Hello all,

Thought I would make an informal introduction here. As you can see from my signature, I'm no stranger to the wonderful world of Jaguar or the forum, but this is my first foray into the X300.

I recently purchased a rather sinister Anthracite on Charcoal 1997 XJR from fellow forum member Kev Schofield, who brought the car back to life after being laid up for 4 years as a result of a car dealership falling on hard times. So some of you may already be familiar with her.

She has just over 93k on the clock, and I'll be flying out to New Hampshire a week from today to pick her up.

My plan is to turn around and drive 13 hours back to Michigan, where I'm currently staying.

I'm sure y'all will be seeing me around here in the near future as I address the few minor gremlins I'm aware of now, as well as ones that are sure to develop.

Anyway, here's a few pictures for y'all (Have to love the car phone). Looking forward to learning about another magnificent machine from all of you smart folks on here.

 

Welcome to the X300 club! Love the black on black and the XJR wheels. See you around here.

Joe
95 XJ6

 

haha congrats! I have a 96 XJR myself!

 

Welcome! Sounds like my saga... buying my 97 XJR this summer and flying from NC to Houston, TX to drive it back over 19 hours!

It was definitely an adventure, buying a car and planning to drive it back without laying hands on it first. Not something I would normally recommend to anyone, and surprised I did, but did a fair amount of due diligence and felt I knew reasonably what I was getting into. I'll admit I had some butterflies on the flight and on the drive to the dealership, hoping I hadn't just blown a bunch of time and deposit on a car that in person wasn't what I was looking for or was in poor shape.

But it all worked out , and many thanks to the folks here who helped provide a lot of advice toward it working out!

...well it all worked out except for breaking the drivers seat an hour into the drive

Here was my adventure:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...beauty-117455/


Have fun! Looks like a great car, and yes I dig the phone



.

 

Thanks Al! I actually read through your trip and looked at your car when I was searching for mine. Looks like a perfect example!

Mine isn't as perfect, but I didn't pay for a perfect car either so I'm very happy with what I've seen in the pictures.

As for the phone, I won't be leaving it in there, but I'll keep it with the car for completeness sake! Haha

 

Thanks Matthew, I do love the car. It was definitely worth it. Prices on these really are very reasonable for what they are in my opinion, and you got a good one as well! Not too many out there anymore, and I'm sure we lose several a year to wrecks and just wear/tear.

...BTW, looks like I was editing my post just as you replied!

Heh, well mine's not perfect either! After 16 years and being driven, versus locked away, it can't help but have a few faults mechanical and cosmetic.

For example, mine apparently was in a light hail storm at some point and the front half of the car must have been exposed as I have about 10 very little dents in the hood and stainless front bumper trim. And of course there are few door dings and scratches.

Power steering is leaking, a little more every day it seems, but I knew that too.

Not to mention the first big repair I had to tackle was replacing the rear shocks, but hey, at least I did one of the hardest PITA things first! Now everything else will seem 'easy'.... I hope

And I still think mine is 'abnormally slow' off the line compared to what I read here, although I have no other X300 XJR to compare it to so But I'm hoping the work associated with the R493 EGR recall, including cleaning the TB may have a positive effect. Don't get me wrong, it is NOT SLOW, but I feel like it could be less slow Once the R493 recall is done and we've baselined the car, I'll put in Andy's bracket and see how she goes.

And of course, my radio has a mind of its own. I now have three donor units and rebuilding that is one of my winter projects. I'd like to keep it OEM, but we'll see if that is a pointless endeavor.

... and a handful of other minor things, like the rear drivers door chrome ashtray finisher/cover continually popping off. Something weird here is that I have seen a number of these popped off on only the rear drivers (LH) door ashtray. Makes me wonder if the manufacturer of these had a defective run and forgot to apply adhesive or something. Just interesting.

But don't let any of this make it sound like I'm complaining.

Far from it. All cars have issues, man made them after all, and whether one drives them or garages them, they still deteriorate and wear. Maintenance is a fact of life, and I can go on and on covering every defect or breakdown about every car and motorcycle I've ever owned. But none are perfect. As long as one has a personal interest in maintaining the vehicle and enjoys doing so, its really not a big deal and most things are well within the capability of the average shade tree mechanic owner.


Well, I think you've got a sharp XJR there, and it's great that Kev was able to save it when he did. If it had sat another year or two, it may have proven more catastrophic to bring back. Hard to say, but machines sitting unused go downhill fast.

Have fun on the drive. You'll have a great time and it will be like Christmas morning ....I'm sure that the days preceding will seem like Christmas eve to kid!

.

 

Yes, please keep us updated on that! I've read about Andy's bracket and think I'll get one too, though it's supposedly more difficult to add on the supercharged cars. The EGR valve on mine was replaced only a few hundred miles ago, so I'm assuming that was related to the R493 recall. However, Kev had to mess around with the throttle return spring, and I thought that was part of the recall as well, so I'll need to confirm with a dealer

I much prefer to keep my radio stock as well, but I'll most likely convert to aftermarket for the Bluetooth phone (required here in IL) and an Aux input for my phone.

