Lazlo Woodbine

Aha, I actually had my spare pair Cinturato P7s put on the back the same day. I now have matching tyres all round! I swear the last two mm of tread wore off the old Lassa's in a week. One was not great and the other was most probably illegal. If they had had to go on the front or we were in the rainy season they would have been changed before now. My o/s front hub is whirring quite a lot now and at 30 you can just feel it through the pedals. That needs changing soon but I really want to do the lower front arm bushes as well while it's all apart. I can't bring myself to fit new void bushes so I'm saving up for some Powerflex Black Series ones. I'll get some spare arms when I can and re-bush them to save having the car immobile for to long. I may find that the upper arms are worn as well but as it's nigh on impossible to tell with the car together and they're not cheap to buy I'll assume they're ok and risk taking it apart again later..

I had a 1994 Rover 820 Vitesse with the 2.0 T16 turbo and Recaro interior. I loved that car..

+1 If you want a job doing properly etc.. I do all my own maintenance, partly for financial reasons, mostly because I have seen some shocking work by dealerships, independents and specialists. The front brakes on my S-type had last been worked on by a Jaguar dealer and one of the caliper carrier bolts had been cross threaded but wound in home anyway. When I came to replace a damper bush half a turn anti-clockwise with a ratchet on this bolt and it fell out. If you really want to find the right person to leave your car with then you will have to meet them and suss them out face to face to be completely at ease. A yeah,yeah man will be easy to spot and I would rather trust someone who said that no, they hadn't worked on your exact model before but this is why they are perfectly capable than someone who knows exactly how to bodge them. I worked with appliances and a lady customer once asked if I was Bosch trained, I actually laughed which was probably inappropriate. But I then showed her how I had repaired the main logic board for her dishwasher which Bosch would have simply replaced at a cost that would have written the machine off. It still worked perfectly three years later when she traded it in with us for a bigger one.

You could alternatively use the permanent live at the starter motor.

I have to admit I've not had a car with coil-on-plug ignition before this Jaguar and never had one fail so I don't know how they "go". But on a car with traditional distributor or single coil pack a misfire when warm but not cold makes HT leakage the number one suspect in my book. Electrical insulation can break down when warm and allow the HT voltage to go to earth and not the plug(s). Usually not only will the running get progressively worse as the ignition components warm up but over a period of time as the insulation degrades further it can start happening sooner and sooner from cold . I can only imagine that coil-on-plug coils can fail in a similar way, as I say I've not seen a failed one, but the theory is the same. It's easy for a fault to make a car seem like too much hassle to carry on with, but if you can then stick with it a bit longer because I have a hunch it's not anything too bad. Ask Joe and others about good code readers, there are lots of options. I've got a cheap and fairly rubbish one and wish I'd known more about them and spent a bit more.. There are other options for testing if you have a multimeter, oscilloscope and a healthy respect for high voltages. Otherwise a scanner is probably your best bet.

I do like a vinyl roof, I've never seen an XJS with one before though. To my eye it really accentuates the shape of the flying buttresses and yet at the same time makes them stand out less. It's an impressive looking car and I think the simplicity of the early ones suits the shape much better than the later facelift. The condition of your particular one is amazing. You should build it a garage, a cavity walled, insulated, climate controlled garage.

I hope the charger works for you. I can't see why it wouldn't but just in case I know of another way.. It's a bit of an animal manoeuvre but you can get into the boot by force. If you have a premium sound subwoofer on the shelf I'm afraid the way I did it won't work. I cut a T shaped slot in the parcel shelf above the empty speaker hole and managed to get enough of my arm through the hole to grab the release pull for the seat back. The slot in the shelf is now invisible as no material was cut out and the fibres closed over the cut. I would rather not have done it but didn't have much choice at the time.

Thank you. I'll get hold of him.

Thank you for looking for me. It's probably worth trying to sell though, they do seem to be in demand. Thank you for the links Steve. Unfortunately I just can't afford a new one at the moment.

Just a little update on rear track rods. I put the old inner end back on one side as it was better than the new one. Unfortunately I had had to cut the one on the other side off. It's doubly annoying because I changed the whole rods due to wear in the outer ends only to then have the inners fail. I looked at replacing the inner end ball-joints with a universal replacement one that I could replace as and when without changing the arm as well. But they're not as easy to find any more, especially straight ones. So I went with my fall back plan of ordering an arm at my local factors for £52 expecting a two day wait for it to arrive. When I got there they had one on the shelf for under £40, bonus! It's a Moog p/n: JA-DS-8881 replacing Jaguar p/n: XR813478. It comes with a three year warranty. Check out the poor spot welding on the silver eBay jobby compared with the black Moog one. It's almost non-existent on the ball-joint end. I fitted that one yesterday and the horrible fidgeting and self steering is gone. I'll update again in 3000 miles...

