Had my X type for nearly a year now and I really like it. Its a 2.5 AWD auto with lowish mileage. I bought it because 

1)I wanted a Jag

2) It seems a helluva lot of car for the money

I do all my own servicing and maintenance and these forums are great sources of info.

fairly soon after acquiring I did a complete flush and fluid change to the Auto box (what came out was very dirty) and the transfer box which appeared to have not much oil in it - I assume it leaks past the seals into the gear box because there was no external leak or does it just evaporate!? No wonder these boxes fail.

I also mended the rear door speaker which was not working, the clips on the door panels are the most difficult to remove i have ever come across!!

I have changed the front discs and pads, serviced the rear brakes (handbrake was reading low for the MOT) replaced the brake fluid, PAS fluid and yesterday did the oil change, Thought i would do it in my lunch hour until I tried to get the old oil filter off. That thing was tight, I have a strap type filter tool but that was not touching it so ended up spending £17 on a nice draper filter removal tool with 3 arms that clamp as you twist - eventually it moved - what a faff! Is it just mine or are they always this tight?

All in all I am please with the car and will be keeping it until i can afford an upgrade - Id like an XJR or might go for the 3.0 l XF

Will post some pics when i have done the front grill upgrade

 

apologies my pic shows my other car - MX5

great to read that you do your own repairs and servicing on your car, it saves you loads of money when you do it yourself as labour rates/charges are way to high !  ( I too try and do my own repairs).  look forward to seeing pictures of the jaguar plus if any of the recent repairs,  keep up the good work on the jag and enjoy your rewards when driving.......dave

Cheers David

part of the fun for me is tinkering with cars that I own. And driving them of course!

I'm off to the airport early tomorrow morning and actually looking forward to the drive!

Welcome to the Club, Rich.

My s type visited Dorset in September and several Jaguar owners gave me a wave.

I had an x type 2.5 AWD - nice car - that 4 scroats "borrowed almost 5 years ago.  The police, who had been looking for them for a few years, were quite pleased that all four got 8 years in prison!

Regards,

Peter.

some pics - with the updated grille

I have the 2004 estate variant of this model. It's in the much paler blue. I bought it in early February and finally got it MOT'd and taxed last week! Insured in mid November.

It took so long because I did as much work as possible myself to make it roadworthy again. In many cases I did 'so much' (so little) work and then had to rest for several days before I could do any more. In some cases I couldn't do any more, so I had someone else do some. A local garage that should hang its head in shame sent out a trainee grease monkey to remove the calipers as taking off just one had almost put me in hospital again. But he only removed the pad carriers, so he had to return and finish the job (at extra cost!) later the same day. Guess who's door I shall never darken with any of my cars ...

 

For my next trick I'll be installing a bath into a shower only wet room.

hi Richard, the grille looks good....did you find any problems when doing it ? or did you find it a straight forward job.   ( plus have you found other jobs to do on it!..... )  since your first recent post back in November,?  with this cold weather my jobs are on hold till summertime.  cheers dave. 

No it was 4 bolts easy

thats because I bought a whole correct body coloured grille & surround

went to change a headlamp bulb and ended up having to replace all the headlight adjusters so that’s bumper lights out, take the units apart replace the rubbish plastic bits and then all back together- fiddly job

next on the list is sill covers off and check underneath them & stick some rust protection on

been there done that on the sills on my car. touch wood all ok, but will check in summertime. as ive got new rear calipers to fit on both sides along with new hand brake cables.  

Do you really need new cables, David? I found that a bit (!) of brute force and ignorance can free them off, followed by a boat load of copper grease worked into them to see them working freely again. That's how I got mine working even after one was horrendously sticky and the other was frozen solid.

now that sounds a good idea,    will take off the old cables and free them off,  will hang them up and spray wd 40 down them. plus silicone spray grease,  cheers jan for that will now look forward to doing this come summer, will post photos when I start job. 

Hi

For how much hand brake cables are, I'd replace them with new ones

new cables run dry and they have a slippy type plastic liner, which does not need lubricating

once they have been lubricated, you have to do it regular and when its cold, like now around the zero mark, the oil grease goes very stiff and can cause a binding caliper

on mine with a EPB, it can cause a nightmare, first time it sticks on a cold morning, you'll wish you just fitted new ones, been there, done that, never again

cheers

Joe

I have trust issues with parts suppliers, Joe. In particular how they price them by the model of car they're for.

eg. A front damper for a Reliant Robin or Regal used to cost £5. A rear damper for a Reliant Scimitar was £20 at that time. The catalogue numbers were exactly the same!.

However the inner plastic coating had become compromised on one side such that the steel cable had rusted. Not enough to weaken it significantly, but enough for it to expand and jam at the caliper end. I stripped off about 6", wire brushed it clean and repeatedly worked copper grease well into the gap between the inner and outer cables.

That should last a couple more years, then i can consider buying a new pair. That's Old School. Repair rather than replace.

6 hours ago, Jagnumpty said:

I have trust issues with parts suppliers

Me too!

My father gave me two bits of advice when I started showing an interest in cars:

1. Don't fix what aint broke but fix it quick if you know it will break.
2. Only idiots pay someone else to make mistakes for them.

 

Sometimes Number 2 catches up with me.

Earlier this year I started to overhaul the calipers on the Jag. By the time I'd got one rear one off I'd used up all my energy. Even over a week later I wasn't still up to continuing the task.

So I called on a local 'mobile' mechanic (it turns out he's got a garage as well). He sent out what I later learned was a trainee grease monkey. Instead of removing the whole calipers, he just took off the pad carriers. He would only return if I paid them more to finish the job I'd already paid them to do.

This is mostly why it's taken me 9 months to get her roadworthy again.