As you all may have read at the time of the XK's demise the ultimate XK buying guide gave a list of problems for the "XK". Some they did not specificy if it was 4.2L or 5.0L cars or even years. Of interest was the following statement:

"Like other jags suspension wear is one of the most common issue. Most XK's need all 4 lower arms replaced by 60,000 miles. The front bush in the banana shaped front lower arm often wears. Shock Absorber Bushings and track control arm bushings are also known to wear. Worn suspension bushings can sometimes be identified by levering against suspension arms with a pry bar. Symptoms include uneven tyre wear around the inner edge of the tread and brake judder. Although such problems can also occur with incorrect wheel alighment and warped disc brakes."

The question is...has anyone around 50-70k miles actually seen this problem ont he boards?? Not seen too many threads about all 4 lower arms being replaced on these cars. Very curious!!

Loth

 

Lothar,
I had the symptoms, ignored it for a while, and then they seem to have gone away. What are you getting?

 

I have a light knocking that has come over the last couple of months when going over lightly uneven pavement. It's driving me nuts. We've checked bushings which I would suspect, but nothing stands out. I have a lot of mileage, so maybe it's time for new shocks. Next time it's in the shop we will take a closer look.

 

The question is...has anyone around 50-70k miles actually seen this problem on the boards?? Not seen too many threads about all 4 lower arms being replaced on these cars.

ie. Has anyone really had to have all 4 lower arms replaced and bushing replacements from wear and tear if not abused.

 

I've replaced the bushings on all of my cars ... depending on the car, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50 - 60k. I've found that I really don't notice the 'looseness' in the suspension until I change the bushings.

But to be absolutely fair, the rubber bushes do attribute to the excellent ride. And they are rubber, so they do wear.

FWIW

 

I recently sold an 08 coupe with close to 100,000 miles. No hint of any front or rear suspension issues, no noise, no wandering, no uneven tire wear, and certainly no brake issues.
Now if one were to direct these comments towards the X100, then one would be absolutely correct, except regards the brake problems.
Regards,

 

The front lower control arm bushings are rubber, but are filled with fluid to prevent NVH, Noise Vibration Harshness. The engine mounts are made the same way. The most obvious way to tell if they are failing is if you see a purple fluid leaking from them. As also stated above, you can use a pry bar to check for play.

The late model S-Type, XJ350, and late model XK all have the same front suspension, the upper control arms will be slightly different, but the lower control arms are the same. The banana shaped control arm bushings you can get seperate, just need a way to press them out and new ones in. I know in the parts catalogue for the XJ350 it won't show them to be seperate, that's because at the time Jaguar didn't offer them seperate. If it's looked up under an XK150, it'll show seperate, and it's the exact same bush, whether it's an R model or not. The shock bushings on these cars are also notorious for developing play, which are also available seperate, once again must be pressed out and in.

Being a Jag tech for the last 14 years, it's mostly the banana arm bushing that gets replaced the most, and you don't need to buy the whole arm, also the rear shock bushings, occasionally the front shock bushings. You don't need to buy the whole shock either just to fix the bushings, they are available seperate. I can give you guys some labor times of what these sort of repairs should be, and your local Jag dealer should be able to do them.

 

That would be appreciated for all.. and I wonder if part numbers have changed? Do you have the banana arm stock bushing part number? I guess whatever technical info you can put here - WE WILL TAKE IT. Every year im going to have them check the bushings for play ;-)

 

Hot Diggity Dogg!! I just love learning about this car. NEVER have I ever learned this much about a car ive owned.... EVER. Why? because we LOVE IT!!

 

I get a cracking/popping from the left front on slow/no speed turns, and figured it's somewhere in the suspension. I'll take a closer look and see if I can isolate it, hopefully a replaceable bushing.
Thanks for the ideas.

 

I bumped into this today by sheer coincidence. It was a rather recent buying guide for XK

"Though rare, some owners have reported failed catalytic converters, possibly evidenced by a ticking or tapping sound as the car travels over bumps. If you notice any unwelcomed sounds like this, a visit to a mechanic should be considered mandatory to investigate. Note that a newer XK will have a mandated warranty covering emissions control equipment, so fixing a bad catalytic converter may be a freebie."

Sadly they were covering 4.2 and 5.0 so there is no way of telling what they are speaking of specifically. But I think they both have the same catalytic?

