Was dropping my son off at his mom's yesterday and we were running early so we pulled into a parking lot to hang out. He asked me to do some burnouts in the XJR so I figured, hey, why not? He does bring out the delinquent in me after all.

So, traction control off, sport mode on. empty parking lot, no light posts...all good.

Floored the gas pedal and turned the wheel hard left, figuring I'd maybe got some sideways action from the rear end...nope. Open differential, so I only spun the inside tire while turning left REALLY hard. Made one circle and stopped. After this, I noticed the steering didn't feel right, like it was binding up as it came off center, which was never an issue prior. Dropped him off, drove home and got it into the garage and up on ramps. I was figuring maybe inner tie rod end, bent steering rod out of the rack...something like that. I found nothing out of place until I got to the steering shaft itself and saw that u-joint at the nd of the steering shaft has some scuffs on it and there is a pipe that seemed to be in contact with it. The pipe seems to be part of the AC, but I'm not sure of its purpose in the system. I used a prybar to push it a bit off to the left and away from the u-joint so now it turns freely once again. Photo attached, the pipe in question is the one with the yellow-ish goo on it, which I'm guessing is there to help prevent this from being an issue?

Whats bothering me the most is that this happened at all, suggesting to me that something ain't right in there. Does this maybe indicate a motor and/or trans mount that will need replacing? Not sure how a very hard left turn might bend this pipe's path into harms way except that I was at full throttle so if I have a mount that gives way a bit more than I ought to, maybe that could account for it?

Suggestions for things to check or leave well enough alone and stop trying to do donuts with the sticky summer tires on it?

Thanks.

 

Sounds like it could be a mount? I had bad mounts on my car for a while without noticing, and it ended up with the rigid metal part of the ps line rubbing into the alt cable and causing very rare 12v power dips under specific heavy braking... so maybe it's a similar case for you.

I can't say what that line does or if it's supposed to be that close to the steering column, I don't remember it off the top of my head. Maybe it's the PS feed line? Or AC

 

I agree with nilanium, you likely have bad motor mounts. The motor moved enough to make the AC lines hit the steering U joint. While you're replacing the motor mounts, I recommend that you replace the subframe bushings at the same time. It's a project, but definitely doable. Replace the transmission mount too, so all the engine/tranny mounting points are new at the same time.

 

If you change the motor mounts you will no doubt obtain a much better
feel to the car. They are designed to isolate engine vibration and noise
yet they are also designed with inherent failure due to the nature of the
materials used to construct them. Your steering shaft was probably
binding until the natural alignment of the engine fell back into place.
I had a LT-1 that I had to chain down so it would not break the mount.

 

When you say subframe bushings, are you referring to the ones that are right between the shock and the engine mount? As shown in post #9 in the thread below? Makes sense as they're right there, just making sure I'm looking at the right bits. Seems like the rear bushings aren't much of an issue typically?

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...mpleted-86605/

So two motor mounts, one trans mount, two V-shaped subframe mounts?

 

No, I’m talking about where the subframe attaches to the car, rearward of what those pictures show.

Here is my subframe, hanging down from the bushings that I’m talking about. Also a picture of the new RH engine mount, which I found was easier to install this way vs mounting it to the subframe first. These pictures are taken from the RH side of the car.

Edited to add: if you’ve ever considered replacing the starter, now is the time! With the subframe out of the way, it’s a cakewalk. Actually part of the reason I did the motor mounts and subframe mounts was because my starter was grinding once in a while and needed to be replaced. The timing of these two projects was somewhat coincidental for me, but while you’re in there, I’d replace the starter!

Edit #2: the V-shaped mounts that you mentioned should also be replaced while you're at it. So two motor mounts, two V-shaped mounts, one transmission mount, and two subframe bushings.

Edit #3 (sorry!): the subframe bushings that I'm talking about have a specific orientation to be installed. The hole is off center, so it's vital that you orient them correctly if you go down this path. I won't go into detail here, but if you do replace those bushings, you'll want to follow up to make sure you're orienting them right. Of course, now would also be a great time to replace the suspension bushings, ball joints, etc. There is no bottom to the rabbit hole!

 

Wow Aquifer, that's a lot of work! Did you run into many seized bolts
and nuts along the way? How were you able to discern the sub-frame
bushings needed replaced?

 

The car spent its entire life in Arizona, and I don’t think it saw much wet weather, let alone any salt, so I’ve never ran into any seized bolts or rust. I got lucky that way.

As to what made me replace the subframe bushings: I could never get it to align correctly. I had it aligned a few times over the years due to various suspension or steering rack repairs that I did, new tires, etc. But they could never get the alignment perfect, even after I’d replaced all the bushings and ball joints (which the car needed regardless).

