I bought a JAAAAAAAAAAG! 1995 Jaguar XJR worklog and swear bucket.

In reply to autocomman :

Not just 25 year old British cars, any 25 year old car will need a lot of work to keep it going. However you got it right. The Company that William Lyons started in 1922 site built a lot of cars people enjoy and love even if they aren't perfect.  
   Maybe because they are less then perfect.  I know when I work on my Jaguars they are mine in a way that those driving lesser cars will never understand.  Most people own cars as transportation modules.  A way to get from point a to point B.  They are worse for their shortsightedness.  The Joy of Jaguar ownership is so much more than mere point A to point B 

Update, parts have been ordered and it goes back on the lift in a week or so. The Jaguar community has been instrumental in helping me find parts and part numbers for various items

I'm back in town and the fun has begun. Sir Nigel Wolseley Clarkson The 5th got a new valve cover gasket, new plugs, new radio, new intake pipe and next week, will be getting an oil change, diff fluid change, trans mount and new tires and brakes.

There are two kinds of men in this world: those with big enough stones to work on Jaguars and everyone else.



Crusty old junk out



If you ever have to do this job get the full kit with the grommets and the plug seals because they're usually toast when you pull it off. I thought mine were plastic with how hard they got.



My valve cover is suffering from electrolysis, guess no one at Jaguar thought magnesium covers would be a problem. This will have to be replaced soon.



It's been idling rough, I bet when I pull this valve cover off I'll find out what's wrong. It was so full of oil I thought it only had 5 plugs, nope was just THAT full of oil



New plugs



New radio, the clock will have to wait another day I need to have my soldering setup for that one, which I will do this weekend most likely.

Also I bought a code reader and figured out my Check Engine Light is a P1199 which is a Fuel Level Sensor Circuit Failure, supposedly it's a plug in the trunk I have to clean, we will see here in the next couple of days

Awesome. I have a XJR-6 that I tried to bring to the challenge several years ago. It broke on the drive down and has been sitting in the back yard ever since. Mine is pretty crusty underneath so it may end up donating all its good parts to another car. 

If you donate the ashtray assembly to another car that happens to be mine I accept donations

Big update on the XJR. It has had an oil change, diff fluid change, supercharger oil change, rear trans mount replaced, brand new tires and brand new brakes and pads.

That supercharger oil was disgusting like some rotten eggs



Up on the lift



For now, this big cat is done, it still has a vibration on acceleration in the lower gears and the sunroof is still stuck but my work here is pretty much done, all it needs now is small stuff. I've got a solid daily driver on my hands now while I work on the Panda Express track car.

I passed on a mint low mile car just like this.  Guy wanted $2900.  I think if I ever bought a Jag, it would be one of these.

In reply to maj75 (Forum Supporter) :

you should have bought it, I paid 4k for this one with 115k miles. Prices on anything remotely interesting that isn't a crossover or alphabet car are skyrocketing right now.

Awesome,glad to see it coming along.  Prolly the only 'modern' jag I'd own.  And yeah mag valve covers were apparently all the rage in the 90s.  My w124 benz had one, it leaked once a year, got another used one and bead blasted it to powder coat it...don't do that, you think yours looks bad..oof, it just starts to descintgrate.  No matter what valve cover I put on, it would leak once a year.  Pretty on par for an M104 benz.  The BMW Vis of the era and 6 cyl, same thing, mag covers.  It would be great if you could get an aluminum one, if they even made one.  The M104 apperantly the w140 chassis, the last year of the 2p4 had an aluminum cover.  But eh, car is long gone.

Can you get a new valve cover?  Id bet it would be 500 to 600 ish if it's even available.  Also, double check the ujoint orientation to see if it's correct for your vibration.  If you haven't done all the mounts yet.  Even if the trans mount is new...if those engine mounts are old, they are no good anymore either.  And if that has a 2 piece driveshaft ( I can't remember if it does). Be sure the joints are aligned.  I've seen 2 piece shafts that were sperated at the splines and put back in all kinds different ways.  I had a volvo 240 that was done 90 deg off.  You'd thought the shaft was gonna come through the floor when you took off from a stop 

Upon further reading it is a 2-piece shaft and it has a center bearing that may have worn, I'll know when I get under it again it doesn't make the noise if I stay out of it.

The valve covers are cheap, if you can find them, and many aren't suffering from the electrolysis mine is. They always leak at the rear part of the cylinder head and that's where mine leaks, though I may have not been liberal enough on the RTV in that corner.

Update time on the Jaaaaaag. For the first time i my life I paid someone to fix one of my cars. It developed a no-start issue which ended up being the fuel pump relay for the #2 pump. I also had the shop do the carrier bearing and now it's quiet and smooth. The next thing to look at is going to be the sunroof and the Andy Bracket which bumps up the timing on these and the power as well.

In reply to jdogg :

No harm in hiring someone to work on your car for you.  Glad you got 'er up and running again.  Now that you've owned if for a bit, how do you like your Jaaaaaag ?

It still feels like being the CEO of a multinational billion dollar company.

Junkyard had 7 XJ8s, what are the odds that ALL of them were missing power radio antennas lol. Found one in an XK8 though and it should be the same part