Hmm. So unplugging any coil has the same effect? How bad is the misfire at idle? Does it miss worse under load?

The only car side wall I have ever had fail without any significant impact was a Pirelli, a Cinturato P7 245/40x18 on my current Jaguar. If they are indeed given to weak side walls by design then I'd move on and use different makes. But they need taking on over this apparent brush-off they're giving you.

Oldmanam: That really looks quite fantastic. With tinted rear lights, clear side repeaters and blacked out bumper reflectors it would have a really nice monochrome look to it. The only thing I would have changed about my cars spec would have been black paint, and a cream interior if I get two wishes. So this is a little off topic but; I thought that that style front bumper only came on the full facelift, i.e the 2005 on model with the new front and rear ends. I assumed therefore that it wouldn't fit the earlier ones. What I'm trying to say is would any S-type bumper fit my x200 (pre 2005.5)? My front bumper's scratched and gouged quite badly an I'm half-heartedly keeping an eye out for one to respray. I always thought that the early back/late front end would be the best combo so if one will fit mine I would do it. Then all I'd need is a Sport 200 badge, just joking Steve.

Hi Ron. Yes please let me know what sort it is. I actually just found a fixed type one locally so if that's what yours is I will pass but if it is detachable I'll definitely be interested. Thank you.

I've asked for experience and no claims against me to be taken into account for a standard policy quote before when my NCB was already in use and it made little difference. I say if you have not cost any insurer anything for however long then you simply are a lower risk regardless of your NCB status. This made up entity, NCB, being a one policy use thing is a swindle, but don't get me started again. Will A-plan entertain insuring the Transit? It may be useful to your argument if they're already getting a fair wedge of money from you each year. I very much suspect the decision will be discretionary and I would imagine it would be more dependent on the underwriter than the broker.

Er, yes it was a bit heart felt wasn't, it kind of detracted from my rambling a bit. Wow, I'm even boring when I'm drinking! Yes I appreciate insurance is there to make money, as I said a in reply to Dan earlier it's a financial product. I don't actually have a problem with the concept, it's the execution that fails. As far as suggesting solutions go I'm not qualified either but I'll have a crack at it, if for nothing more than see how other people feel about the subject. I don't know if putting a government department in charge would be the solution (think of DVLA and all their data losses, selling of your personal information etc.) just tighter control of the sector would be a start. To me when the ABI lobbyists attempt to mislead the government on the sectors turnover in the hope of getting stricter personal injury claim laws imposed that is a clear sign that the companies they represent are not fit to be the self-appointed arbiters of peoples personal losses. Thank you for your thoughts Russ.

I had a misfire on my V6 due to water splashing up from a puddle, running down into the spark plug well and shorting out the HT to earth. Anyway, if it will misfire at idle then you should be able to hear which bank it's on from the twin exhausts. You can then unplug each coil pack LT plug in turn (this is safe to do while the engine's running). When you unplug one and it has no effect on it running, that is it doesn't get worse, there's your misfiring cylinder.

It certainly sounds simple. I don't know how far the governments control would or should reach in to the business but I suspect it would have to be an all-or-nothing approach, which means a complete and total reform. Considering the power that the insurance sector wields it's the sort of idea that could end a ministers career pdq if they even so much as suggested it. But for the sake of optimism I will mull it over. Assuming the government not just calculated and collected premiums but kept all operations in house there could be massive difficulties with keeping legal representation fair and even. I think this would be possibly the biggest hurdle to one big happy insurance "company" not turning into a game of who can afford the best representation, as it arguably is currently. If you had to personally claim against this entity in lieu of having an insurance company doing it on your behalf (or arguing why they shouldn't pay out) then a structure would have to be put in place to ensure that one claim was dealt with as fairly as the next regardless of the means of the claimant. There would be many, many other issues to address and procedures to restructure but my mind's already boggling. As to who would run this huge abomination of a department, well who else than the people who know best? Those already running and working for existing insurance and underwriting companies. This is the problem with a reform, as I see it, it could realistically be little more than a change of ownership with a new sign and a lick of paint here and there to show that the management has changed. A wholesale "replacement" of the exiting infrastructure sounds good to me but the practicalities of it are overwhelming. I like to dream though because I can't see how a transparent, open and publicly accountable compensation service (what else would you call it?) could make any worse the hell that those who simply want their losses reimbursed by those accountable go through. I do appreciate that a capitalist economy does breed competition and that then encourages improvements in service, affordability etc. However it also incites the amoral pursuit of profit over the proper and humane treatment of victims of others negligence whether it be the result of a car crash or a building fire. Please note that I'm not an economist, legally trained or even further educated. I'm a manual labourer with a couple of GCSEs, a few bottles of beer and a partner who I will have to support for the rest our lives as the result of a non-fault RTA, an incompetent solicitor and two corrupt expert witnesses (allegedly, we're still working on that). You can write me off as bitter or biased I don't really care because I know that poor people get a rubbish deal when they try to take on big business.

