msmicksmith

Suspension shock absorbers and springs don't usually cause knocking like that. Usual culprits are strut top bearings, anti roll bar mounts, wishbone bushes, bottom ball joints and anti roll bar drop links. Occasionally, track rod ends but you'd feel that more in the steering wheel. Most common are the drop links. It only takes a miniscule amount of play in them to give quite a loud knock. They sound more like a constant rattle than a heavy thud and are easy to replace. A competent diyer could do both in around an hour and a half max. I usually take 15-20 mins per side. They look like a long thin rod with a ball joint at each end and attach the anti roll bar to the suspension strut. Some look like small, stubby knuckles but they're less common. There is a nut on the ball and a flat cut into the other side for a spanner and usually are rusted on a bit. Soak with WD40 and they'll come off ok. If they resist, grind them off. They're not going back on anyway! For the cost, I'd start there. If your approaching 100k they'll be ready for renewal anyway and you won't detect any slight play in them until they're removed as they are under constant tension. Cost is around £15 each for decent pattern parts. Avoid FAI, Blueprint and FirstLine parts as they're rubbish and won't last. Try for Meyle, QH (if you can find them add they've ceased trading but parts are around) or Febi-Bilstein (These are excellent). Jag genuine I expect will be double that but worth the expense.

Peter, I've used Apex for 23 years and in that time I've tried beating them on service, quality and price and found no other company to be in contention. The cheapest I've been quoted for BFG's elsewhere is £115 so they are easily saving me £80! Even at £115 though, they are cheaper than most other branded tyres and the grip they offer in the wet is beyond anything I've ever encountered. Couple that with dry grip in equal measure without any tyre squeel when being 'pushed' and my last set returning me 25k miles, I can't find a better tyre!

I'm prepared to guarantee you won't look back if you try BF Goodriche. I had them on my Supra 3.0 Turbo which was tail-happy everywhere when I bought it. The BFG's were recommended to me and even in the wet, I'd have to rev up and dump the clutch to get it to break traction in a roundabout and even then it squabbled a little and gripped again without losing the back end at all. Absolutely phenomenal grip! Since then, i won;t fit anything else. Not got them on my jag yet as the current tyres are ok and have life left, but will be fitting them when I need replacements. Just priced them a couple of weeks ago at my local (Apex Tyres, Peterborough - used them for 23 years now) and they've quoted £95 each for the 18's. I had a set of BFG's on my Vectra V6 SRi (which was driven accordingly!) and I managed 25k miles! Can't beat them and they knock the pants off Pirelli, Michelin and the like.

Welcome to the club. You did well with the Rover. I've owned 3 in the past and, like my French cars, vowed never to own another so long as my lungs have air in them. Either you got the pride of the production line or I got all 3 Friday cars!! I found build quality to be dreadful and the chassis on my 820 Vitesse would have been better use supporting fairy cakes instead of the 2.0 Turbo! I've had some excellent cars but the Jag is firmly in my top 3. All 3 Rovers are in my bottom 6 along with my 3 other French cars. Hope you have a long and lasting relationship with Jaguar and if you need any assistance, this forum is great!

Some seriously generous people on this forum!! What a fantastic gesture Peter! Mark at Classic Cars is a really nice guy and well worth a trip. I'd check the car out myself but I'm nearly 2 hours away. My car wasn't perfect when I viewed it.It had a split rear tyre, the front brake discs were knackered and the front spring snapped on test drive, but Mark sorted the spring properly with a Sport spring too not just some cheap replacement. I negotiated my price with him based on me having to replace the discs and replace the tyre but when I collected the car he had fitted a new, matching, rear tyre so I only had the discs to sort. The overall condition of the car was so good though, that despite leaving him a deposit for a car which had a broken spring, buggered brakes and a knackered tyre, it was too good to walk away from. Now it's all fixed, the car is excellent and I see no reason why this black one should be any different.

I actually found mine on eBay. A small dealer who trades from home. Have a look on his eBay site as he usually has a lot of Jags in. Check this one out on his eBay account - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OUTSTANDING-2005-JAGUAR-X-TYPE-2-0D-SPORT-DIESEL-103000-MILES-LONG-MOT-/131072021811?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item1e84805533 If you look at his other items, he has a petrol Jag for sale too. I recommend him as a trader (which is rare for me!!) He was a pleasure to deal with, honest, straight talking and sold me a cracking Jag. He had a 2.0D in at the time I bought mine, but I specifically wanted the 2.2D Sport. This black one of his looks superb and he is worth travelling for. His cars all seem to be very good examples. I'm chuffed with mine and I wouldn't hesitate to view another of his again. Let us all know how you get on if you decide to go.

