Next year I'll be relocating to Portugal, together with my car, which I've now owned 8 weeks (following a write-off of my previous XKR), and have taken it for checking into my (trusted and reliable) Jaguar independent dealer.

I took great care with the previous one to maintain it very well - you might say it died healthy. I have made the expensive decision to get everything done, to give the new vehicle the maximum chance of long-term reliability and safety. The dealer has pointed out the following:

• Rear brake disks corroded and slightly buckled - only making about 25% contact. Rear brake pads about 70% worn. Recommend new (aftermarket) disks which they generally use, and are of good quality, and if I want, replacement pads, which I have felt wise to go for.
• Moderate wear in front suspension bushes, etc. They could last longer, but I have decided to have them stripped out and replaced.
• Rear proximity-sensing connecting cable touching the exhaust pipe; needs re-routing.
• Oil low, unable to confirm condition of oil filter - recommend change of oil and filter -again, agreed with..
• Put in new antifreeze.
• Slight buckle in front wheels - not too bad right now, but I have also decided to get this done.
• screenwash pump not working (will be covered under guarantee)
• Aircon failed - needs new condenser, may be covered by guarantee

I am playing catch-up on years of indifferent maintenance and some neglect, and the car itself is solid and worth investing in. So I'm having the lot done - and let me confirm that I know and trust these guys, who are fully professional and knowledgeable, so there is no question of them inflating the work. In fact, the only items they feel are vital now are the brakes and oil change (as a precaution).

I have also asked them to replace the gearbox oil and filter, as the car has now done 75k and I really doubt whether anyone has thought of doing it, and they have put new plugs in - the first thing I asked them to do was to check the engine, which (phew!) seems fine.

So, having previously had the pleasure of green rain, my thoughts are turning to the roof hydraulics. Do you think it worth flushing out the old oil and putting new oil in - and would it be a worthwhile precaution to replace the hydraulic lines to the hood latch with new ones? There is no evidence of any problems at all right now, so it is really whether this kind of thing can wait until (if?) it needs to be done. That really won't be cheap, and even replacing the hydraulic fluid will cost a fair bit.
For anything major I would either have to go to the very expensive and, frankly, not particularly impressive main dealer in Lisbon, or drive/ferry back to the 'usual' people in the UK. I would in general prefer to have any work done in the UK, ideally during occasional return trips to see friends and family - but a special trip would cost me around £1200 in fuel and ferry costs.

So I would value your considered views, and also any suggestions for other protective measures I might take. Thanks!

 

Nobody......?

 

I see no point in changing the hydraulic fluid and would wait on replacing the hoses. You didn't mention flushing the brake fluid which should be done every two years.

 

Good suggestion, thanks. I'll get that done also.

 

Rather a 'how long is a piece of string' question:- where do you stop?

I'd focus on the stuff that can leave you stranded, and the PM that is simple and a 'good idea'. Definitely all the fluids (absolutely agree about the trans), and all the cooling parts under the bonnet - valley hoses (yes they're a bigger pain with the S/C), octopus, thermostat, water pump, etc. I'd add idler & tensioner pulleys,as they're cheap & easy.

 

My standard practice on any used car is to replace all fluids and filters to get a starting point for maintenance. On this car the diff fluid is hard to change and it is probably okay until 80-90k miles or so.
I also clean the injectors with Techron cleaner twice, and replace the spark plugs.
I drain and refill the power steering with synthetic ATF. An alternative is to suck it all out, refill with new, run it a day or two then repeat three or four times.
The sound of your rear rotor makes me think the calipers may be frozen or partially frozen, be sure they are working okay.
I don't know what buckled wheels are or buckled calipers are, but that sounds bad to me.

 

Had a call today from the independent dealer; they've found two more issues. the worst is a hydraulic leak going down below the pump somewhere. They have not located any joint leaks, so there is some concern about leaking hoses - we're going to replace them (but I do want to ask them to double check the pump itself, which was actually out of oil! Someone, though perhaps not the dealer, must have known that oil was disappearing).

The other is one of those things that can only be revealed by stripping down. Now I'm not really sure where, but a couple of big rubber mounts which bolt in to the front chassis members were worn and cracked. When they tried to remove them, the bolts either broke, or had broken or nearly so, but we now have two big bolts rusted into and broken into the chassis. I don't know how they'll be removed - they are going first to try to weld new bolt heads on, heat the whole lot up, and see whether that will work.

Oh well. We've just received an offer on our house, so we might have nearly enough to pay the bill on the car, which should be a cracker when it is all done.