Carole Simpson-Hadley

Good to read/hear, Phil, that a solution appears to be on the horizon, a solution to what could have proven to be a very frustrating/uncomfortable/expensive problem! Our experience so far in our Jaguar ownership has been very favourable with regard to the Jaguar Indie specialists. We have used one in Birmingham with our S, who plugged the diagnostic in to ascertain the exact cause of our problem and didn't charge for the diagnostic, then produced the completed job at considerably less than the main dealer. Also, we take our XK X150 to Elite Performance & Jaguar in Derby, who are very straightforward, helpful, and appear to do a very good job. Good for you that there is one local to you, and happy to help, if only in a small way. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome! As always, happy growling

Hello Dave from myself and significant other Good choice! Seems the S-type is experiencing quite a revival, if the number of "newbies" on the forum who are popping up with S-types is anything to go by, We have a '07 S 2.7Twin-turbo D to partner our '07 XK X150; as mentioned in another thread, we should be quite happy to add a S-type R 400bhp to the stable before they start to go for silly money. Whatever, we hope you thoroughly enjoy the S and you should find the forum both entertaining at times, and helpful. We have since starting our menbership in March of this year. Interesting to learn what your colour/trim combination is, and if the previous owner/s resisted the temptation to place a leaping cat on the bonnet. All a matter of personal choice, but we subscribe firmly to the "as it left the factory" protocol. As always, happy growling

Well, Juliette certainly looks the business and has obviously landed a good home. Delighted that the initial glitches have been overcome and that the several maiden voyages have allowed the various snags to show themselves and be attended to. It is, of course, a little disappointing when the new pride and joy appears to be less than perfect....on our '07 S the brake servo called "time" in pretty short order which resulted in very careful docking until a new servo was sourced and fitted, whilst our '07 XK had the most annoying vibration when we first ventured out of harbour....only to discover that the dealership had failed to check the tyre pressures which were, to put it mildly, "all to the male chicken". Soon sorted though. Have a great birthday trip (or if you've now come back, hope you had a great birthday trip). We take it that the "Get Thee Behind Me" slogan is for any BMW or Audi types who fancy their chances, and maybe the odd Holden (are they still about in V8 format as per the Bathurst racers?). We are shortly taking ourselves off to a Classic & Vintage Auction which includes 2 MkV Jaguars and a MkVIII amongst other delights. We have decided not to register as purchasers on this occasion, just enjoy the scenery! Self-control can very easily go out of the window! As always, happy growling (note: do the letters on your plate KEQ stand for "Koalas Eat Quavers?")

Hello David Yes, that seems a good thought.......see the car, do the research, source any parts that could be possibly needed, make arrangements for specialist work beforehand etc etc. Even then, what a task. We imagine that if you turned up at one of the well-known Jaguar Specialists and said "here's my E-type, I want it back in 3 weeks", the response would be, well, interesting. Not to mention the bill. Us? We'd probably take 3 weeks just to get the bonnet off! Ah well. Any other thoughts?!

Hi everybody My partner and I have just watched the repeat of the Car SOS (on Channel More 4) where an E-type 2+2 was rescued as a "bit of a mess" and turned into a splendid and immaculate beauty.....all, apparently, in the space of 3 weeks. Now we know that wonderful things can be done on TV and imagination has to be stretched somewhat, but a complete rebuild of an 'E' in 3 weeks? Really? What do other folk think? Don't want to detract from the programme in any way but it would be interesting to hear what other views there may be. Also, on a similar theme, was the recent Car SOS on, we believe, National Geographic channel, of a Mk2 the vehicle that appeared in the recent Practical Classics Guide to the Jaguar Mk2. That's an excellent read but never in a month of Sundays would that have been done in 3 weeks! Over to growlers everywhere........

Further to the above, and, we suppose, responding to our own question/post..........it is the case that the lower fittings ("lower" as in 'at the bottom of the rear window'when the tailgate is shut) have a thread within them. Thus, if they won't fit back in when they have "popped", holding the softish centre section and turning the rest of the fitting releases the pressure sufficiently to enable replacement. Still a bit of a trial and error faff, but at least it is do-able. We have discovered that a replacement fitting kit (containing all 4 fitments) is available off the shelf from XJK Jag Parts Warehouse Direct, just in case anything gets mislaid or broken. Of course, as mentioned before, simplest answer is don't try to place stickers between the panel and the glass in the first place, even if it's a JOC sticker! As always, happy growling

