This is not made up. All these happened one after the other over past few weeks.
Thermostat stuck open, so replaced
Thermostat cap where hex head inserts has tiny leak, replaced
Thermostat tower hairline crack and leak, replaced
Side B knock sensor goes bad, replaced
Plastic line from coolant reservoir to thermostat tower pin hole leak, replaced
Coolant cross over pipe hairline crack and leak

 

Couldn't agree more. The plastic on my car is bio-degrading as it sits in the driveway. Maybe it's a Florida thing. Any repair that involves touching a piece of Jaguar plastic has to be avoided as it'll either snap or crumble away.

I have to do the headliner repair too and also negotiated a discount if I removed the sunroof parts. i know the larger piece comes out easily but I'm not sure about removing that rear blind without breaking a piece of Jag plastic so maybe not such a deal!

 

18 years of cooking plastic, what did you expect? I’ve got my wife trained with her 00’ XJ8. When she gets home and parks in the garage, she opens the hood to let the heat out and keep the garage door open for a bit. We’ve owned it since 2013. I only replaced the original plastic thermostat housing, secondary timing chain tensioners and front coolant crossover pipe just last year just because it was 20 years old. If you air out the “oven”, you’ll find that everything will be happier under the hood.

 

The sun and plastic don't get along, much like heat and plastic. I hate plastic in engines, it's designed to fail. No reason for this besides cheapness and an excuse to buy a new car, the weight savings are negligible. I've upgraded every plastic bit with metal where available (Thermostat tower, tensioners). One thing I love about the XJR SC V8 is the coolant crossover is aluminum where the NA V8 has a plastic crossover, no upgrade available. Also the intercooler intakes are solid metal instead of the composite intake on the NA V8.

All that aside I handle small plastic clips and tubes like they are filled with nitro. I understand why so many Jag owners have replaced broken plastic pipes with Goodyear hose. It may not always look great but it is much more dependable and durable. I've had tiny plastic hoses break, electrical connectors break, plastic cooling towers, breather hose nozzles and even some valve covers when tiny cracks started to form creating multiple leaks. I wish the AJ V8 had magnesium valve covers like the AJ16 straight 6. But two magnesium covers was TOO expensive said the bean counter.

 

you like flaking paint and spark plug wells corroding?

the plastic valve covers look and perform better

 

Heater feed and return hoses under the intake manifold are NEXT!!!!!!!!!!(Then maybe the heater distribution (octopus) hose?)

 

Didn't realize that was an issue. Yet plastic covers just as easily crack around the spark plug wells and magnesium covers can be treated with anticorrosive gel every few years. My point was durability. Just my opinion.

 

The Magnesium AJ16 cam covers actually do corrode on the inside as well as the outside.
Maybe the acids in dirty oil attack the metal?

The AJ16 cam covers are NOT durable.

 

Plastic is an olde english word for brittle . . . Sunvisor hold down; rear upper brake light is the absolute worst; crossover pipe and TST tower right in there; door trim . . . .

 

That is strange, the old MB V8s used magnesium covers and seem to last forever, maybe it was a different alloy?

 

Just replaced cross over tube. Unfortunately looked at radiator to expansion tank tube.

 

I have 3 parts cars ....and still order plastic parts..

 

Yes indeed Jag plastics especially the interior are fashioned from eggshells & unicorn tears lol.

I broke one of the brittle coolant lines a couple years ago, replaced it w/ a hose, no issues.