I plan on putting the xjr on the road next month and I been resolving minor issues. Well I'm not sure if this is minor or major, but my steering wheel has been very stiff both left & right. I flushed out the power steering system with new fluid about 2 months ago and that didn't help at all. There is little power assist to almost no power assist and the wheel feels better/lighter as you start driving faster. Can it be my pump or rack? I removed the pump because I had my exhaust manifolds off and I wanted to see what I could look for & I saw a stamp on the bottom that said re-manufactured with a random company and not Jaguar. I know people had bad valve(s) on the rack which lead to stiff steering, but it was only stiffer going one direction and not both ways like my problem. Any help and suggestion would be appreciated thank you.

 

Autozone has lifetime warranty pump less then $200
I would do that then flush.
If that's not it.
I would do new rack
If that's not it
I would get my harmonic balancer refurbished

 

I went through a couple cars with the same problem you describe. What I have come up with is, it is usually the pump. My own 97 VDP had stiff steering at slow speeds and did not clear up until I replaced the pump. I did have one car with a bad wire that goes to the rack and pinion solenoid. That car had the wiring rubbed through to the point the solenoid was not getting power to increase the assist at slow speeds.

 

Thank you, I actually just ended up with a re-manufactured Jaguar pump near my area. I will give it a try & If not then next would be the rack.

 

wow now that you mentioned about the wire, I found a random wire that was crushed near the radiator area when I purchased the car. I found out about this when I was doing my outer tie end rods and I couldn't figure out where the plug went. If I post a picture of it, can you let me know if that's the wire and where it goes? I looked every where and couldn't figure it out. Hopefully I didn't waste my money on a pump when it could of been a simple fix.