Hi everybody. This is my 1st post & I can't seem to find the answer to my problems throughout the overwhelming amount of content on this website so maybe y'all could help me out.
I have a mint 1998 vanden plas that I just bought from the best private seller u could ask for, for $5000. Unfortunately I am having a few problems that need to be addressed. I prefer to do all the work myself because I know I can trust myself & it fits my budget considering I'm a 24 year old college student.

issues:
1.) window switch cluster. The only problem w/the car when I bought it was the drivers window button didn't work on the the cluster. The guys son had done a bit of jerry rigging & had fitted a cheap alternative auto zone switch that bypassed the cluster & rolled the window up & down. After having it for a week the interior door handle stopped working. I removed the door panel and did a little creative jerry rigging myself to get it working again. I fixed it & its awesome but I put the door panel back on & the window switch stopped working all of a sudden. I took the door panel back off and couldn't find any glaring issue so I put the door panel back on & now the entire switch cluster is not working at all. It appears that the auxillary switch was wired directly to the wondow motor and now the only way to open & close the window is to hook up a drill battery to the wires. ghetto as hell.... Will a brand new switch cluster fix this problem & will it work even though the auxillary switch seems to be hardwired to the motor?

2.) After I fixed the door handle it has worked flawlessly until today. This morning it seems the plastic has broken where the handle pivots and now the sunroof won't stay open for longer than 15 seconds. I have a feeling this is directly related to the door handle. Will a new handle/cable assembly solve this problem?

3.) A few weeks ago I spent about $350 on spark plugs oil and valve cover gaskets and I performed a full tune up as well as replacing the gaskets because the old ones were leaking ever so slightly. Everything went great except for one thing. Since the repair I now keep getting a low coolant level warning every time I start the car. I tried the hard boot, That did nothing. I did all the stuff you guys did and my little red friend on the speedo still shows up. Could this errornous warning be related to the two thin tubes going to the coolant reservoir on the engine cover?

4.) Another minor yet inconvenient problem with the jag was that the hood struts were bad. I replaced them with oem parts ($66 per side) and now the hood doesn't want to latch or unlatch easily. Whats the deal?


I'd really appreciate some insight into these problems I'm having. it's really frustrating when I spend all this time & money fixing something minor & then it causes something more serious to arise. It's like I'm taking one step forward & two steps backwards constantly. I just want this car to be perfect

 

You need to consider the possibility that keeping the Jaguar going will become a black hole that will suck you in and keep you from finishing up your degree! That's why the price was cheap..... I hope you are an engineering or science student.

It's hard to know what to say about the window and door problems, since it has been messed with so much. You could buy a complete used door panel on FleaBay and start over. Also would help if you downloaded and studied the JTIS (shop manual) and became more acquainted with how these systems work, and where the electricity comes from to make it work.

Coolant leaks can be tough to track. One issue is making sure that hoses are hooked up correctly. If you look through recent posts, you will see one in which there are two hoses which, when hooked up correctly, appear to be hooked up incorrectly!

 

Welcome - I'd suggest getting a drivers door loom and switch secondhand.....then strip out the butchered loom from your car and replace it. The loom itself joins the rest of the car's wiring through a rubber boot at the hinges, it has a plastic connector.

The low coolant light, it sounds like a sticking float within the coolant header tank, the trick here is to unscrew the lid, locate the float and slide it up and down it's shaft a few times to free it off from any crud that may have built up, I call it the finger trick!

The hood, it has two locators that will require adjusting slightly for the correct shut. They're on the hood at each corner - they screw in and out, they might need a single turn to get correct fitting.

I suggest you study the JTIS also.

These problems are a minor compared to some of the things that can go wrong!

 

like seanb said, get a new window switch unit and wiring and you should be good for that problem. as for the low coolant thing, al least on my car, you have to sometimes add a bit of water from time to time, I usually just pour a cup of water in there when the light comes on maybe once or twice a year

seeing as you are from virginia beach I must warn you that checkered flag Jaguar is a dealership that you should try your best to avoid. Never let them do anything to your car until you have checked it yourself, they have tried to swindle me countless times, and sometimes you have to fight them to fix your car if it isn't a completely obvious issue. my XJR hasn't been there much but my parents have an XF that has always had some type of problem, each time you take it for repair they manage to screw something else up.

 

FleaBay can be your friend. I picked up a driver's door switchpack for mine on there. I still have the old one, but I can't remember now why I replaced it (?). I don't see how the hood alignment could have changed just putting new struts on it. The door handles are a weak spot. Again, maybe you find a used handle assembly - just grease the crap out of it while you are at it. Keep at it. The door panels get easier every time you take them off. I had my front ones off this weekend greasing the door cable and everything else I could grease.

 

I checked out the wiring harnedd connecting to the switch cluster and it turns out that the brown/white wire got messed up when I put the door panel on last time. I repaired it and gave it the hard boot and now everything works like a charm.Un-friggin-believable. still didnt fix the low coolant level problem even though I fingered it good. she liked it but didn't commit. Oh well! As far as the door handle I actually took the handle from the rear door and just said screw it. I don"t use it anyways & it works out b/c I am forced to escort the girls from the backseat, currently as far as repairs go, I just wanted the window switch & the door handle to work properly. all that other stuff is just ancillary & really doesn't matter. thanks fo the help guys.

Oh yeah, btw: I am an electrical engineering/computer science major....I got this

 

Good to hear you fixed the window issue. I would suggest the coolant level sensor for your coolant light problem. If you were working on the valve covers it could be easy to bump and break the coolant level sensor on the bottom of the header tank. It could also be that you just disconnected or loosened the connection. Look for a brown connector under the header tank towards the front of the car. The sensor is pretty easy to replace, you just have to pull straight down on it and it comes out of the header tank. I broke mine while working on it, and it gave me a low coolant light, thats why I know about it. Hope its this and not a coolant leak.

 

Good for you , I believe you can fix the coolant light too . Mine was replaced (faulty sensor) and works like champ since he he
Keep us updated , two down , one to go