I had a spare day today to have a good tinker with the XJR I picked up a few weeks ago, aside from the things I knew needed doing from when I bought it, digging deeper into it I came across a few things that needed addressing. Today’s initial task was to mooch about the boot and see if I could trace where the smell of fuel was coming from. I can see the tank has been out before, probably for pumps, but I could also see that it hadn’t been refitted correctly.

So I removed the carpets and the first thing that jumped out at me was the wiring loom wasn’t routed correctly and was cable tied to the tank straps. I could also see it appeared to have been messed with, so I followed the wiring and discovered a long defunct tracker which had been poorly fitted in the first place and the installer had obviously had a love of cable ties because they were everywhere. After removing this archaic piece of equipment which consisted of a main unit, battery back up, two aerials, two fuses and several feet of wiring, I routed the wiring correctly and threw the rest in the bin. To think 23 years later we have air tags that can do all that and more!

I couldn’t see anything obviously wrong with the fuel lines, but the drain for the filler had been routed wrong and was causing water to drain into the boot, possibly any fuel spills, so I routed that correctly too and used a jubilee clip to seal the bowl to the pipe to ensure a tight seal.

I then began to dismantle the boot lid area so I could replace the boot button with a working one. Upon removing the boot plinth I found the number plate lights were loose and had been messed with. A previous owner had fitted naff LED lights that didn’t fit properly and they’d messed up the housings when fitting them, thankfully I had spares so I cleaned them up and fitted them. The boot button was replaced and works as it should, although I’ll have to keep an eye out for a lock actuator because the one fitted to mine seems a bit lazy.

Lastly I needed to replace the arm rest with a cup holder version I had in my spares stash. Whilst I was working there I lifted the tray out the arm rest box and discovered another poorly fitted relic of the past; a Nokia hands free kit. That will need to come out and the wiring loom repaired, again it’s funny how these things had so many wires and connections when a modern day equivalent is nowhere near as invasive.

What strange and wonderful things have you found on your car from previous owners? Let us know below.

 

oh don't even get me started. You can see my "rant" thread for the full details. Worst was a broken bolt in the termostat housing with the bolt head RTV'ed back on to appear fine. I have some fuel smell in the trunk on mine also but I can't figure out why.

 

Discovered between the driver’s seat and the console…

 

Sometimes it’s interesting when you find stuff from previous owners in the car, it helps build a picture of what they used the car for. I’ve found the 308 has a habit of swallowing things into the centre console through the gap around the ashtray lid. I’ve found money, ferry passes, bank cards and parking tickets when I’ve removed the centre console on my past cars.

 

In my XES (which had had a dealership detail before I bought it) I found a pair of Raybans, a strip of headache tablets, and three Maccas fries all under or between the front seats 🤣🤣

 

I got my XJR in 2019 & found some extra strong mints that'd gone out of date in 2003.

One day I'll find out what the jackplug that sits on the dash does, I suspect it's power for an old ****-nav.