Jiffy Lube might be ok. However if you own one of these cars you need to learn how to do work yourself. Otherwise you will be paying a lot for labor. In addition you will forever be going to the repair shop. Especially at first. You will, and from your posts you have been, have much work to do to "catch up" on missed maintenance and neglect of the previous owner(s). An oil change is the easiest thing to do. Maybe not the cleanest.

Warm up the engine a bit. Does not have to be boiling hot. Remove the drain plug and let it drain. Then remove the filter. You may need a wrench to get it off. These are cheap and readily available at any store. Install the new filter hand tight only. Make sure you wipe some oil on the oil filter o-ring. Then install the drain plug with a new washer. Do NOT over tighten. Best to use a torque wrench. Then add oil until it read in the normal range on the dipstick. Then start the car and let it run for 15-20 seconds. Then wait for a minute and then top off the level. Now you are done.

Obviously you need a few tools to do this job. A jack, jack stands, drain pan, oil filter wrench are a must. I suggest you pick up a torque wrench. 3/8" drive is what you need for this.

As for oil check your owner's handbook. My 1985 requires 20W50. I usually buy Mobil 1 15w50 or Valvoline Synthetic 20W50.

 

One more thing to add. The Jaguar dealer is not really the best place to take your vehicle. The dealer is equipped to handle vehicles 10 years and newer. You will find that if they do take your car in they will not put a priority on it. The technicians working there probably have never worked on one. More than likely there is only one technician that has any experience on these older cars. I can tell you this from experience. I work as a field engineer for a manufacturer and I see the dealer's reaction and capabilities toward older vehicles. You need to find an independent Jaguar specialist or european foreign specialist.

 

I found the "split bolt" solution for weak hood struts interesting. I have another. I have a car that I have been showing for some years, the hood struts are original and still work halfway decent but I have always been worried about a gust of wind blowing the hood down own someone's unsuspecting head. What I did was to cut a length of "Funny Pipe" long enough to fit between the strut cylinder and the hinge. I then slit the material lengthwise - it cuts easily with a sharp blade. When I open the hood at a show, I snap the tubing over the chrome strut rod, thus preventing the strut from collapsing. Its plastic, just hard enough to prop the hood up, but pliable enough to be snapped over the chrome strut rod. Its stealth black just like the strut tube and I've yet to have anybody at a car show even notice the darned thing. Below is a link to the "Funny Pipe" material and its available at many home improvement stores for less than $2.

Toro | Funny Pipe, 24" (61 cm) Sticks (53265)

 

Greg is right on the money - if you can't / won't work on this car yourself you are in real trouble. Guaranteed within 6 months the car will not be running right, you'll take it to a mechanic, and it'll never run again.

To own an XJ-S you HAVE to work on it yourself, especially considering a single repair bill will very easily be worth more than the car itself, and it still won't be fixed right.

 

Do you think the average highschooler working at Jiffy Lube will realize these cars take 11+ quarts of oil, or just send him on his way with half the oil he needs?

 

ok...looks like I'll be changing my own oil this week...lol.

 

I'm not saying you HAVE to, but you'll need to make an appt. ahead of time so they can get the right oil filter (and unfortunately sometimes the parts books list the 6cyl filter for ALL engines - I found this out the hard way) and you'll want to remind them about the fluid capacity. If you want synthetic, prepare yourself for $150 oil changes (not that you save much doing it yourself).

Oh, and if you DO do it youself, make sure your oil catch pan is big enough!

 

"Guaranteed" ? "never run again" ?

Y'know, statements like that are a bit over-reaching.

True enough, though, that veteran XJS mechnaics are few and far between.

Cheers
DD

 

Are you referring to the long versus short difference?


Cheers
DD

 

I think so, I honestly can't recall. I bought the filter listed in the parts book and it was different than the one on my car. I honestly can't remember what the difference was, though. The guy at the desk ordered in one of each different part number and let me pick the one I wanted when they came in. Surprisingly helpful.

Since then i just check the one on the car and get that one again.

D

 

I have an 87 XJ-6, 87 XJ-S and a Disco II Land Rover. Boy are you in for a treat! They always keep me hopping.

 

just wanted to throw in...BOTH hood struts are 30-40 dollars on ebay. I understand sometimes there are ways to ghetto rig things to work...but its 40 freaken dollars to properly fix the hood for 5+ years. If that is the way you want to go about working on a car it will never reward you for it.

I know the "fixes" work but it is one of my pet peeves of repair people do on this car.


Also doesn't this "fix" mean you have to prop the hood up and side step over to flip up the "lock" and then go to the other side and do the same as the hood wobbles and bows?

 

i now use a hood prop rod.

i have been at car shows more than once ,and a GUST of wind right on the nose blew the hood down,WITH A CRASH), not gonna happen again, thats after two new sets of gas struts!

 

I never understood why people spend time and effort to save money on things like the hood strut when you can buy the correct ones for $50 or so. Save the effort for things that are no longer available or cost hundreds of dollars.

 

Check Discount Auto Parts Online -- PartsGeek.com - Domestic & Import Auto Parts Warehouse for the hood lifts.

 

That is a FACT. You either have to have DEEP pockets (which still doesn't buy you a knowledgeable tech necessarily), or you must learn to work on the car yourself. The best XJS mechanics/diagnostic technicians are XJS owners.

 

My struts work fine and I will replace em when they go bad but if you need a quick way to prop the hood up, use a pair of vise grips on the shaft of the struts, just like that bolt thingy. Where in LA are you? Youre gonna need a good wrench to help you out.

 

I have a cabinet shop and a few years ago Had a 30' party hut pontoon that had a sun lounge over motor very heavy, struts went out replaced with struts used on large cabinet components,when you first move the lid struts took over an d opened slowly.
Cost was about 20 dollars each.

 

If you were only a gallon short and your heat gauge never hit the H you're probably fine. There's over 4 gallons in there. Don't get comfortable operating it over the N though, chronic overheating is the death of that V-12.

You almost certainly have a coolant leak in there somewhere. Let it idle nice and hot then start taking a peek to see where it's dribbling out.

Changing all the hoses out in conjunction with a coolant flush is a nice job for a winter afternoon plus will get you familiar with the engine bay layout... If the t-stats are more than a decade old might as well replace them as well while you're changing out the hoses. Molded hoses can be had through all the usual parts suppliers. Kirby's book gives the part numbers. Easiest way to get the coolant out is to siphon through the banjo bolt on the RH of the radiator, just make sure to either buy a fiber washer or several spare copper crush washers and don't overtorque the banjo bolt when reinstalling!

Cheers,

- Will