Thanks Peter, that is logical. I just found a pair on eBay from Kent Jaguar. Genuine pair of fronts for £30 delivered. Needless to say, they are now sold ;-)

Welcome aboard. I bought my first Jag a couple of months ago too. I'm 40 and have owned 47 cars now but won't be buying anything other than a Cat in future. X-Type 2.2D Sport for now but working towards a 3.0D XF next! Enjoy your new Jag and feel free to ask for any advice on here. Pictures of your car will be most welcomed

Can anyone shed any light on this for me please? I bought the rear anti roll bar bushes from my local Jaguar dealer in Peterborough yesterday for £6.50 each. The front ones aren't in stock but are priced at a shade over £30 each!! Why is this?? Given that they are virtually identical in shape and size, why the cost difference? The part numbers are indeed different, but I can see no obvious reason for the price. I've had a look on some pattern part websites and they also show a vast difference in price between front and rear. I don't want to fit pattern parts. I favour genuine parts every time, but I'll settle for a quality set of patterns as the price is just ludicrous.

Check the front springs aren't corroded as they are prone to snapping. Mine did but it's an easy repair if you have the tools and springs aren't costly. I'm fitting rear anti-roll bar bushes today and am ordering the front ones to do next week. That will cure the slight body roll mine has. Given that mine is the 2.2D Sport, the cornering is a shade wallowy so the bushes will correct that. Again, an easy repair. Check out my post from last month regarding ECU tuning and fuel additives - http://www.jaguarownersclub.com/forums/topic/9483-ecu-tuning/ Some good info there regarding keeping the engine internals clean and the EGR etc. Apart from that the only thing I'd recommend is that you check panel fit on any X-Type you view. The bonnet of some doesn't fit around the headlights as neatly as it should and is an indication of a repair job. It should fit perfectly around the lights, but some have uneven gaps. The 2.0D is a good motor but I think a little lacking in 'oomph'. I know of one member who had his 2.0D ECU chipped and it made it quicker than the 2.2D his son has, but it still is a 5spd gearbox. The 2.2D is a 6spd and is a cracking motor. I had mine chipped a few weeks ago and it's !Removed! mental!! Outran a 3.0D XF the other day! Pics are obligatory when you find your pride and joy ;)

Excellent. Glad you got iy sorted easily. I'll take a look at thay website. Thanks for the feedback

I paid 4k for my 2.2D Sport a couple of months ago. In regard to cam-belts, the 2.2 has a chain, which, provided the car has been maintained well and serviced properly, will last the life of the motor. Things I've found with mine - Front discs were sh@@ged! I replaced both discs and a set of pads for £63 though (Apec parts). A bit smokey, but after using Millers Diesel EcoMax and 2-stroke oil, it now runs quietly and completely smoke free. Read one of my earlier posts regarding the fuel additives. The oil in the engine was like treacle. The servicing garage obviously used their bulk-bought oil which was too thick. I replaced it with Mobil 3000 5W/30 and a genuine Jag oil filter. Apart from that, mine is faultless. The 2.2 is a much better motor than the 2.0 I had mine chipped a couple of weeks ago by Celtic Tuning, and it now performs like a petrol turbo instead of a diesel and still returns the same economy. Well worth the £295. Totally transformed the drive! I can't see the point of the 2.2 in any form other than the Sport. It's a lively motor with loads of low-down grunt and without the Sport suspension it would be a waste of a good engine in my opinion. The response of the engine fits well with the firmer ride and sharper handling, especially now it's chipped!

Welcome aboard!

Easiest way is to find a breaker, possibly ebay, and cut the wiring leaving one longer than the other to ease insulating them, and solder it onto your wiring loom having cut your plug off leaving the wires in similar staggered fashion. Once insulated it'll be fine. If you can, get some insulating sheath. This is slipped over the wires prior to soldering, then you simply slide it over the soldered section and heat it gently with a heat gun or a naked flame if you don't have one and it shrinks to form a tight, weatherproof seal around your repair.

Autoglass it is then ;-)

Not sure what they have in stock but try these - http://www.justjagsuk.com

Thanks Peter. I'll do just that! Cheers

Can't recommend Autoglym products enough. Spent a couple of hours with the Body Protection shampoo, and the Deep Gloss Polish today and the Jag wouldn't look out of place in my local dealers showroom! If you love your Jag, buy it some Autoglym. I forgot how good it is but can safely say I'll never buy anything else in future!

Welcome to the club Graham. Can I get one too??

