Russ68

Right on brother, sounds like that came from the heart! Sorry to hear about your partner being injured and the process not supporting you as it should. The insurance system is something of an abomination, especially as we get increasingly litigious, as per our American cousins. I'm not qualified to suggest how it could be improved though...

Wow, you've got a good one there Gary!

Hi Dave, Congratulations on your STR purchase! If your service history doesn't indicate a full service in recent months, I'd have this done 1st. Could be plugs or a blocked air filter, but do oil and filter done as well. Worth ruling out these consumable 1st Cheers, Russ

Don't hold back Laz, tell us what you really feel about them

Hey Steve, A-Plan in Bletchley for me, and they're pretty relaxed about any mods, like those Adamesh pipes you have. Premium is rising, this is 2nd renewal, and it's crept up from under £300, to close to £400. This is with 4 named drivers, fully comp and only £200 excess, underwritten by Markerstudy I believe. Hope this helps, Russ

Those XJC's have been appreciating nicely, beautiful car, whereas I can't imagine there are many Renault 25's left! Anyhow, your new S-Type is a better daily drive than either of those, so better late than never

Well done Jim, sounds great, glad you weren't talked out of it this time Wishing you many long and happy years in her

Well done Steve, pleased to hear it

Haha, what was with the traffic! That kid on a bike was lucky! Mr Hawthorn was holding the mic and doing that one handed so in car technology has improved a bit since then! Looked amazing though, thanks

Hey Laz, Thanks for both posts, for the 1st one good to know I'm not the only one having trouble with the locking! Mine is even more random and problematic than yours by the sounds of it, but glad you resolved your issues with gigs, dogs and the wife to no ill effect! I love a bit of punk myself and currently have some Rancid in the CDC. I had to have the speed locking disabled on mine or I'd probably still be stuck in it now! Plus great to confirm that my inside driver door toggle and the actuator it presumably connects to is definitely at fault. That's a good place to start, so I will attend to that. Fleabay suggests from £20 for 2nd hand and add £100 for a new lock actuator. Thanks also for the 2nd post re the window, spot on! I was in there this morning hoping I could manually pull the window up through the channel, but no go! It seems to jam when showing an inch or so externally. There is nothing above it so it must be jamming down the bottom around the plastic clamp and channel. The wire is out and the white clip that fits around the hole in the glass looks damaged. As I left the car indoors on the shop floor this morning I had to make a temporary repair with some clear PETG, just so I could park her outside and use the inside space again. I didn't want to rush it and strongly suspect this is the first time that panel has come off. Other than the described damage, looked pristine in there. Cheers, Russ

Thanks both I've also got an issue with the windows (actuators?) in both rear doors, and while fiddling around with this yesterday, I dropped the window on the offside, and with some manipulation, managed to get the door open. The window glass has now dropped into the door, but I'll strip the panel off and have a look inside to get it out. A slightly weird thing I noticed was that all my car door locks are operated by the passenger door toggle switch not the drivers side, which only operates the drivers door. Do both front toggles operate both doors on the X200 or are mine faulty in some way? The doors and windows are an irritation in what is otherwise a good car, so they need attending to and sorting! So if Andrew is right, this could also well point to the drivers door actuator being at least part of the issue

Hi all, The locking and doors on my S-Type have been something of a bugbear since I've had the car and I wonder what I'd need for a complete overhaul of the central locking and individual door locks? Just for fun, my offside rear door is now jambed shut, presumably locked. Remote fob and interior door lock / toggle have no effect and the exterior and interior handles do not open it, so I wonder if there are any tips or cheats to let me get it open so everything can be stripped back and sorted? I haven't explored it exhaustively, but wonder access can be gained around the interior handle or if anyone has bright ideas? Thanks in advance

Similar to Laz, I bought a generic caliper winder specifically for the Jag brakes. I always got away with using a G clamp beforehand, but these pistons need rotating as well. If ordered in advance online they are considerably cheaper than Halfrauds, where I was forced to go as my car was in pieces and and I was at an impasse!

Haha, very sorry to misname you Dutchy, I think I fell foul of the computers autocorrect, no offence taken I hope? Glad you've decided to give the S-Type a fair go. I, as do many in the club / on the forum, think a lot of them. Having one on the wide open roads of Australia would be pretty awesome I imagine, they can be somewhat wasted when stuck in UK traffic! Mine came without the cartridge in the autochanger, which I neglected to check during my pre purchase inspection. I curse the person who removed it without replacing, how thoughtless! Try as I might I couldn't find a new cartridge, so I eventually bought an entire new CDC unit with cartridge from eBay for £30 (c$50 AUD). A relatively simple install and it's worked perfectly ever since.