Good morning Jim A little belated, but hello anyway. We, like you, are delighted with our ownership of an S-type, and hang all the silly comments! Ours is a '07 in Seafrost with ivory trim and is delightful as our (most days) transport. Our high days and holidays transport is a '07 8500 mile XK X150 which is even more cossetted than the S! We expect you'll have already got the hang of parking way away from others, preferably in an end bay, as those unguarded S-type doors are prime for careless dings! Also, should you have need to change any of the bulbs in the rear clusters, be aware (as we weren't!) that the metal part of the bulb holders are permanently live and will, therefore, if touched against the frame of the car, short out producing all sorts of strange light combinations until the relevant blown fuse is changed. Reference the silly comments, a friend of my partners once pulled up at a car park security in his new X-type whereupon the attendant commented "enjoy your Mondeo"; that spoilt his day until he researched and found out just how much commonality there is/was in certain makes and models. Don't suppose the same attendant would call out "enjoy your bit of tree" if somebody pulled up in a Morgan? We can recommend the Jaguar Breakfast Club which meets at Gaydon on the first Saturday of each month.......a good social meet (look up on the net) with a good breakfast and the opportunity to visit the Jaguar Heritage Collection as well. No fee (although you do need to buy a ticket to access the museum/cafe); just turn up. As always, happy growling and enjoy the S

Try Mistermatic Jaguar, Queensway, Fforest-fach, Swansea SA5 Hours: Closed now Seem to have good reviews, although we don't have direct personal experience. Onwards and Jaguarwards Phone: 01792 589469

What you describe is exactly what we had, with regard to the "grumblies" which were there for a while even after parking up and switching ignition off. A good session with Mr Google should reveal any Jag Indies down your way. (Incidentally, although we are Midlands based, our low-mileage XK X150 came from South Wales - Stratstone in Cardiff.) Again, good luck and hopefully somebody might have some more detailed info. Happy (hot/cold) growling

Hello Phil Your post is certainly there for all to read! We have a 2007 S-type which doesn't have your problem. However, occasionally I did have a "grumbling" noise from somewhere in the dashboard which, to cut a long story short, was diagnosed as the directional motors......still working perfectly, but making a noise about it. Strangely, the problem disappeared recently, although the climate system is working perfectly. Whilst at the Jaguar Parts Day at Stoneleigh, we spoke with a Jaguar Technical fellow who suggested we should be best living with the grumblies as the particular motors are buried right at the front of the dashboard area; parts are not particularly expensive but the labour bill could be a little frightening. This Jag Tech chap did explain that if the motors fail, then the climate system will not work well. However, all 4 at the same time does seem a little unusual. We think a call to a Jaguar Independent Specialist would be best.....somebody who knows Jaguars, rather than somebody who needs to call the main dealer to ask the question! You'll also find that Jag Indie labour bills will be considerably less than Main Dealer. Another point the Jag Tech chap made.......unless you are very handy, don't try dismantling the dash yourself! Good luck, hopefully happy growling!

Hi Dutchy That looks sad news even though that model was never available here in the UK; no doubt something to do with emissions etc??? My partner (still nursing bruises inflicted whilst looking at Jag Mk V adverts plus a Mk VIII available in South Africa!) remembers having the polar opposite of the Falcon range (most powerful 6-cylinder in-line engine).......least powerful 6-cylinder in-line ......early 1980s, whilst in Western/Central USA - a AMC (Rambler) Concorde with a 4-litre straight six that wouldn't pull your hat off. Switch on air con whilst climbing a long grade and even the bicycles were keeping up! With no particular relevance, you may remember a 2007 film called "Atonement" with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.......large parts filmed at Stokesay Court, Shropshire, not far from us...........here's some pics, you may, if film seen, remember the significance of the ornamental pond. Significant other suggests the MkV would look good outside the entrance door. Now if I could get him to sit on the edge of the pond................

Cracking Joe, plenty to feast our eyes on there so thank you Happy Growling, as always

Hi Jeff How annoying is that; we experienced similar last year when some d...heads decided to egg our S (Halloween) leaving a 1" diameter network of pin pricks from the shell. Our local Sytner bodyshop (Oldbury,West Mids) has a visiting dentless specialist who will examine and give a verdict...if it is not "doable" there is no charge for the examination etc. The main constraint is whether there is a structural item behind the affected area i.e. bracing as on bonnet, boot and door frame etc. No doubt other places have a similar arrangement. Good luck, happy Growling as always

Afternoon all As mentioned elsewhere in the thread "All aboard for Gaydon", the day (Saturday June 03) was blessed with sunshine and was a very pleasant outing with the added bonus of breakfast and a wander around the Jaguar Collection. Here's some photos, just as an appetiser, starting with our XK. As always, Happy Growling, wherever you are

