OK there are a variety of threads out there on this problem. I was blissfully unaware of the issue but I see from various threads others have encountered it, mainly under the mistaken belief that with a dead battery they can't get into the boot / trunk. But my cautionary tale advises that this must now become a routine visual check as part of a service.

So with Covid lockdown ended, but suspecting that it would be re-applied my better half and I booked a ferry to France and set off for the south. 11pm Newhaven, Cabin sleep, get up, customs, the XJS had us over 100 miles south of Paris for our breakfast stop at Auxerre on the Route de Soleil well before 9 am. At our destination in the Alps north of Nice before 4 pm. Exactly what the XJS is good at. Try putting enough clothes and kit for 16 night holiday in an E Type ! Hood down for the last 100 miles gave our northern European skins enough sun for one day. A fantastic journey down.

A great holiday. Lots of people came up to us and wanted to know about the car.

We generally do the last two weeks of August, having tried to get as much of the UK good weather before returning to face shortening days, but sensing that free travel might not last we went at the end of July to return on the 13th August . Luck or what, - UK announced re-imposition of quarantine on the evening of the 13th just after we had boarded the ferry and were settling into a glass of wine to celebrate the end of the holiday.

That is the tenth time the wife and I have gone to the south of France in the XJS in 18 years of ownership. Up until this holiday the only two issues have been - a slipping compressor belt needing retightening - 10 minutes and a steering tracking issue and I should have checked before I went, But this time - the stress was through the roof - the cause was trivial beyond !

So last morning before the drive back, all the stuff is going in the boot. What fitted nicely when laid on the front lawn, with the car on the drive loaded very logically now seemed slightly too much for the boot trunk. I put it in once and needed to rejig, the boot lid was not going to close. Some things out and the critical items back in, arranged differently and then I check tried the lid. Fine it all closed without resistance. Now to open and pack the final items around the key items and then we could leave.

Only the boot would not open. Nothing. The solenoid was doing its thing. The key was doing its three position thing but nothing, not even a smidgen of a suggestion that with a good pull or squeeze a keeper might shift.

Now I must confess - early in ownership I had slammed the trunk boot lid a couple of times to lock it and had damaged the lock mechanism. So in 2014 I had purchased a new lock and fitted that. I also know I had adjusted and tightened up the striker position on the body so there was not a cat in hell's chance of me pulling the lid up and the lock pulling the striker up with it.

My better half knew not to ask the obvious question but rather accept my statement that nothing more was being packed in the boot. Generally she likes travel stuff behind the seats in the cabin and I hate it. This time there was all that plus a couple of items that should have gone in the boot trunk. When I purchased the car in 2002 from the original owner, there were three little raised areas of the bodywork on the boot lid. I haggled over the price driving it down as I said they would need to be fixed. The owner had bought it new for retirement use by himself and his wife and stated his son's had both used it, in later years, and dented the trunk boot lid as they did not take sufficient care ! But he accepted my point and we settled. Well 18 years later I still have not found an excuse to get those small raised areas dealt with - but always - with a full boot the last two things are two blankets I put in over everything else to ensure I do not add to those three small blemishes. Well, one blanket was in the boot but the other was on the floor with some other items and the boot was not going to open. So for a drive up from the south of France with the temperature the wrong side of 35°C we had the top down and a blanket behind the front seats and other junk that should have been out of sight ! Let's just hope they don't do their usual at customs. Can we look under the hood bonnet - ok that was just an excuse to look at the V12 engine and right - what have you got in the boot ? This time we prayed that they would be so busy with Covid forms and checks that they would not look for the illegal immigrants hiding in the engine bay !

Well that new, low level 2m tunnel on the A86 super-périphérique west is certainly more reliable for a journey than rolling the dice on the périphérique, so with barely a blink we were ahead of allowed schedule, outside Rouen enjoying a final evening meal in France, both silently mulling over quite what would happen when I told them they could look at the engine all they wanted but I would come over all reluctant if they asked me to show them the contents of the boot.

We arrived in plenty of time and went through border control. Then customs. Sod it - a young lad - can I see under the bonnet ? And then on the boot - I explained. Within no time there was his boss and his bosses boss. After I showed then the key and the solenoid remote and we all listened to the solenoid moving and everyone had understood whatever we did outside the boot nothing was happening to the lock inside, one new arrival seemed very keen on impounding the car. The bosses boss seemed to understand - and then what do we do with it ? was his pragmatic answer. So then there was then an inspection of the cabin to see if there was some way of getting through. I pointed out the petrol filler and identified that there was a petrol tank in the way.

I think what impressed the little throng the most was my response to - how was I going to get into the boot myself when I got home ? I stated I had no plan but that whatever went on I would probably have to drill some holes in the lid to try to access the lock mechanism in this sort of region. I think they saw the look on my face as I described being forced to damage such a prized possession.

The bosses boss made a decision - enjoy your trip and good luck when you get home ! We were released !

As we sat on the boat pulling out of Dieppe with a glass of wine we both decided however stressful that was, when we got home there boot would still be unopenable !

Well guys - what a super web site. I took a punt that the solenoid and the lever mechanism were not the issue and I should go for the lock.

Number plate/ registration plate removed. Centre-line of the boot. 2 1/2 inches up from the lower edge and a 5/16th hole exactly as described here. Screwdriver in an poke it around a little and hey presto - the lock opened. Thank you forumites - that was way easier than ever I had dreamed ! My worst case scenario had me attempting to purchase a new boot lid for which the consolation of never ever seeing those three minor blemishes that my wife says she can't see - was going to be trivial compensation !

My problem and the issue for us all. There is a black ABS heat formed moulding that covers the lever solenoid arrangement. Keeps it nice and safe from stuff in the boot jamming it or falling against it. But it also stops you looking at it and doing a check. Well of the four steel starlock fixings that should be holding this cover in place, only two were left and they were both rusted. One just fell off and the second gave up without much of a fight. Of the other two - there was no sign. Once the black cover was off the problem could be seen. The crank arm that pulls the rod up as the lever is rotated, was no longer attached to the lever. The C ring/circlip that should be doing this job had obviously rusted through and fallen off. When I placed the crank arm back on the lever die casting, the lock assembly all works fine but it needs the C ring to retain it.

We can't see it to inspect its condition. When will te C ring fall off after rusting through? Well my one rusted and fell off exactly 10 days short of 31 years after registration. I see some write about the shaped hole in the crank arm or the die cast of the lever wearing. In my case at c. 64K miles neither of these were issues. What was an issue is that the circlip ring simply fell off. It will not require an annual check but certainly once every few years. It's those fixes on the ABS cover. We all know the thought process. "If I pull it off that cover is going to need new fixes because those old ones will break and do I have any that size ? Sod's law is that amongst the small tray of star fixes, I will have lots of sizes but not that one - ok leave it all in place - it all works so why worry about something that already fixed. Spend time fixing something that is broken."

Let me assure you - whatever I thought customs might do or what a new boot lid might be, I was delighted that on the final day I was left with 95% of what should be in the boot, in the boot and just 5% to be stashed in the cabin. It could so easily have been the other way around. Now that would have been a tale of the Jaguar going to France that would have been told at every family Christmas for the rest of my life. One small C ring. One big job ! Check it.

If anyone knows the size/spec of the C ring and starlock push fixes can they post them up. I will give it a day or so and if no one knows I will try and sort it out and then post up my results.

 

Thanks for the entertaining read, and glad you avoided being reminded about it every Christmas.