After having her garaged for a year after I purchased her and only having the chance to drive her for half of a day before my catalytic converter blew (see my last post) I've finally mustered up the courage/and so has my wallet, to take her to a jaguar specialist here in NYC that user DrScientist from this room recommended.

Since I bought the car, a lot of money has been spent on other things...(Las Vegas trip last Halloween, LA trip in February) and other countless nights of drinking/partying that should have been used to finance getting this baby on the road.

I have my daily driver which is a black Acura TL 2004 which is pretty reliable so the Jag will be more as a hobby/project vehicle. You can see the back end of my Acura in the first two pics.

After taking the car in this Thursday I will be posting the results of the diagnostic on here in case I need advice from any of you seasoned XJS owners on here.

For now take a look at the pics of the car after we towed her out of the garage and some pics of her in midtown in front of the mechanic taken on my camera phone.

Enjoy and wish me luck!! I should be getting the results on Monday of how light my wallet will be or if I need to go shopping for a Chevy engine which I don't really want to do.

According to the guy I bought her from, she was supposed to get me back to NYC in one piece from Michigan so who knows what's underneath the surface and can be wrong with the car.

BTW it's a 1992 XJS with about 85K miles on it.

Finally one last thing, the mechanic stated that they don't allow people to purchase their own parts since they provide a 1 year warranty on parts and labor. Is that common for them to not let me purchase my own parts?

I kind of wanted them to put in magna flow catalytic converters and mufflers, but we'll see what happens.

Will update this soon and let me know what you guys think of the pics.

 

Looks very good with the blacked-out bumpers and big wheels.

I haven't had a mechanic refuse to put on parts I purchased, but if that's they're rule maybe you can still influence who the supplier is by stating your preference?

Good luck with your project--she's a beauty.

 

You may want to find a new mechanic, or save him for special repairs. Jag parts are super expensive, when you pay "book rate" for them.

My mechanic simply voids any warranty on parts (and labor) if I choose to bring my own. I think that's fair.

 

Its new york city, labor rate are sky high and part quality for older car is hit or miss. Paying twice for a bad part surely wont be in your favor. If the parts fail the manufacturer will often will blame the installer and the installer will blame the part. The customer is usually left holding the bag in these cases. The mechanic maybe doing you a solid by insisting he warranty it. Be sure to get the parts and labor warranty details in writing. Do the whole job yourself or let someone else do the whole job and have the profit, risk and responsibility for its success.

 

Thanks!! I bought it exactly like it looks. I love the paint job and wasn't a huge fan of the wheels.....and how the previous owner blacked out the chrome bumpers but it's grown on me.

I'll def try to influence them as the magnaflow parts I want to use for the exhaust seem to have a good warranty on their own.

Thanks.

 

If the parts end up being too expensive I'll def have to rethink it or have them void the warranty if I choose to go aftermarket.

Thanks for the tip

 

Didn't really know that as most of the cars I've owned have all been cars that I haven't had to do major repairs and modifications on. Thanks for the heads up.

The conversion isn't out of the question at this point if the news isn't good. So your advice is to allow them to warranty it if they don't end up letting me use my own parts? I'm not crazy about putting a stock exhaust on this Jag. I was hoping to put some modifications in. Magnaflow catalytic converters, mufflers and exhaust tips.

 

I don't believe the mechanic would deny using whatever brand you prefer, just wants to make sure he's buying them so he can mark them up.

Problem with that is that you end up paying MSRP on it, not what you could actually buy the part for. Typically I find that they charge you prettying what the dealer would for that same part. The only difference is the labor rate. Private mechanics typically don't charge the $110-$130/hour that Jaguar charges, however your results may vary.

 

We all know this about mechanics and parts, don't we? I mean, I want to trust my mechanic and hope he has my interests in mind...it's like I choose to be naïve to avoid stress. I have one concrete example involving the AC compressor on my Tacoma. Dealer quoted $2100, my mechanic said $1700, I got it online for under $600, same Delco unit, and that same mechanic installed it for me. Actually not just a mechanic, it's a Firestone dealer in London, ON.

 

Thanks as that is what I'm trying to avoid. MSRP is not in my interest and if that's the case I'll be moving on to a new mechanic. There is no rush on this project.

 

Wow, that's a huge difference. I'm definitely going to ask for a parts list of what work needs to be done and do my research. There is no rush to finish this job as this is a project car. I need a mechanic that's going to work with me to do this as cheap as possible. If they aren't flexible then I'll just pay for the diagnostic and put the car in storage until I find someone that is willing to work with me for a fair price.

How did you convince him to use the part you purchased?

 

When he gave me his quote, I said, "Sorry I can't afford that, would you install the part if I find a cheap one?" And he said yes right away. He did a front wheel bearing on my Tacoma this way too later. I think he knows that's one reason I keep coming back. He is good for their business. And when another guy at the counter gave absolute ridiculously crap service, I told the manager about it and praised the other guy. They listened, they responded.