I think you might be on to something, as the rear driver's door ashtray cover is also missing on mine! Found a replacement on eBay for $20.

I'm looking forward to the drive.. I love road trips. I bought my XJSC from an elderly woman outside of San Francisco earlier this year and considered driving it home over a couple days, but it had a recent, high quality paint job done and zero rock chips of any kind, so I couldn't bring myself to drive it that far at highway speeds and risk damaging the paint.

It's too bad we aren't closer.. would be fun to meet up and compare cars!

 

Welcome

 

I had the same dark veneer set in my X300 but never thought it matched the ivory leather.



Yours looks much better with black leather.

Graham

 

Thanks Graham, I'm actually fond of the contrast in your car with the Ivory leather, but I do like it with all Charcoal as well.

One think I don't like in mine is how the veneer on the steering wheel doesn't match the rest of the car. I've purchased an all-leather wheel from an x308 and I'm going to change them out. Once I remove the steering wheel cruise and audio controls, it should fit just fine, right?

 

I thought about that too, with the wheel being mahogany I believe, but I think I'm going to get a matching shift knob to bring them together. We'll see how that works.

As far as the X308 wheel, I've read that it should work. You'll have to block off the holes from the steering wheel controls from an aesthetic point of view though.

Are there no black X300 wheels?

.

 

Well, after watching eBay for the last month, the only all-leather x300 wheels that I could find were tan, not black. But there were plenty of x308 all leather black wheels. And I'm impatient, so I decided to try it.

As far as blocking off the holes from the controls, I'm not quite sure I follow.

Looking at how the controls are attached, it seems Jaguar simply took an x300 wheel and tacked them on the sides. I don't think the wheel itself was modified in any way. So by removing the controls, I think it should be identical to an x300 wheel. We'll find out in about 2 weeks!

 

Can't remember who, but there was a guy looking for the XJR wood wheel with the 10 and 2 handholds like the one you will be removing..

Might be able to recoup your new wheel cost..

ps. The new tires you sent are going on Monday.. looking forward to seeing you next Friday~!

Kev

 

Thanks for the tip Kev.. I was planning on posting a for sale classified here and also listing it on eBay, so hopefully it will sell!

Also looking forward to seeing you Friday! Take care of my new baby in the meantime

 

Thought I would update everyone.

Made it back alright, but ended up not driving straight through due to winter weather conditions in Buffalo.

Car handled the snow covered roads like a champ, traction control never kicked in once (even though I passed several spun out minivans..). Tires (new Continental ExtremeContact DWS) were great.

Have already begun the process of taking care of the typical issues (broken cupholder, sagging headliner, removing the car phone, etc.)

Amazingly, the only electronic gremlins I have to deal with right now are the cruise, which doesn't engage or activate the instrument panel light, and the license plate lights. Sunroof, power tilt wheel, headrests, mirrors, ariel and everything else works. Can't tell if heated seats are working or not, since they don't get very warm even when working properly. Button illuminates when pressed though.

Will need an AC compressor this coming spring. Also need to fix the resonators ASAP.. the droning sound is obnoxious.

Unfortunately, due to being parked outside uncovered for 5 years, the clear coat has begun to fail. Once I get a handle on the car mechanically and make sure there's no hidden problems, I'll consider a mid-level quality paint job next year. It will be a daily driver, so no need for a show quality $10k job.

The pic below is after driving through the storm.

Overall, for $5k, no complaints here!

 

Great to hear you got back with no major issues!

Regarding the heated seats, the ones in my 97 will burn you off the seat (in a good way) until the regulator kicks in.

.

 

Hmm... guess I'll need to investigate that issue further.

Also, pulled the fuse for the cruise, looked fine, put it back in, and now at least the "on" light illuminates. Will take it out for a spin in a few days and see if that miraculously solved the problem.

 

It's possible a previous owner fixed the clock with a heated-seats version and you don't really have them. Look under the seat for a yellow 2-pin plug to see if it is populated by a mating connector or not. From your statements, you obviously have the power seats, so if this is what happened, everything will "appear" to work - red LED will light in the switch, you'll hear the relay click....and after it times out it will go off...but there'll be no heat - because the seat has no blanket. On the other hand, it is equally as likely that you have the blankys and they have failed. This thread has a pic of the connector:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...s-help-101802/

 

I did some reading last night, and since my car is a 97 MY USA spec XJR, heated front seats were standard. So short of taking a look later tonight, I'm 99% positive I have them. How likely is it that both passenger and driver blankets failed though? Do they typically go out together?

The relay clicks, and the button illuminates, so I'll verify the connectors are hooked up below the seat tonight. Assuming they are, is there anything else I can troubleshoot before assuming both blankets are bad?

 

Being an XJR, the heated front seats are standard, and 1996 XJRs had the rear seats heated too.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ckages-115236/



So unless someone removed them (or they are broken) he should have them.

.