Are you fully comp insured? 'Accidently' drop a brick onto it and crack it. £65 on insurance and usually it's Autoglass who fit it and I can recommend them highly. In fact, I never call my insurance company for windscreens. Call Autoglass with your insurance policy number and they'll tell you if you have windscreen cover and book a date and time to suit you either on your drive or your workplace

Anytime Peter

Oh, I forgot Peter, the 8p a litre more expensive diesel will probably make no noticeable difference to your car. It might run a little smoother or little more responsively, and you might get a marginal increase in mpg, but you won't really notice it. How these fuels differ is in the additives they have in them. All fuel refineries do it a little differently from each other. The bog-standard supermarket diesel will be like a version of Tesco Value or Sainsbury's Basics. Same fuel, none of the frills. The more expensive supermarket stuff will have a few more things added to it to aid cleaner running, anti-foaming etc. The branded stuff, such as BP or ESSO, is where the most 'extras' are found. These will have more additives in them to aid lubrication of the fuel pump and to prevent noisy detonation etc. You get what you pay for really. The Millers EcoPower that I mentioned is around £11 a bottle and treats 10 tankfuls so it works out to be less expensive than using the top branded diesel and probably does a much better job. I add the 2 stroke oil just to give a little reassurance that my pump, injectors and other essential components are being lubricated properly regardless of what fuel I use. If I were to run my Jag from new on branded fuel and add a little of my own additives, I'd expect virtually nothing to go wrong with my fuel supply system, egr valve etc for around 200k miles and I've known cars with in excess of 300k with no faults! If I ran it on supermarket diesel from new, I'd expect to be replacing things such as the EGR valve from around 80k mile. Injectors will clog up give poor atomisation from around 50k and I expect would fail completely after around 100-130k. A lot of what you hear about failing injectors, pumps, egr valves etc on diesel cars is partially as a result of running on poor quality fuel.

Peter, I won't claim to be an expert as I'm not. I turned 40 last weekend, so you could say that with 36 years of doing it myself, I'm very experienced, but not an expert. My dad and I used to strip engines, gearboxes, cylinder heads etc etc when I was in single figures, but he taught me the value of doing the job right and using the correct tools and parts. I am meticulous with everything I do, and I get increasingly frustrated when I find people I know who have taken their cars for repairs at a garage only to find they've used cheap alternative parts and not done a thorough job. For example, how difficult, costly or time consuming is it to pop a smear of copper grease on brake pad locating lugs, or onto wheel stud threads when refitting wheels? Or to use a torque wrench to tighten wheel nuts instead of an air gun? It's the simple things and the attention to detail that make a repair correct and worth the money you pay. If you've found a garage you trust that does things properly then stick with them. They are a dying breed. Many garages now buy oil in bulk drums as it is cheaper for them. Modern cars run on much thinner oils these days due to tighter fitting components where thicker oil just cannot penetrate, and the local 'backstreet' garage offering £60 services will undoubtedly use their bulk bought 10W/40 in your Jag engine which requires 5W/30, simply because they either don't know or don't care. Feel free to message me if you need any help. If I don't have the answers I know several people in the professional trade who can help find out.

Peter, I use supermarket diesel as well as branded. If the price is right it goes in the tank. There's a lot of controversy surrounding it on the Internet but I've never had any problems with it. The reason I add the Millers and the 2 stroke is because diesel has been stripped of a lot of its engine saving ingredients in recent years and isn't the great, combustlible, lubricating stuff it used to be. A bit like leaded petrol vs 92RON. These additives boost both the combustibity of the fuel, and clean dirt deposits from injector heads, valve surfaces and gas channels in inlet and exhaust, which aids smoother running, response, economy and rattling (which is just noisy detonation and can be heard in the top of the engine and exhaust manifold) and the 2 stroke helps with lubricating the vital parts. The 2 stroke is designed to burn in an engine as it is mixed in a 2 stroke system to aid lubrication. The top quality stuff simply burns up completely into smaller particles than normal soot and is expelled fully through the exhaust. No manufacturer recommends the use of additives purely because they can't control what you are putting in and they have warranty claims to consider. I don't use engine oil additives as a rule. I simply use a good engine flush solution and religiously use only Mobil oils. My Jag currently has Mobil 3000 in it and a genuine filter, not a rubbish pattern part which actually costs more!

Glad ot helps someone Steve. I've worked on cars and engines from the age of 4. My dad started me by showing me how to strip and rebuild a Mercedes Benz carburettor. Although I'm not a qualified mechanic, I never use garages for anything, and of the 46 cars I've owned (I'm 40!) None of them have seen inside a garage except at MoT time. I've used just about every additive there is and most of them are useless. Millers tops redex in my book. Another one I've found to be excellent is Ametech Engine Restore. Not cheap, and you need to add it at every old change, but does exactly what is says on the tin!