My alignment guy asked me if I’d ever replaced the motor mounts and subframe bushings, which I had not. He said the subframe bushings absolutely play a role in the alignment, and the motor/tranny mounts help keep the drive shaft aligned. So that conversation, plus the fact that it needed a new starter, sent me down the path.

The alignment is now perfect in the middle of the adjustment ranges. I’m glad I did it. Plus it was incalculably easier to replace the starter with the front suspension out of the way!

 

Yikes that's a lot of stuff to remove to get to that point, not sure my back is up to that. Is there a physical inspection I can do on the bushings and mounts to confirm if they're kaput or are they well hidden by their fasteners and the only thing to do is either do it not do it? I see people swapping out the V mounts while doing their motor mounts and it sounds like its worthwhile, but if I have to remove the front suspension and steering rack it order to do the rear bushings, I'm not sure I want to get into that unless I know I have to. Those bushings are, as you noted, eccentric so obviously orientation is critical, I presume they're like that in order to properly align the rack to the unibody?

Rockauto lists this mount in addition to the v shaped mounts. Can't figure out where it goes or if its actually for the car and not some other model, though Rock is usually quite good at not having the wrong parts listed. Is this something to consider as well?

Thanks!

 

that looks like the front most bushing for the REAR subframe.

The most rearward FRONT subframe mounts look like this:

 

I agree with Quadcammer, I think that's a mount for the rear subframe. The motor mount shape is similar to this, but it's not the same. I don't really think you can check the condition of the subframe bushings because the mounting point is inside a channel where the bolts go through. There's no way to see the bushing itself until you pull the subframe down out of the channel.

That being said, if you don't have issues with alignment, and you don't plan to replace the front suspension bushings/ball joints or the starter, you can probably get by with just replacing the motor & transmission mounts. You'd still have to support the engine and the subframe separately so you can get the motor mounts out, but the workshop manual probably has a procedure that you could tweak to make work. You'd support the engine with a truss from above so you can lift the engine enough to take the weight off the mounts, put jack stands near the lift points at the front of the unibody so you can remove the wheels and the fender liners, and then put a floor jack under the subframe so it doesn't fall down when you take the bolts out of the motor mounts. The floor jack would allow you to lower the subframe slightly if needed to get the motor mounts and V mounts out.

 

Keep in mind if you're dropping the subframe you'll need to stick spring compressors in the two front springs, otherwise they'll overextend once the shocks are undone. You can keep those in place if you're not changing out front suspension parts as you drop the whole thing. The only issue is that it will add a lot of bulk when you're trying to press out/press in the new front subframe rear bushings. You can also opt to remove the springs before dropping the front subframe if you have said tools, it will make the rest of your job a ton easier.

There's no way to visually inspect motor mounts externally, the other subframe mounts are also all difficult to inspect in situ.

The front subframe drop isn't too difficult of a task if you support the engine etc, but it's definitely not a task I'd recommend doing with a bad back... you can probably do the vee's and motor mounts without dropping the subframe, I've done so for vee's but it's a huge pain to work around obstructions.

 

Thanks gents!

As it so happens I do have a slowly developing alignment issue, car pulls to the left so I have to hold the wheel slightly to the right on the highway. I have replaced the right side outer tie rod end, left is a bit wobbly so I'm, going to swap that out too and then see about an alignment. Recently replaced the front shocks but still have some decent rattling sound coming from the front end over uneven pavement...it would not be surprising to find that all the rubber bits are original and well past their due date. I'll see about getting under there and evaluate what I need to do and what I'm comfortable doing.

No actual bad back, just no lift, so I'm doing everything with jack, jack stands and laying under the car. I'm usually game to try something new, so who knows where this rabbit hole will take me?

 

Replace the front upper shock mounts . . . now cheap and available; replace the sway bars . . . all easy to do with a floor jack, couple of wrenches and locking pliers . . . then get an alignment. All pretty cheap; if that doesn't work, tires.

 

Upper mounts were done about 20 months and 37000 miles ago. No signs of degradation on the bushings, but they are URO.

Been thinking of the sway bar links and bushings too...those are all pretty easy to get at. As far as I can tell my ball joints are ok, no tears and I can't make them flex with the wheel in the air at all. The new shocks quieted down the rattling and the ride was pretty rough, now much better, but the racket is slowly returning. I get no sound when doing a static bounce test in the garage, used to with the old shocks...wouldn't hurt to check my lower shock bolts and make sure they're tight still. Got about 1500 miles on them since 3/31.

Definitely have a wheel problem though, they're balanced but a couple of them have deformities. They hold air and are balanced but are definitely not perfect circles and I do get vibrations that I don't get from my winter wheels. Refurbishing them is fairly expensive and its not in the budget just yet. Tires are new Continentals last June.

 

leave the v mounts alone. you can’t get good replacements

 

I got OE replacement vee mounts a couple years ago. They appear to still be available. Expensive? Maybe, but not as much as X305 hydraulic engine mounts!