Good Day all, I am an American Technician with a real problem. A customer has brought in a "grey" car, one imported from Europe and given a VIN "SAJJNACCHCC124112" on all it's seemingly custom VIN plates. The badging claims a V12 XJ-SC, the written do-it-yourself VIN decoder i found (since none of the automatic decoders recognize it) works it to possibly an 82 (or no year but coupe/convertible) trim XJ-S with a 3.6 I6. The hood sticker agrees, with the engine in the car being a DOHC I6. Pardon my terminology, but it has a targa top and a soft rear window/roof. It also has a manual trans, seemingly not available in USA marketed at the time. We're trying to diagnose the speedometer, and here's where it gets very funky. There is no cable we can see coming from the speedometer, but there is a boss, threads, and drive on the left side rear area of the transmission. My thought is that someone built Frankenstien's X Jag from a scrapyard, and now I'm stuck tinkering with it. Any expert help identifying this car would be appreciated, and compensated with warm fuzzy feelings knowing you helped some random stranger not pull out his hair.

 

On the cowl panel, right about where the two diagonal engine bay braces comes together, you should see a VIN stamped into the sheet metal. This is the VIN that the car was born with. Get that VIN and we can probably figure it out.

Note that this VIN 'won't compute' on any VIN convertor set up for North American VINs.....but we can use Jaguar manuals instead.

(Jaguars of this vintage that were officially imported into the USA were assigned a second VIN by Jaguar. This second VIN met the North American (or at least USA) requirements. As for the car in question I'm not sure how a grey market importer gets a new VIN and/or what format it used)

The '124112' suggest something 1985-ish or 1986-ish. For some frame of reference my XJS was 139xxx and was built Feb 1987.

As for the speedo I'm not familiar with the details of the 6 cylinder cars but Jaguar did go to electric speedometers around 1982. There should be some sort of transducer on the side of the transmission. Sounds like it's missing on the car you have....but you should see some wires at least.

(Later cars (VIN 144xxx or something like that) had a differential-mounted speed sensor but your car shouldn't)

Cheers
DD

 

Human543,

I think you'll find that VIN should be (........8CC124112) in which case, if the car is genuine, it's a green 3.6 manual LHD Cabriolet built in '85 that was exported to Germany.

Drop me an email with the engine number, body number (not VIN) and gearbox number and I'll confirm it for you.

Paul

 

Oh dear, that VIN matches the VIN I posted that comes off the rest of the plates. The door plate says it was manufactured in 1985. The latest theory I've come up with is that perhaps an older transmission was put in this car because of the rarity of the manual within North America. I've plugged in a spade connector near the front of the top of the transmission, but I'm thinking it was for the reverse lights. Sounds like this car may be less of a mess than i thought, save for no service information existing on this continent. It does not have a differential mounded speedometer. I'm going to search for images of speedometer transducers since I'm unfamiliar with British engineering, and probably sensor design as well.

 

Paul, you nailed it. That is the car exactly. After finding pictures of the transducer, we've found a plug tucked up and away that should plug into it, and what i thought was a boss for a wire is where the transducer goes. Different engineering mentality, I normally don't work on British cars. You all have been so much help getting my head on right about this thing. I'm not used to not having any information, and now all we have to do is hunt down a transducer for it!

 

Glad to have been of some little help.

Have a look at Jaguar's Classic Parts websites for all the parts diagrams and prices for this car. See here:

Jaguar XJS parts | Jaguar Classic Parts UK

Paul

 

Speedometer Transducer - Parts For XJS from (V)139052 to (V)179736 | Jaguar Classic Parts UK


Ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAGUAR-SPEED...-/220529971033

 

There were a bunch of those 5 speed 3.6L SC cars brought into the USA by Jaguar. I don't know the exact numbers but I've seen two for sale this year.

 

Right, Jaguar did officially send some 3.6/5-speed cars over circa 1985. 25 cars? 50 cars? Something like that. I don't think they were all SC models, though.

As I've heard the story these were all assigned to Jaguar employees for market testing and eventually dispatched to dealers for retail sale.

Cheers
DD

 

Doug,

I think Mkii250 is using "SC" here to imply "6 cylinder" not "Supercharged" as we usually use it.

Jaguar never made any supercharged 3.6 cars. The closest they got was putting twin turbos on an experimental 3.6 car.

Paul

 

In this context I thought SC was in reference to the cabriolet body style. 'Supercharged' never entered my mind!

I'm fairly certain the the handful of official USA 3.6 cars that came over were a mix of coupes and cabriolets. Someone out there will know for sure.

Cheers
DD

 

Doug,

Sorry, it never occurred to me either to refer to a cabriolet as an "SC"!

Never officially a model taken by the US market, I thought there were 20-25 manual 3.6 Cabriolet and Coupe cars taken in by Jaguar NA and given to Jaguar executives just to test the market reaction. I'm sure US members will have some more info on this.

I guess those cars eventually were filtered onto the 2nd-hand market. The one that this thread is about is not one of those cars. This was a standard manual LHD model that went to Germany originally.


Paul

 

I think these cars were badged "XJS-C". The "SC" is a slightly awkward abbreviation




Which I think is what I mentioned a few posts ago



No doubt. And I'm betting the answers are here......

XJS Data - Keeping track of every Jaguar XJ-S - Jaguar XJS information, articles, photos and register

.....if someone wants to do some digging !




Right. My understanding is that all were eventually sold to the public via the normal dealership network, which would be normal/typical procedure for cars used by Jaguar employees



Right.

The 'market test' cars brought to the USA were official, 'USA-compliant' cars. USA-type VINS, bumpers, emissions certifications, etc.

Interestingly (or maybe not! ) I've seen more gray market 3.6 cars for sale in the USA than the 'offical' versions.

Cheers
DD

 

Doug,

I think you meant to say "XJ-SC" rather than "XJS-C" The "XJS" nomenclature on badges only came in with the facelift in 1991.

Good point about grey imports! I've been contacted 3 times this year re VIN tracing on 3.6 manuals in the US and none of them were the "official" cars.

Paul

 

Yes I meant the cabriolet. I'd love to have one of those with the 3.6 and 5-speed. Always did like the cab.

 

Right, that's what I meant !


Cheers
DD

 

Well, I'm back, and this time it's for possible repair advice and possibly more inspiring of spirited discussion among more regular members. Said XJ-SC is still inhabiting our shop, and shortly before the owner showed up, the wipers failed. I disassembled the motor, and found it junk, so a reman was installed. Upon plugging in and switching on, nothing happened.
Prodemand/Mitchell on demand does not have an accurate wiring diagram, as it shows only 3 wires and two wiper motors. Identifix at least admits it has no wiring diagrams. Google finds me everything except Jaguar wiring diagrams.
I took loose the steering column trim and wrote down the voltages of the wires i could reach without removing the switch, then went to the plug under the cowl to record voltages, and unlike before, i had none. i went back to the switch, and the power supply was dead. This car has leaked badly, to the point where there was a shower from the dash, and the glove box was a puddle. If anyone has wiring diagrams they could link me to, i would be grateful. The boss won't let it leave until the wipers work, and i'll need therapy if i can't at least rig it up. Side note: I did push on a fussebox while they key was off and make lights turn off and on. i'll keep you updated if anyone helps.