In June I was getting exhaust work done on the XJ6 I had just bought, and I asked the shop if they could safety the car while I was there (so I could get licence plates). That process involved me paying $140 for a ball joint that you can get at Jagbits.com for $36. Big expense involved in him getting that part from a supplier right on the spot that day. That was a different shop, but the one mentioned above would ordinarily do the same thing. I stupidly asked them to get me a ($15) temperature sending unit recently and they charged me $68 for it, for me to install myself.

 

hey badkat...
glad to hear youre moving on your projects.
i do feel a little responsible at having directed you to that garage. but i do still trust their knowledge of the v12 and its quirks.

that said, i think you mentioned youre looking for some exhaust updates. the exhaust may be one of the systems (others please chime in) that doesn't necessarily need any specific knowledge of jaguars, let alone the v12.

you could probably find a highly skilled exhaust guy up in the bronx or brooklyn that could set you up, and use the parts you bring to him.

 

Hey man. Thanks for the referral. Everything is good so far although they haven't found the issue causing the engine to not start.

I mentioned your car and that you referred me to Pat when I first walked in there and she kind of recalled you but wanted your first and last name which I didn't have.

The free towing to the garage was already a plus.

Just from speaking to them and looking at their garage, they look like they would know what to do with a Jaguar and a V12. I took it to them last week and they had a ton of cars in there so they haven't really been able to take a look at mine right away.

The car sat for an entire year in an indoor garage so they had to first charge the battery.

I let them know that the catalytic converter blew up and plugged the exhaust with debris.

They're telling me that even though that happened, the car should at least start up or attempt to. Raj said that at the moment, the engine is sparking but there is no fuel going in the engine so they need to do a little bit of more digging before they get to the root of the issue.

Once they get her up and running then I'm going to decide what I'm going to let them do. I'll likely update the exhaust system and muffler elsewhere since they only want to use their parts at this garage unless something changes.

I'm looking to use some magnaflow exhaust parts and exhaust tips.

Hoping this job goes well so I can have them as my mechanic for anything engine related.

BTW take a look at this MG Midget they had sitting in the garage about to get to work on. I had to ask them to let me sit in it and take a pic. haha.

 

Hopefully they know that's an MGB and not a Midget, if they think it's a Midget you may want to find a new garage!

 

Haha....no I thought it was a MG midget. It's an MGB? Not too many British cars riding around in NYC for me to know the difference.

 

Hey guys so I have a few quick questions which you'll see below about some parts. Please bear with me guys as I am a total newbie to owning a car this old. lol

After some tinkering my mechanic believes that the issue is the Fuel injection throttle position sensor.

After initially telling me that they only use their parts and don't allow me to order parts they're letting me order this part because they said that they couldn't find it.

They said they could only find used versions and they don't have a license for installing used parts.

I easily found two online. Perplexing but whatever. I'm going to use this as my chance to have them allow me to use my own parts.

The first one I found is at RockAuto Parts Catalog The part is made by Standard Motor Products. This part is going for $140.00 & it has a warranty of 3 years or 36,000 miles. Here is the link. https://www.rockauto.com/catalog/mor...434&cc=1178872

The second one is below. Made by BWD. Priced at about $225.00 With promo codes the price comes out to about $185.00
BWD/Intermotor Throttle Position Sensor EC3374: Order best Throttle Position Sensor at Advance Auto Parts

This part has a lifetime limited warranty. As explained by one of their techs......

"The Limited Lifetime Warranty applies to the original purchaser with limited coverage to defects in manufacturer materials and workmanship. Normal wear is not considered a defect for the purpose of warranty eligibility on high-wear items. Other exclusions may apply"

Warranty on the site if very vague. Advance Auto Parts Limited Warranty - Advance Auto Parts

Before I order the part my question is which one should I order. Why such a high mark up on the BWD part? Is it better? Anyone with any experience with any of these manufacturers?

I'm leaning towards the Standard Motors Products part. For one it's cheaper. Two I think the warranty sounds more straight up for Rock Auto parts....even though it's not a limited lifetime warranty. When I called their customer service was pretty knowledgeable and friendly and stated that both manufacturers where pretty similar.

Does anyone have some advice on which one I should get? Once this is done the mechanic said the car should start and then we'll start working on other aspects of the car that may need attention and updating.

Thanks!

 

I actually found another site that sells it and the price difference is huge! Only going for $129 and it's from NAPA.

NAPA AUTO PARTS

Same warranty as the part from Standard Motor products. 3 years or 36,000 miles. The part is made by NAPA Echlin.

I want to save as much money as possible but I'm a little confused as to these huge price differences for the same part. Again I'm a newbie so any help is appreciated.

 

Searching through the threads I was also able to find two sellers that have the OEM TPS.

POTENTIOMETER-TH - Terrys Jaguar Parts - EAC9634

They have it for $120.

Jaguar THROTTLE POSITION SENSOR POTENTIOMETER - EAC9634

They have the OEM part for $144.

Now back to my original question, with all these choices, what is the better option? I'm still leaning to the NAPA option since they're a local store and I heard that getting replacements is always no issue.

However I did speak with a mechanic friend and he told me that the OEM route might be better as they're less liable to crap out. The catch with these is that the warranty is only 12 months or 12,000 miles.

Anyone with any advice or experience on this part?? Thanks!

 

You changed that gas cap back to the body color yet?