My daughter fell in love with the above car, a beauty; both, the car and my daughter. Six weeks after buying the car from the local Jag dealer, the entire power steering failed, repaired at a cost of $1,700+. @ questions:
1. Could the dealer’s service dept have known this tranny was bad with a presale inspection?
2. Could this tranny have been “fixed up” to drive for a couple of months b4 failing?
What does the power steering failure have to do with the transmission.
Your beautiful daughter is about to learn a valuable lesson about Jaguars, especially 20+ year old Jaguars.
They are beautiful, but they are very costly to own.
“Could” the dealer have known? Perhaps, but it would be impossible to prove.
I suggest you find an independent mechanic willing to work on this car. Taking it to the Jag dealer will bankrupt you, your daughter, or both.
Thanks for your reply. I was trying to EDIT the submission when I saw your reply.
The tranny reference was my mistake. Yes, the power steering work was done by an independent garage in the city where my daughter lives.
I really do not need to “prove” the possible omission; I just will not buy another car from that dealer if my suspicions are “close enough” to the truth. As a family, we have bought 2 jags and a Land Rover from them.
Thanks again and if antone knows how to edit the original question, I would love to know how!
You bought a 22 year old rolling relic and are complaining??? ANY car over 8 years old or 150k miles has the potential for more major problems.
A Jag dealer is crazy to sell this vehicle. It should have been wholesaled off to a third tier used car lot or sent to Jag heaven.
To edit your post click the little pencil icon(bottom right of your post) while your logged on.
$1,700 ???
You don’t say exactly what they replaced but that seems a little steep. The steering racks don’t fail, they just leak - even when new, I’m guessing from the price that rack was leaking, dumped all of the fluid on the asphalt and the pump blew. But crikey ! $1,700 !
Like McParadise said, find a good Jaguar mechanic locally. The Series III XJ6 is a very good car, but they are fussy and high maintenance. I’d have spent the money on a good set of tools and a workshop manual. You’ll need them. I’m sitting in my garage right now with my 76 4.2 Jaguar and 73 New Yorker. The Jaguar takes a lot of attention, the Chrysler just starts, runs, stops…that stuff.
A few tips for your XJ before you shell out any more money - I’m guessing she’s done anywhere between 80,000 - 150,000 miles.
Always, always use coolant corrosion inhibitor - I’ll get to that in a moment.
Jack the rear under the diff (use a piece of ply on the jack) hold the top of the rear wheel, push it in and out towards the diff, if there is perceptible play the rear diff bearings are shot. The parts are peanuts, the labor will give you nosebleed. The whole rear end has to come out.
While you’re there, put the body on jack stands and lower the jack. Check the 4 rubber mounts that mount the IRS rear axle subframe to the body. If they come apart when you lower the jack, replace them otherwise the IRS subframe can drift around under harsh cornering. This isn’t a huge job to do. If the mounting blocks are good, don’t let the axle hang on them for too long.
Gas tanks, run them down and drain them. Condensation and seepage into the filler necks sits in the bottom of the tanks and rots them out - they are $400 each. If the filler cap rubbers look split or perished, replace them. If you’re feeling brave, pull the tanks and line them with POR 15, these are high narrow tanks that fit in the rear fenders, because they are narrow they can hold a good 2" of water before it gets into the fuel system.
Never trust a Jaguar gas gauge below 1/4 tank, because of the narrow long tank 1/2" is a gallon, the senders are legendarily inaccurate. Always cycle the tanks even if you only half fill them each side to keep the HP injection pumps operational.
If you have a poor lumpy idle, Google “Jaguar Injection diode kit”. There is a fix if your handy with a soldering iron. Jaguar knew about the problem, they just never fixed it.
Timing chains start to go out at about 100,000, the tensioner will have no material left on it by that time no matter how careful you are. This is a head off, oil pan off job. If the previous owner (or you) do not use corrosion inhibitor in the cooling system, the head studs will sieze to the ally head - if this occurs only try to pull the stud as a last resort - they pass through the waterway and the same lack of corrosion inhibitor corrodes the studs, they will probably snap. If you have a snapped stud, it is hell to replace - I’ve been there and it isn’t a nice place.
Oh, and keep your eye on the drivers door window lift, if it start to slip they are unobtainable - if you see one on EBay - buy it. Otherwise you will have to fix the existing one - inventive is the word there nut you can fix them with a little machine work.
All this sounds a little scarey, but once you know what your up to Jag’s are easy to work on. But they do have a few quirks. Other than that, they are great looking cars and fantastic cars to drive, I’ve owned them all of my life.
I have premature gray hair.
- Oh, I agree with you! But given that the Jag dealer represented the car as a “Local & Cream Puff,” etc., would my daughter think that they checked the car before reselling it?
