Hello all, I've just purchased a 1995 XJS with 69,000 miles on her. I fear I've broken nearly every rule for buying a Jag.

First off, my PPI consisted of a thorough topside inspection and a 50 minute drive, half of which was at 75 to 85 mph. The car runs, drives and stops great, no issues whatsoever. I have 10 years worth of service records. And everything works except the passenger power seat. The interior is excellent.

Now for the bad. The wheels and tires are shot. It has chrome wheels and they are peeling and corroding badly. The tires have excellent tread but are dry rotted. The body has 4 minor dings and there are quite a few stone chips. Overall the paint looks a little tired. I've just ordered a set of aftermarket wheels and tires, and I have the car scheduled to go to Central Classic Cars | Fun With Wheels for dent removal, chip repair, and then a buff and polish. They do great work and assured me they can bring it back to a good standard.

I paid $5000 for the car and after the above mentioned items I'll be in it for around $6800.

They say there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Jag. I'm about to test that theory!!! I'm really looking forward to reading and learning all I can on this forum!

 

She looks great. Welcome aboard.

 

Congratulations!!! Awesome buy. Go the to Forum Cars and Parts for sale section. You will see a '96 XJS convertible being parted out by a guy in New York. Goes by ICSAMERICA. Might be a great place to get some critical
spare parts for the "just in case days."

If you wanted to save a bit on the wheels you could get some late 89's to early '90's style lattice/honeycomb wheels. They are plentiful and not expensive. In fact there is a junk yard very close to me with two of these cars and the wheels are $32.99 each. (I am in Virginia).

Yep, a little polish and buffing will go a long way to bringing a car back. There are options to doing a full on expensive re-paint and still have the car looking VERY nice. Unless you are taking the car to the Pebble Beach show a bit of economy goes a long way. Anyone can spend money. The trick is to do it judiciously.

 

Hi Roamer

Nice Car!

But you might have got more than you Bargained for (Though in a very good way!) because those Chrome 5 Spoke Alloys, seem to be

Screaming out to me that you have got 'The Celebration Model'

Wood and Leather Steering Wheel, Embossed Leather Seats, with a Gold Badge on the Bonnet.

In the event that I am right then you went and Stole it for that money.

So don't go and ditch those 5 Spoke Chromes, as they are as rare as 'Rocking Horse Teeth' and if it were me I would have them re-Chromed,

not least to Show that you have got the 'Uber rare and desirable' Celebration Model.

Though even if you haven't I would still have those Wheels done.

 

It's a 95, so not a celebration model. No wood steering wheel and no embossed leather seats.

still a fantastic deal. $6,800 is a steal for 60k miles. You'll have it for a long time.

share the records and we'll tell you what you'll be changing next. Much of the rubber is past its expiration date...

 

Welcome to the club! I don't know what it is that makes us so crazy about our Jags. I too, bought my first Jag very cheap. I put more in it than it was worth. But in 1981, a two year old XJS seemed a screaming bargain at 2500.00. But I gotta tell you, you have bought a FAR better bargain! The 95 6 cylinder cars are absolutely "bullet proof" so to speak. We are watching the value of XJSs go up in Europe. I personally can't imagine any better car, much less a beautiful convertible, than the car you have just bought!

 

Well done either way.

A V12 or a 6banger?????

 

Thanks for the comments guys. I did a lot of searching for OEM wheels and they are very hard to come by. And refinishing chrome wheels is very expensive. So I decided to go with these 17" aftermarket wheels. I know the purists are going to hate this but these are a third the price of redoing the originals. And I think they look good!!! Of course I'll keep the original wheels should anyone want them if I decide to sell. My goal for this car is to make a great driver and enjoy it.

Less than $900 wheels and tires mounted ready to bolt on.

This is not a Celebration model. No wood steering wheel.

 

Thanks!!! It's a 6!!

 

Hi Vee

I've got a 1995 and it is the Celebration model, with all the 'Bells and Whistles' as described.

 

Orangeblossom, our '95 model here in America is not the celebration model but as I remember this has come up before and it has to do with our cut off dates here compared to yours in England. I have two '95s with one a early production car and one a late production. Seems like our celebration model or what we call a '96 here started in May of '95 and my late production '95 has a production date of April '95 so just missed it by a month.

 

Congrad's on your new to you '95 XJS. I have two 1995's myself. I was so impressed with the first one that I bought a second one as an investment but the first one is so dependable I really have not needed to drive the second-LOL!

