Hello to everybody!

Since I drove a ’96 XJ6 Sport for the first time a few years back, I knew that one day I’d be looking to buy one of these beauties for myself. So recently I came across a 1995 XJR in British Racing Green with 100’000 miles on the clock which caught my interest. The car seems to be in excellent and well maintained condition and apart from a few barely visible shoe marks on the door panels the interior still looks like brand new.

However while looking at the service book I saw that one of the last planned inspections was not made. Prior to that every scheduled maintenance was performed accordingly by an official Jaguar dealer. Regrettably I don’t really remember the intervals however the missing service was around 90’000 miles, thus it looks to not have been serviced since quite a few thousand miles. I still want to check if at least the oil changes were made though…

I made an appointment for a test drive tomorrow and now I am wondering IF the car should drive and feel OK, should I still be worried because of the missing service? By the way, if I should actually buy the car, I want them to make a full service (change all liquids & filters + greasing of CV joints) anyway.

Looking forward to your replies!

Cheers
Marco

 

I wouldn't let one missing service bother me too much. It sounds like the car was received better treatment than most :-)


Cheers
DD

 

So, I just came back from the test drive and I'm still having mixed feelings. The engine ran fine, the transmission changed gears smoothly. No rumbles or knocking noises. AC and heater both worked fine too. However here's what's wrong with it:

I don't think this should scare me off, however I'm wondering about the steering wheel column issue and the rich smell.

What do you guys think? I'd be glad for any feedback...

Greetings from rainy Switzerland
Marco

 

The column "tilt" function being inoperative isn't unusual. In fact, mine was the same when I bought it. It's the drive cable that usually breaks. I installed a used motor and cable assembly but now we have some vendors (Coventry West, at least) selling a new cable individually. I recall about 45 minutes of DIY labor to fix mine. It wasn't difficult.

I get the "rich" smell from time to time. Could be a lambda problem, yes, or a coolant temp sensor...or an air leak, cracked exhuast manifold, or....or....or. Hard to say whether it'll be an easy of difficult fix. In my case I've checked all the obvious possible culprits and haven't found anything conclusive.....yet.

If your locality requires emissions testing ....mine doesn't....it could be a problem.

Cheers
DD

 

Wow, hard to believe any place in Washington state doesn't require emissions testing.

 

At minimum Cowlitz and Mason counties don't. There are problably others.

Cheers
DD