- Again, my adult daughter brought the car, almost on sight, giving me little chance to say more than, “Gee, are u sure?”.
- Actually, I am not complaining as much as I am wondering IF and HOW they could cover up the bad power steering gear. I got confused with transmission as I was told in my youth (LONG AGO) that sellers used to put a mixture of sawdust & fluid in a bad transmission to disguse the grinding noise. Are there any realistic power steering tricks to look for?
- I realize that nothing can be done now as an indie has replaced the ps works. Just wondering: How Bad did she get taken! She now hates the car and the saleswoman.
Thanks,
WKA
…high maintenance…? It sounds like owning one of these is a hobby.
Your daughter bought a 23 year old Jaguar “on sight” according to you and now you want to blame the dealer for problems developing?
When the dealer took the car in trade they probably did nothing more than than send it out for detail and a fluid check.
This was probably followed by a test drive.
The vehicle may have been perfectly fine at that point.
Now, SIX WEEKS later a problem or two develops and it’s automatically a case of the dealer pulling a fast one? Not.
Brand NEW cars break down from one day to the next all the time, much less 23 year old ones.
I also think you’ve been listening to too many old wives tales about the sawdust in the transmission; and on an automatic to boot?
I’ve been involved the mechanical world for about 35 years and have never seen nor even heard of this ever being done, even on a wild-axxxx rumor.
There is no conspiracy at work here. She got the hot “I gotta have that car NOW” attitude (on a 2 decades+ old car), did not have a thorough check done before purchase, and now you both want to point the finger.
The problem is in the mirror, whether you like my comments or not. Settle down and over time (months or years) you will see that I’m right if you look at things in an objective light.
Hobby ??? Owning old Jaguars is more like a lifstyle they take up so much of your time or money - or both.
But seriously, any car older than 20 years of age has to be looked at without rose tinted specs, all of the stuff I’ve described are regular parts that are normal wear and tear for that car. Plus some jobs can be err…curmudgeonly is probably the best word. But my New Yorker has its fair share of pain - try changing the spark plugs on a Mopar 440 one day, or even better, do a compression test (no cheating, the engine must be hot).
But back to Jaguars, I think they get a lot of unfair press. 2nd & 3rd owners tend to neglect them, 4th and 5th owners pay for that neglect in spades. Jaguar parts aren’t really any more expensive than any other car, but the exotic labor rates will kill you.
If you want an old Jaguar, learn how to do at least the general work yourself. It’s therapeutic changing the IRS handbrake pads, by the time you’ve finished you will have cultivated the patience of Mother Theresa and the vocabulary of a truck driver.
I agree with the others, I also drive 20+ year old cars and stuff does break at that age. That’s just part of the deal if you want to drive something of that vintage. Personally, I think it’s worth the hassle/expense, but you have to be willing to write fairly large checks every once and a while. If you want drive something that you don’t see coming down the road every 2 seconds, you are going to pay for the privilege. I don’t see how you can blame the dealer if it wasn’t showing any symptoms at the time of the sale.
As a vintage Jag driver said to me a while ago, “At least it’s not a ford.”
Your right there…modern day Jaguars are mockingly called Frauds…haha…
“Your right there…modern day Jaguars are mockingly called Frauds…haha…”
Hopefully, not for much longer. Have they found a buyer to rescue them yet?
I hear Trabant are thinking of throwing in a bid.
O’ how the mighty are fallen.
Ouch!
I resemble that. 
A newer Jag IS a Ford.
It could be worse. I found out the other day my son leaped off and bought a new Dodge Caliber in Hideous Red with the CVT drivetrain.
I fully expect that no good (probably pure evil) is going to come of this transaction and within a year I’m going to hear; "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaad, that car is sounding/doing/acting like (fill in blank) and the screaming noise will be depreciation hitting terminal velocity as it goes off the cliff.
I prefer my 15 years+ old heaps just fine. They get me wherever I need to go in comfort and without payments. 
Heeeeeeeeeeeee…I just knew that comment would spike someones ire.
I think Ford did an excellent job with Jaguar’s quality control and manufacturing process, they also did a few good things for the larger models ~ though the ‘X’ type is a pile.
In retrospect, I think Ford were a little like the OP’s daughter…oooh gotta have that. The reality of course is different, Jaguar honeymoons never last long. Truth is, when Bill Lyons died, so did Jaguar.
"I resemble that. A newer Jag IS a Ford. "
Yup, the guy that made the comment was driving a very nice series II e-type. I don’t think he was very impressed with the whole ford thing.
What jag needs is a group of private investors, like the guys who rescued aston-martin, but I really doubt it will happen. Maybe they should just retire the name before they do anymore damage.