I'm interested in looking at a local 88 Jaguar XJS in British Racing Green that he says the paint looks new and interior is pretty clean, just has a little work needed. He says the right rear caliper needs rebuilding or replacing, which kinda sucks but at least I know what's the issue there. He says it has 54k miles, fires right up and runs great and drove it to Atlanta (2 hours from here) a month ago and it was perfect. He says it developed a sluggish acceleration problem and has replaced the entire fuel delivery system and gas tank to the tune of $1700 but it didn't fix it. He said once it reaches speed it runs fine and shifts fine, just off the line it's pretty laggy.

I'd like to try and check it out because of the cleanliness of its looks, at least in the pictures, and it's lower miles. If the paint is as good as he says and the interior is as good as he says, a few hundred bucks or so may not be a bad investment to get a nice classic Jaguar.

Do you guys have any suggestions on things I could check out? I've seen in some research clogged cats can be a big cause of these symptoms. I don't mind replacing the entire exhaust to get rid of that potential issue while also making it sound better and flow better. I just don't want to get into something that involves replacing a ton of small parts.

 

Inoperative vacuum and mechanical advance can cause sluggish acceleration. Both common faults on these cars. Easy to fix.

Yes, clogged cats are possible and plausible.

A failing torque converter can hold back a car, as well.

Also, I wonder what the guy is accustomed to driving? These cars are not rocket-ships coming away from a dead stop. If he's used to something modern, well, an XJS might feel sluggish even if everything is OK. My 2005 Honda Civic 4-banger will probably show its tail lights to my V12 Jag in a 0-25mph drag race


The vast majority of used XJSs need quite a bit of love to get everything back up-to-snuff. If you want the car to be "right" I can almost promise you'll be replacing a lot of stuff.....even if this low power problem turns out to be an easy fix

Cheers
DD

 

Read more of these blogs. See if the owner has records of repairs. Poor acceleration could indeed be caused by melted out cats. But the cause of the melt down was surely caused by excessive fuel which was, in turn, probably caused by cooked engine wiring. Most of these cars have low milage and had poor maintenance due to high maintenance labor costs. And it is, after all, a 30 year old car. If you don't enjoy challenging auto repairs it's probably not the car for you. The stuck caliper for instance will require dropping the rear suspension. The "while you are in there" part replacement syndrome begins. The stuck caliper will then require both calipers both rotors and pads, emergency pads, and IRS mounts. Go into the purchase with eyes open and if you enjoy doing the maintenance you will have a rare and unusual ride.

 

 

Hi Matt

Sounds like She could be the very rare and desirable 1988 'Hess & Eisenhardt'

With the expensive bit (The Fuel System) already sorted out

If it is and the Price is right...........

 

when my 4.0L xjs had its original drive train it was pretty slow off the line between being a fairly heavy car and super tall 1st gear really tight torque converter it was a dog off the line. im not thinking your interested in how i fixed that problem though...lol

 

First of all is it a I6 or V12.

Next and more important if the body and interior are good/great, these are the 2 most expensive items to fix, mechanical stuff is easier to fix (relatively) so if the price is right.....

 

Ezrider, was it done with twin turbos, or doing some math and increasing the displacement to 5.7 liters or thereabouts? Lol

And its the v12 model. I may work out a trade on my Audi S4 and some cash on his end. Im going to track down a "what to look for" on these cars and take it with me to check stuff. Going to really look for rust too. I had an 83 I believe it was XJ6 that had a Chevy 305 put in it that needed some fuel delivery work and man that car was beautiful...at least on the inside. Looked like the seats had just come off the assembly line, but the paint was faded and burned from lack of maintenance. It also had typical 80s XJ6 rust pretty bad. Im not going to get into rust again. I don't mind buying a new vacuum line kit, or rubber hose kit, putting in a new vacuum advance and tune up kit or even upgrading the radiator JUST to make sure it doesnt overheat due to old parts, but I do not want to deal with rust and needing paintwork done too.

 

How old are the o2 sensors and is that jumble of wiring connected/grounded properly? My car was embarrassing from a dead stop even after doing a pile of fuel-ignition related work, turns out the o2 sensors weren't contributing anything and the car just ran off the most basic fuel map, tarnished rusty ground wires everywhere to. Night and day difference after that was fixed.