Hey Dusty, Sounds like you had a really good one with your Ford, I'm not completely familiar with the Fairmont, but do you know if it was built on the DEW platform, as per the S-Type? You're probably aware that the S-Type was devised and built during Ford's ownership of the marque, and is based on a Ford floor pan, with a modified Ford engine. There is a good chance that a number of the parts you mentioned could have been from the Ford parts bins. So the issues you've had could've happened to any car, including a Ford. Luckily the faults you mentioned are relatively minor and can hopefully be put right soon so you can get on with enjoying your new purchase All the best, Russ

$600K according to one website / blog, so might be awhile before you get one Joe I run a laser cutting business, Cutlasercut, and until watching the clip had never heard of anything like this. It's a crazy application of the technology IMO! Kinda fun though!

Hi Dutchy, Sorry to hear you're not happy, but with all due respect, I'm not sure I've ever heard a list of more minor problems to get upset about! If, as Joe alluded to, if you found your sills rotted through or your engine and or gearbox had exploded, I could agree you were Mr Unlucky, but a broken leaper, glove box or sun visor hardly qualifies as a nightmare! Especially on a car that must be at least 10 years old and purchased for a tiny fraction of it's original buy price! On the upside, if the spares parts scene in Aus is anything like the UK, then you or your mechanic will hopefully be able to find suitable replacements at a fraction of the cost of original / dealer items All the best, Russ

Very nice Laz, I think I like that a lot! Sorry to hear about the broken back, wishing you a full and speedy recovery! PS. I've had a carbon fibre MTB since 2005, and carbon fibre road bikes since 2008, done right, it is the wonder stuff

The rain hasn't made it to the Isle of Wight yet but is on it's way I expect! A neater way of cutting and sealing would be nice, I might be able to score it through with one of the lasers or the CNC router I have on order, but TBH, using hand tools is likely to be the best bet if the pieces aren't completely flat, and setting up the job could take longer than doing it with a hand tool! Perhaps a bladed cutter rather than the abrasive disc would generate lass heat? I have various tooling here that might work and relatively cheap couriers for collecting and sending stuff about the country if we could get hold of some for testing. There are probably a few light units locally I could track down as well Some sort of black silicone / mastic could seal and neaten them up, and or a strip of rubber or perhaps black ABS over the edge might help. I have various things I could cut and send you if of interest? Didn't know you were a fellow cyclist! I've mainly been hitting the road this year as I'm doing L'Etape in July, but still love my MTB when I get a chance to ride it. I'll be careful of the 'pink terror' in future. Don't want it attacking the carbon fibre! Cheers, Russ

Well done Laz, sounds creative and effective! Interested to see the pics of them on the car to help decide whether I want to do this on mine PS. I have that same bike cleaner, didn't realise it was so caustic!

Hey Jan, it's not that I'm afraid. It happens after just a second or so and you need to be quick to open the drivers door to get in! I'm going to change the battery as I bought a new one for our Discovery which turned out to be not required. I've had the automatic speed locking turned off, particularly if you have any other locking issues, this is just a hindrance / irritation IMO! Thanks anyway

Well done again, but do consider Berkshire Jag Spares for future parts, they've really looked after me, so happy to recommend

Well done Sir, get the tracking done and those new tyres on and you'll be all set and hopefully impressed with the transformed handling I bought the refurbed lower arms as a complete assembly for c£160 per side, may I ask what you had to pay for just the bushes to do this yourself? Sounds dodgy re the wear on the track rod balljoints! Which supplier / make did you use, sounds as if they should be avoided! Although wear could be exacerbated by other suspension wear etc. Like you I would prefer not to risk the job without a spare set to work on off the car, which is why I chickened out and bought the complete assemblies

Wow, sounds epic, well done Laz!

Would it be worth spraying some lube/ penetrating oil (WD40 or similar) in the 'valet lock' and fettling with this? Even with no power, the key will manually open the boot on my X200, not sure if there is the same set up on a 2005 model. If the lock is dry or seized, it might be easier to give this a few minutes and just a few £/$ for a can of spray...