 

I hesitated whether to post this or not... because I dont want people to get the wrong idea. I am NOT telling everyone to go out replace your bushings... However...I have a 2013 XKRS (stiffer springs - same bushings) and a 2012 XKR. The XKRS has 2400 miles and the XKR has 30,000 miles. I drove them both today over the same roads to compare ride expecting the XKRS to feel more bumps. While the XKR has less stiff springs the ride was not as "smooth" as in the basically brand new XKRS. This is what they are talking about - the difference in a new car vs one 3 yrs old. The new car is smoother!!! Is it a big enough difference to make me run out and change all my bushings so that my XKR feels new... No... but it is noticeable. I heard the banana arm bushing is the most frequent to go and is now NOT available as a single bushing OEM? Anyone else here about this??? Price of said arm is over 500 im sure. Looks like in Gaudinjagparts most other bushings are available for 50-90 bucks.

Addendum!!!:
Going against this is that they were on different tires (both summer tires) at different ages and wear as well... so maybe im Full of S%&T. Id like to see how my XKR feels on Continental DWS's as a friend of mine says his 07 coupe feels reborn and smooth.

 

Here's the number for the lower control arm bushing, for the curved arm. The Jaguar number is C2P17090, this was looked up under an XK, X150 body, but it still fits the late model S-Type and XJ X350 body. There is another company we source them from called SAS here in NZ, the number from them is LEM29783. I believe it's an aftermarket German brand that makes them. Might be able to cross reference it there in the states.


Keep in mind if you pressing these out yourself, pay close attention to the orientation of the bushing in the control arm, they need to be pressed back in facing the same way. Hope this helps. Feel free to PM if you want any other technical info, be happy to help anyway I can.

 

Would Never attempt to do this myself... that being said do you have labor times for such jobs?

Loth

 

If you do the bushings for both sides, it should only be about 1.5 hrs, plus alignment. Sometimes the bolts can be seized, but that's been a rare occasion. Being that the 2 you have listed in your signature, shouldn't have that problem.

 

Hi,


my opinion is, that the lifetime of the bushings do not only depend on the milage, the way you drive the car ist also very important.


If you drive smooth, all parts will live much more longer, than you accellerate and brake very often very hard.

 

To follow up on my previous post, the cracking/popping seemed to be getting more noticeable, so I decided to look into it further.
Jacked up the front of the car, so I could turn the wheels left/right by hand, and found that I could occasionally get a 'crack' by giving a quick jerk, left or right, but not consistently.

Put some wood block under the left tire, and let the car down slightly to put some weight on the left tire. Could now get the 'crack' more easily by slightly jerking the steering wheel left/right. Enlisted the help of the wife, to jerk the wheel, while I looked and felt around underneath. Nothing looked loose/bad/worn, but by feel, the strongest 'pulse' I could feel was coming from the outside tie rod end ball joint ('track rod' for those folks on the other side of the pond).
Thinking the ball joint was going, I started researching replacement parts, and watching youtube videos on replacing that part.

Before ordering a replacement, just to make sure that was really the problem, I decided to disconnect the tie rod end from the wheel assembly, to verify the 'crack' went away, and it did!

But while disconnecting it, I noticed that it was attached differently than the tie rods from the videos I'd watched. They all had a cotter pin through the shaft, and a 'castle nut' to prevent the connection from loosening, and all of them required some force to get the shaft out of the connection (in anticipation of this, I bought a 'tie rod separator' tool to assist in this).

The Jag connection was different, no cotter pin or castle nut, just a regular nut. When I put a wrench on it to remove it, the whole shaft turned. I then found that the end of the shaft had hole into it, into which I could fit a T30 Torx bit (tried an allen hex bit, but mine were too long and the caliper was in the way). Put a vise-grip on the torx bit, and a wrench on the nut, to remove it. As I removed the nut, the ball joint shaft for the tie rod end just fell out of the wheel assembly, no need to use the separator tool.

This made me think that maybe, just maybe, the connection had been just a bit loose. So I put the connection back together, tightened it up real snug, and surprise! No more cracking/popping! The tie rod shaft must have been slipping side to side, when under enough pressure, in the hole in the wheel assembly.

So, just something to check, if you're getting some front suspension noise, make sure all the connections are real tight, as there is no locking mechanism on these connections (totally dependent on friction).

I've now noticed that I get a 'rattle' from the other side (RH) when going over some bumps, so I'll be checking the connections on that side next, maybe another 'free' fix!

 

Hope you put it back together with a castle nut and cotter pin. Wouldn't want that nut to fall off going down the road.

 

Wasn't designed for it, but suppose I could drill a hole through the shaft to do that. Need to get the right size castle nut first.

 

I am having this same type of noise, and it's driving me nuts. I needed to replace shocks anyway, which I did, but the noise persisits. We checked all bushings, etc., everything seemed fine. My mechanic suggested that the sway bar links might be the next logical direction in which to look. I will show him this tomorrow. I don't get the sound with turning, however, I get it with going over cracked or uneven pavement. It's making me crazy.