They really are wonderful cars. The 4.0l AJ16 in your '95 is pretty much bullet proof but the car is over 20 years old so you will want to check all your fluids etc. and just make sure everything is up to snuff before you start putting on some miles on the car.

There were a couple of things I found on my '95 that you will want to pay attention to. There is a heater hose on the back side of the engine that goes into the firewall to the heater core. You will see a cable fed valve that opens and shuts coolant flow to the core that sits in line of this heater hose. This valve can leak from age so check it out and replace if needed before it gets hot. Very easy to get at and I was able to get the valve on Ebay.

The other big thing to pay attention to on the AJ16 is the crank sensor. Check your records and see if it has ever been replaced. The crank sensor magnets will weaken over the years regardless of miles and can work fine one minute and next your car will crank over and not start and or start causing engine miss issues . This is very easy to replace as it sits to the right of your crank pulley and runs about $100.00 for the part. As memory serves me it is easiest to replace from under the car but just has one or two bolts holding it on and a wire connector. Crank sensor should be replaced every 10 to 15 years regardless of miles IMO.

The last thing that I have found is a common issue with this car is the transmission cooling lines can start to seep at the pressed fitting between the rubber hose section and the metal line. The lines run on the Rt. bottom side of the engine to the radiator tank. Just something to pay attention to and strange thing is at least when I replaced mine about 6 years ago you could buy one of the lines and the other I had to have made to match. Hopefully they are both available now but this is a common issue due to age.

Looking forward to seeing more pics of your car after you get the new wheels and have the exterior paint polished out. Love the dark colors on the XJS body.

 

Thank you for your detailed and thoughtful response! Exactly the type of info and expertise I was hoping to find here. I am putting together a list of maintenance items to attend to. In the last 7 years/17,000 miles the following things were done:

• New rotors and pads front and back
• Thrust angle alignment??
• Brake fluid flush
• New top 2010 (receipt for $3000!!!)
• Air filter
• Misc bulbs replaced
• Regular oil and filter changes

What do you think about coolant flush and transmission flush? I have heard with transmissions if the fluid looks clean you are better off leaving it alone.

Fortunately the car runs absolutely great and everything is in working order except the passenger power seat. I had an '95 XJ6 a few years back for about a year and loved it. I was trading a few cars back then and let her go. I never had a single problem with it.

 

Power seat is likely a fairly easy fix. Back panel of seat comes off to get to the motor. Might just be a loose connection or motor that needs cleaning and lubrication. Easy to test if power is getting to the connection. If not trace it back to switch and power supply.


If Trans fluid is pink leave it all alone. For sure on oil and coolant replacement. Get all the grease point too.


The wheels look fantastic.


That's a cheap ride to look and feel like a million bucks!!
You can't buy a used Ford Focus for that kind of money.

 

Thanks BradsCat. I'll check out the seat in the next few days.

Glad you like the wheels but...........I just got an email from the store I ordered them from questioning the fitment. They are 17 x 8 with a +19 offset. Bolt pattern 5 x 120.65. The tires will be 225/55/17. According to the size compare tool on RimsnTires website they will stick out 9 mm further than stock and fill the wheel well by an extra 2 mm. Neither of those dimensions are an issue. But now they won't guarantee fitment if I go ahead with them.

 

17x8 with +19offset will fit the front but you will have rubbing in the rears. With an 8" rear offset needs to be +33.

On the XJS it's not the lip where the tyre hits' it's about 2-3" above where the fender curves.

 

Well we're gonna find out. According to the RimsNTires size compare tool they will stick out 9 mm (less than 3/8") more than what I have on it now and will be 2 mm higher in the well. It shouldn't be close to rubbing. That is provided that tool is correct. Tire on left is what I have now, tire on right is what I ordered.

 

Not sure where you got this but I've run the numbers through 2 online calculators and both say the rim will poke out 22mm more, this sounds right as my rears are 16x8 +33 so +19 will poke out 14mm more than my rims.

 

Keep in mind it's the tires that rub not the wheels. I have 225 tires on it now and the new tires are 225. My stock wheel offset is 28 and the new offset is 19. So a difference of 9 mm. Can't see why they won't clear easily. If I went with a 245 tire or larger then I can see possible issues.

In any case I'll know in a week or two.

 

It's not 9mm because you are going from a 7" to an 8" rim

So with a 28 offset an 8" rim will poke 12.5mm more then add 9mm = 21.5mm further out.