Glad to read that matters are coming together Dutchy. With regard to the picture from your balcony, how relaxing is that! We think that if we had such a view, we'd be saying "stuff the world" and staying on the balcony. Only trouble is that if my "significant other" keeps looking at those MkV adverts, he might find himself being tipped off the said balcony. As always, Happy Growling, Carole

Good morning Andy What a good choice of wheels! We were faced with a similar dilemma with our 2007 XK which we bought just over a year ago. Note that ours is not the R version. Ours had covered just 6600 miles at the time of purchase and, when the annual service came up recently, was still at just 8400 miles. It had been serviced on time, stamped for each year, even though some years mileage covered was just 100 or so. We, this year, were likewise due for the 10 year job. We spoke with Elite and Performance Jaguars at Derby on 01332 265826 who agreed to inspect our XK and advise accordingly. We had an interim plus air filter carried out. The chap at Elite said that there was no need to, for example, change the pollen filter. Most important item each year, regardless of mileage, is, of course, oil and filter. As yours is the R, perhaps a call to John at Elite might be a good idea. You will get honest and straightforward advice from knowledgeable guys. Hope this helps, and as always, happy Growling

Hi Stewart Aha, seems my partner was correct...it was your Sandie that we were examining, and very nice too. Sure you'll agree that the event was well worth attending and next time, should you attend, we'll know who to look out for. We are wondering whether to travel from home (just a little west of Birmingham) in convoy next time, so that we can take both the XK and the S. Sisters, and all that. We are also hoping that somebody will turn up with a MkV, VI or Mk VIII or IX next time....just so we can drool! Continue grinning........well known side effect of Jaguar ownership with no known cure other than selling the Jaguar.......that's not going to happen. Last person to suggest that had an incident . As always, happy growling Carole & significant other (still looking at MkV adverts

Hi Stewart Not sure if you made Gaydon last Saturday.......perhaps the chippie went on a go-slow?! We did see a gold XK8 coupe and my partner artfully took a look at the reg plate, then remembered that your forum pics had the plate blanked out. Either that, or you are royalty and don't need plates! As you'll see elsewhere, a good gathering and the weather was very kind, considering it was wall-to-wall rain the days before and after. Hope the 8 is perpetuating the Growler grin; ohoh my partner is eyeing up that MkV advert again...time to shorten the leash

Hi again Dutchy Reference workshop manual...here are some links from the JOC Forum. You'll find the original entry under user "Raistlin" They are in PDF format so easily viewable... and printable if you've enough paper; I have found that they do take a while to download, but maybe that's my PC being a tad slow http://www.raistlin295.com/archive/download/jaguar/WSManual/WSManual.pdf http://www.raistlin295.com/archive/download/jaguar/Wiring/2002/S-Type%202002.5%20Elec%20Guide.pdf http://www.raistlin295.com/archive/download/jaguar/Wiring/2005/2005StypeElectrical.pdf http://www.raistlin295.com/archive/download/jaguar/Wiring/2006/2006STypeElectrical.pdf Hope that helps! The Fairmont looks nice (although not a Jag!)...my partner says he seems to remember having a US version rental car whilst across the pond some years ago. Yes, it is vexing to find those niggly niggles; ours, with our '07 S were that one of the EGR valves (ours is diesel) played up within 1000 miles as did the brake servo (not a cheap job), plus one of the brake lights kept popping the bulb. All sorted now so we are nicely chilled after the initial grrr and We even had an initial niggle with our '07 6600 mile XK - slight vibration at over 60mph...turned out to be the fact that the car had sat for such long periods without moving (just 132 miles in one year) that the tyres had flatted. Not to mention the fact that the Jaguar dealer from whence we had the XK had set the tyre pressures at varying between 23 and 36 psi!!!!!!! Double grrr and treble . All was well rather rapidly, and the appropriate Jaguar grin returned, as will yours. Onwards and upwards, and, as always, Happy Growling. Must go, my partner is looking at that MkV advert again

Well Dutchy, poo your luck but stick with it....it will be worth it. Honest! Of course, the bonnet ornament wasn't a standard fitting, always retro. We have a "keep it as it left the factory" protocol on both our S-type and our XK so don't have a mascot. There are many suitable replacements available on e-bay. Our S is the SE model, from around run-out time (2007) but doesn't have folding mirrors either. We were a little surprised (as was the first ,and only other, owner when he bought the car, particularly as it had been the Jaguar, Mayfair showroom car before coming to the Midlands as Stratstone, Solihull showroom car), but hey-ho. As a consolation, we do have Jaguar Voice to control the climate, radio/cd etc. (Although it doesn't respond to four letter words). As you are ex-Navy, perhaps a few choruses of "Shiver me timbers" and "Twas on the goodship Venus" might help. Then again. We hope that Wendy hasn't suffered from terminal sense of humour failure, and that Juliette doesn't end up taking a one-way trip off the coat hanger (sure you know that's AKA Sydney Harbour Bridge). Happy (future) growling Carole & significant other (the one with boxed ears, he has just been looking at a Mk V advert!)

