Well I finally threw in the towel. Too many issues. The final nail in the coffin was a $1400 repair to air-intake to super-charger that had MELTED. Dealer had never seen before, and firmly believed that the repair was not enough, and the underlying cause of the melting would be even more expensive. Sadly, these cars are not rare enough to justify the extreme expense of maintenance.
Like any hot mess, I am both glad to be rid of her and sad to see her go. The sex, er, driving will never be the same. but neither will the pain.

 

Sorry to hear of her demise , but as an aside what was her final mileage ?

 

How long have you had the car? As with any luxury car .. the key is purchasing the correct one. My first thought .. 1999 not the best year to purchase.

I have two, one bought new, both problem free.

 

Hi Gary,

I'm sorry to hear you reached the point of no return on your XJR. We would be curious to know exactly how the dealer service department has explained the current problem.

Most owners have found that it is not economically prudent to be dependent on a dealer to service and repair a car that is more than 10 years old. The dealer's equipment and mechanic training programs tend to be, by necessity, focused on current models under warranty, and maybe the previous one or two model generations whose owners are still willing to pay dealer service rates. Your older car falls outside of the vast majority of service work they do so they tend to give exorbitant estimates, either to cover themselves in the event the diagnosis and repair becomes very time consuming, or to encourage you to take your business elsewhere to reduce their risk of a dissatisfied customer if they can't figure it out. This is not a Jaguar issue, it's just as true of dealers for Mercedes, BMW, Cadillac and other brands.

Were you not able to find a good independent mechanic with Jaguar knowledge? It might be worth finding one to give you a second opinion on your car.

I also don't see that you've posted many questions to this forum to benefit from the experience of all the owners here. One of the greatest things about the Jaguar Forums is the collective knowledge that owners share with one another.

Cheers,

Don

 

Thanks for all the input. I have had about 125,000 miles on her. Actually, I have been a lurker. The dealer has always pretty much matched the information I have gleaned from the board, so it has been a big help in encouraging me to keep going.
I have no doubt she could have kept running, but I had just reached the boiling over point. Pretty much every $1,000 repair in the book, and they just kept coming. I am not capable of doing the work myself and the dealer offered good service and never screwed me (well, the West Chester dealer anyway. The Main Line dealer was just incompetent, but we dumped them years ago).
She had been pampered the entire 8 years/30,000 miles we had her, never in the snow/salt, rarely in the rain, always garaged. Used her for special occasions (both my kids drove her to their senior proms). But Just the fact that we couldn't get even 1,000 miles at a time (3-6 months!) without another $1,000+ repair was just ... well, too much. Never the same thing twice, but she was towed too many times and left my wife wife and kids stranded too many times.
Like I said, it was both a difficult and an easy decision. I don't know if I will ever have sex that good again, but after all, it was only sex

 

Gary .. sorry to hear. Both of my 02's have less miles ... but, have required very little. I did have the fuel pumps done and each has needed some front suspension work -- ball joints on one and tie rods on the other. Replaced the small hoses on each. I have done two 02 sensors. Tires/ brakes/ filters /fluids.