the best.





This wouldn't fit through the control arm hole on the Mustang. I should measure and see if it will fit through the hole in the Jag control arm.

 

making your own tool is by far the best.

 

I had checked my battery terminals awhile back and found that the positive clamp was damaged and would not tighten. I used a small hose clamp to tighten it up. I returned from vacation a couple of weeks back and found my battery dead with the positive terminal in full teal bloom. When I removed the clamp it fell apart. As you know there's a large plastic box attached to the positive clamp. The box contains the battery cable terminals and a couple of large circuit breakers.






What to do? I cut off the the clamp right where it enters the box.








I bought a common battery cable and attached it on top of the circuit breakers. I also trimmed that long tab of the box cover.












I used a cable tie to secure the box to the battery stay bolt. Not the most elegant looking repair but cheap and easy and it will make any further replacements of the cable a snap. I added a little extra insulation to the end of the cable. Besides you can't see it under the cover!

 

My XJ6 just got a bath after being sidelined for over a year. Now it's time to give this beauty the attention it deserves.

 

I went to AAA and paid the fees for 2018 to 2019, I had paid the fees for the last year as well as maintained the insurance coverage during the year that it sat in my garage. I know that I could have placed it on planned non op (PNO) but I was an optimist and thought that I might get to it quicker than I did. There were two problems with the car, the CEL was on and the suspension had developed some problems. The suspension problem had no real relationship to the smog test, but in a way it does. The suspension situation makes it difficult to drive the car the required miles needed to complete drive cycles. I used a code reader to see what the codes were and I mistakenly thought that I could just clear the codes and proceed with the smog test and "take my chances." Well, I was wrong. The tech told me that once I did that, the computer went into reset mode. This would cause the immediate failure of the test as well as prevent reading the any stored codes. He told me that I would have to drive the car at least 100 miles to allow the computer to reset itself. I imagine that the CEL would come on again.

So. I need to be able to drive the car legally. I thought that I could get a temporary 30 day, operating permit from the DMV after I had paid the fees. They advised me that I could only get a single day trip permit. Those "pink squares" are now a thing of the past.

The codes that were displayed are: PO430, PO420, and PO460. I looked them up and saw that two are catalyst related and one is a fuel level sender issue. I'm going to start driving the car and see what happens. I'm going to carry all my paperwork with me in the car and tape the trip permit in the rear window. Local police aren't too concerned with minor traffic matters but my car has registration tags from 2016.

 

There was some postings on the 420 /430 code by adding shims to the fwd or aft O2 sensors. The hole is a 12 mm

see page 81 as ir states for the 4 O2 sensor setup the aft sensors are used for engine regulation and the fwd verify Cat efficiency . But I think someone was biasing / shimimg the aft sensors on a 4 sensor US X300

http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Trai...20-%202000.pdf

There is a specific to the tank cleaner that helps the fuel sender or check the ground wire screw near the sender off the top of my head per print

 

Is the X300 as sensitive to battery voltage as the later model XJ8s? My battery is putting out 12.46 volts at rest.

 

I got my 96 XJS Carnival Red a stable mate 3 years ago, a 95 XJR 103K kilometers ( 60K Miles) BRG. what a great pair I love driving both in the summer. And the best thing, is that nothing is on the white board to do this winter except change the oil.
Snowball

 

Lucky you! Most of my current problems are due to deferring the needed work and running into the registration deadline. I should have done something about the CEL before I needed to smog it. Too many projects going on at once.

 

Yesterday my XJ6 passed the star smog check! I had initially read and then cleared the stored codes. The CEL went out, but I learned that the car was in reset mode and could not be tested in that state. I started using the car and the CEL re appeared after 40 miles. I went to ask advice from my previous smog guy. He told me that if any repairs or parts replacements are done, the reset cycle has to be performed until the CEL will no longer be triggered. Then the car can be smogged. I was kind of at a loss. My whole thing is fixing my car myself, but it wouldn't make any sense to just throw money at it by replacing parts that I think might be the problem. I was going to have to take it to a mechanic that was familiar with these issues. That meant that I was going to have to start spending some money.

I began reading through as many forum postings on similar problems trying to get some ideas. I read a few that attributed problems to failing batteries bad grounds. I don't know if the X300 models are as sensitive to a weak battery but I let my car's battery run down too many times while it was sidelined. I jumpstarted the car and after using a charger the battery could hold a bit over twelve volts. It would run down a bit if the car wasn't run but it still started up okay.

I decided that I would add another ground strap to the engine. I saw that there were some unused threaded bosses built into the intake manifold. I would run the strap from there to a bracket that supports the air box. I was going to run the strap under the MAF sensor intake housing. As I was dissasembled the parts I noticed I noticed that led to the throttle body intake tube was pretty loose. The connection had pulled away a bit on the underside maybe this had resulted in an intake air leak that had thrown the system out of whack and triggered the codes? I added the ground strap and then carefully buttoned everything back up. I found that the clamp throttle body bellows was a little bit loose also. I had been in there previously when I cleaned the throttle body. I guess that I should have rechecked my work.

I started to drive the car, knowing that the CEL might appear in 40 miles. It didn't. I pushed on towards 100 miles of use. I kept checking on the battery's voltage. It would hover just over 12 volts. There was some leakage from the top vents that had been fouling the positive post. I noticed that the ammeter indicated that it was charging the battery almost constantly. I think that this might be causing the idle speed to be higher than it should be. So I just plunked down the 180.00 and bought a new battery.

I continued adding miles and after 140 miles decided to back to the Smog shop and see it the car was ready to take the test. The tech hooked up his reader and told me that it needed to complete the evap system cycle, which required having the fuel tank 3/4 full. It also needed to be run over 40 mph. for a distance of about forty miles, this would complete the test cycles. I decided to go for it and filled up the tank and took a 25 mile freeway loop. Luckily it was still too early for heavy commute traffic. When I returned to the shop the tech checked the codes, it was all reset, with cycles completed. He performed the smog check with positive results. Finally! I stopped by the AAA office and picked my hard won registration tags.

Lessons learned? I should have looked into the CEL issue before the registration deadline had arrived. I had other problems with the car and of course, other cars with problems. So I sidelined the car for my other projects. I had paid the 2018 license fees while the car sat but was unable to complete the registration. This year I paid the 2019 fees and found that the DMV was charging me an additional 80.00 penalty for the incomplete registration! Luckily when I explained that the car had spent the last year in my garage, and filled out an affidavit stating this fact, the additional fee was waived. I should have placed the car on "Non Op' status and saved the fees but I was too optimistic and thought that i would get to it sooner.