I'm curious to know what the shop will find this time. I wonder if the no-track ABS issue ever goes away for good once your car has suffered it and repairs have been made. Somehow I am pessimist about it randomly coming back unannounced any time in the future again, but I will try to do all of the recommended preventative actions to keep it at bay.

Cheers,

 

You turned out to be quite correct, Mark.
More on this coming up...

Cheers,

 

Well, it seems like we may have conquered the problem, at least for the time being. The mechanic (who also worked on it years back) determined that, since I was able to fence off the limp home mode by keeping rpm's above a certain level and for long periods of time (freeway drive) and lasting until traffic slowed down again, the pot in the TB became the obvious culprit. He went straight at that and replaced it and now the problem has totally disappeared . It was obviously that and I assume that the fix will last for a good while.

So, wow, I have a healthy X308 again and I'm already doing what I promised: take care of what I have postponed up to now because of the issues. I'm putting new leather out front, plus a new headliner (it needs it), plus getting repaired a small dent that I put on the rear, below the trunk lid. Since this car's paint has never been touched at all, meaning no buffing, no paint, etc. ever, it will easily withstand a good buffing job followed by a good professional color-wet sanding in the fashion that my XJS paint was done. If the XJR paint turns out at the level of the XJS, the car will look absolutely phenomenal.

Following this I will have all the suspension components examined and updated and do the brakes and the shocks, then spark plugs replacement. This should buy me some 10K or 20K more miles of pleasure driving my supercharged beauty.

Cheers,

 

Good info do you know what were the faulty symptoms of your fuel pump ?
My 04 XJ8 has 132k miles on it and once in a while the gas gauge in the instrument panel marks empty when is actually full

 

There isn't any alternative, believe me I've tried. When my last XJ8 died from a combination of gearbox failure I tried something else. Yes it was a lot newer than a 308 and it was a bit faster than a 308 too. It's more modern automatic gearbox did some interesting things, and the Xenon lights turned night into day. However it missed that special something that the 308 had, that little spark that made me smile and enjoy every single journey be it to the local shops or to Belgium. I sold the replacement and the same day bought my new X308 and I'm absolutely loving it.

 

My 2002 XJR has been reliable too. I've had it a few years and I am in love with my car.

The biggest thing I did was replace the secondary tensioners but besides that, I've only had to do routine things such as replacing worn bushings, replacing fluids, etc. I do have a slow freon leak I can't seem to solve but a couple charges a year keeps my air ice cold. And I've had the trifecta ABS/Trac lights come on a couple times but that went away both times after a day or two. Oh, and I have to buy a $30 connector part for my transmission. But everything works and the car is a dream to drive.

The X300's are nice. I used to have a '96 and I loved it. I don't think they compare to the X308's though but that's just me. I've thought about an X358 to upgrade to more modern technology but they just don't move me like the X308's do. They look like an X308 that needs to go on a diet. I think the X308 is the most beautiful sedan Jaguar ever made. Well, maybe not including the Series III. :-)

 

I think the X308 is gorgeous too, it looks almost exactly like the still born All new XJ90- that Jaguar were developing before Ford took over.


Although I prefer the XJ6/12 series 1 to the series 3 in some ways, the rear roof line of the old series one is more sloped and that aggressive snarling front grill...

 

Gorgeous indeed.
This picture from Dimitri still intrigues me, and shows that our x308 is perhaps more related to the series 1~3 then we sometimes think.

 

Here are some pics of the XJ90 concept from Whitley before Ford cancelled it. You can see it looks very much like an X300. Has some subtle differences to the way the headlights are splayed (the way they are on an X350) and it was intended to have a totally new IRS design. Probably would have carried over Powertrain from the ill fated XJ41 with its twin turbo six. Remember, during this time due to folks like Murray Betts, a V8 config was very much frowned upon.

 

That's really interesting Count, thanks for sharing. I always enjoy looking at concept cars.
Whilst I think the X308 is the most beautiful 4 door car that has ever or will ever be made, there is one thing I wish had been done differently. That is the exterior door handles had been recessed into the bodywork rather than sitting proud of the door skins.

 

If you prefer the XJ40 style handles I'm sure they can be retro fitted. Aside from having broadly the same structure- the only panels that the X300 and XJ40 share are the doors!

 

Then I presume you know these ones, if not, happy reading:

Concepts and prototypes : Jaguar XJ40, part 1 - AROnline : AROnline

Concepts and prototypes : Jaguar XJ40, part 2 - AROnline : AROnline

 

No, I wasn't referring to the XJ40 handles which would look wrong on the curvaceous body of the X308. What I think would have been better is if Jaguar had taken a short amount of time to change the steel press that made the doors so the handles sat flush to the body. If you look at both the X Type and the S Type they have nice curved handles set into the body, but the X308 handles seem like an afterthought.

Eric: I hadn't seen that article, thanks. Although I am no fan of the XJ40 it is interesting to see how it developed. Many of the early concepts were disgusting looking, when you see the exterior shots with series 2 & 3 XJs in the background it really shows how bad they were.

 

DAMNNN ... I never noticed that, but now, after checking the X type, I will not be able to open my car and not be bothered about the afterthought handles .

 

Now that the wheel bearing is fixed I drove 8 hours to Phoenix in the 90+ deg weather. A/C worked great and she drove so smooth. Gonna detail her out in the morning then take her to a local car show in the evening

 

Actually I am really wondering how Forcedair1 is doing with his XJR after he seemed to have solved his problem ... Never saw pictures of that tremendous polishing he was going to do.

 

To my highly biased mind the X308 is the most beautiful post-war sedan EVER, and with current styling so overwrought, and influenced so negatively by safety features, I can't see much competition in the near future.

I'm on my third X308. My Jags are serviced at a non-dealer, Jag-only shop and after swapping out the timing tensioners and a few other plastic components, have been exceptionally reliable.

I'm still kicking myself for parting with my 2001 VDP Supercharged. I won't make the same mistake twice now that my '01 XJR has been scrupulously debugged and remains an absolute joy to drive. Why do German luxury car owners eye our Jaguars so enviously? Because our cars have sex appeal and theirs don't!

 

i have an 85, 91 and 95 xj6’s. I also have a 2003 stype with the 4.2 l V8. I love them all. They all have some small quirk but the engines are bulletproof. I daily drive the 91, 95 and 03. They are fun. I’m also keeping them all!

All my Jaguars 3 XJ6s and a V8 s-type