Hi again With regard to an independent for service etc...........we travelled from our base just west of Birmingham, to Elite Performance & Jaguar at Derby.......not too much of a trip, but well worthwhile. We took our XK X150 for its annual (on time) service and were well impressed. We got a very thorough interpretation of our "baby" and a reasonable bill as well, everything done just right. Guess where our S-type is going when she becomes due for attention?! Main contact initially is the boss - John. Happy growling, as always. Start practicing the Jaguar grin!

Hi Peter Here's a question.....how do you get from Breakfast Meet to chrome trim...answer - go on the forum!!! All good stuff! As you say, can't understand why plastic was specified on these parts, but hey ho. Embarassing incident no 2 (number 1 was the subject of another thread "Ever felt that you are in the wrong place". Yesterday, at the Breakfast Meet at Gaydon, we spied a '07 plate S in your colour, as it arrived, piloted by a gentleman of a certain age. My partner said "that could well be Old Peter; he approached and asked "are you Peter?". "Affirmative" came the reply "I am Peter". "Old Peter on the forum?". The blank look told us that this was a coincidence which didn't quite pan out. Oh well, we'll keep taking the tablets. Back to the Meet, it was good to meet up with folk into whom we have bumped (not literally!) over the short time of our Jaguar ownerships. Particularly pleased to come across a couple whom we met at the Stoneleigh Spares Day, who came to admire our XK; turned out that the gentleman was a very good friend of the son of my parents' neighbours in South Wales.....where I haven't lived for 46 years, and would have played in the gardens when I did live there. The small world gets smaller. Perhaps we both had Dinky Jaguars even then. Hats off to the organiser/s of the Gaydon do......splendid. As always, happy growling

Good luck and happy looking, thence (hopefully) happy Growling. Don't have any experience of the X but you seem to have most bases covered. We are both more than happy with our XK X150 and S, would like to add a X350 to the stable, but, at the moment, the stable isn't big enough. Drat! Have a great time looking and, as always, happy Growling Carole & partner

Hey Joe Many thanks for the link, that's great. Having watched, we have realised that we took a close look at your S but the reg plate didn't register with us..Doh! Your S looks excellent and as its a s'charged * - well! As you'll have gathered by the film from John, we managed to arrive way early.....about 08:20 actually, we don't like being late for anything. Nevertheless, good fun to watch (and listen to) the arrivals, and what a friendly bunch. My partner used to take part in various classic shows 20 or so years ago in his Wolseley 6/80, and found that sometimes it could be a tad cliquey; the Breakfast Club is a great idea, not to mention the opportunity to inspect the Jaguar Collection. Bliss! By the way, on the subject of a previous thread, about the brightwork window trims, we have investigated further and it looks like, if perfection is required, new has to be the way to go. Once the "milky" appearance begins, the trims aren't restorable, second-hand will likely go the same way, and the alleged chroming procedure is, according to two high quality platers who attended the Jag Parts Day at Stoneleigh, not likely to succeed.....the base material is not at all suitable. Unfortunately (or alarmingly, according to your viewpoint), new comes out at around £600 all in, unless, of course, maybe some enterprising outfit like Barratt etc. decides to do reproduction....hint! At least with new, you could avoid the harsh detergents etc which come with car washes etc (which we don't use, but previous owner may have done), and so avoid the same thing happening again. The Breakfast Meet left us with one small dilemma.......our XK, as you saw, is in Lunar Grey with Ivory trim, our S is in Seafrost with light beige/mushroom. We saw, at the meet, a lovely S in Lunar Grey with grey trim, and a XK in Seafrost with ivory trim. They all look grand. My partner says wouldn't it be good to have two matching pairs. Consequently, I've stopped his pocket money for a while! All the best, and as always, happy Growling Carole & significant other

Hi Joe Well many thanks for that posting......really disappointed not to realise you were there.....shall have to sort an intro next time! As you say, what a great turn out. Delighted to chat with the one-time Project Director for Jaguar Classic who was there with his red XK convertible. We think that next time we shall bring both our Growlers...after all, they are sisters! All the best, Carole and partner, and as always, happy growling