A disparity of well over 200% between two quotes is just ridiculous. I can appreciate that some companies specialise in certain cover but Steve's two quotes there demonstrate that one or the other company have made a massive miscalculation on the financial risk he poses to them. But variations of this magnitude are not uncommon and I say that that is a sign that something is rotten in Denmark, market manipulation springs to mind, but that's just my personal opinion. I would love to be able to get a good working knowledge of how these brokers and underwriters assess the risk you and I pose to them. Not for the sake of saving money but to see if there is anything resembling logic going on in there. Really the process should be open and transparent, after all we as drivers are legally bound by the law of the land to enter a contract with one these firms. We are not customers, or clients, any more than we are a customer or a client of the DVLA. Just because there is an apparent choice of who we give our money to does not mean that we choose whether or not to insure our cars. We are part of a society built on the motor vehicle and although this is contentious I think if you want to get anywhere (socially, not geographically) driving facilitates it hugely, especially if you're outside of London or other big cities. Certainly if you don't drive here in Cornwall your employment options and opportunities are massively limited. I'm not arguing against the concept of insurance but criticising the structure of the sector. I'm not sure I'd call myself a socialist as such but I do think that this business should be government controlled rather than the ABI trying to control the governments financial policies. https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/abi-data-shows-insurers-saving-billions-in-claims-costs/5058366.article

Opie Oils have a good reputation for selling quality and knowing their products inside out. If you tell them the code that Carole gave you they will sort you out. Actually I'd be surprised if they didn't have an account on this forum, have a look for Opie or Oilman in the member list.

Yes. My father got his renewal notice through one year and the premium had gone up by £30. He spoke to the company and after some pushing the operator admitted that if he let the policy lapse and then called them back to start a new one it may well be cheaper. So that's what he did, his "new" policy premium was £20 less than the year before, a difference of £50, or about 30% from the renewal.. It sounds to me like a pricing structure designed to take advantage of commonplace auto-policy-renewals, automatic Direct Debit payments and the fact that many people don't have the time to shop around for new cover and above all value convenience. Did you get a quote from Dan then Steve?

Let me elaborate; I had been given a quote, I said that it just wasn't competitive. The operator said she would speak to her supervisor to see what could be done. Ten seconds later she comes back offering a quote some £60 cheaper which undercut my previous best by £10. It was at this point I asked for a reference number and was told that unless I took the "offer" during the call it would be null and void, if I called back later the price of the policy would go back up to the original quote. So it would seem that at least one of the quotes was good for longer than the call... Regardless of the legality that is dirty and smacks of high pressure selling scare tactics. I do not have my reference books to hand immediately but will double check on the legal aspect as soon as I can. If I'm wrong about the law being broken then I will of course apologise. My taste is women, even if they do work in a call centre. But this is car insurance, a financial product, it's about as stimulating as Nora Batty. I just can't see how the two can be associated by anyone with even half as much going on upstairs as downstairs.

I don't know the X-type suspension, in fact I've never even looked under one. However, seeing from your video how easy it is to make it squeak I wouldn't have thought it too difficult for the garage to spray each joint in turn and then bounce the car before spraying the next one until it stops. That would tell them which one it is shirely?

Personally I wouldn't touch Adrian Flux with someone else's bargepole. A good couple of years ago I called them and after disclosing my best quote so far was offered a policy at a slightly lower price. I asked for a reference number but was told that this special price was only available whilst I was on the phone. I calmly asked for the girls name and said that I wanted to speak to her manager. When she asked me why I told her that she had broken the law and I wanted to know why her manager taught/encouraged such behaviour, she hung up on me. When I phoned back every operator told me their was no record that I had even had a quote. No wonder I record all business phone calls now.. October 2015; I got a quote on Google Compare with Adrian Flux as the provider. It was a good quote and so I accepted it. I then got a phone call the day before the cover was due to start to tell me that the policy had been cancelled as I had not disclosed a County Court Judgement against me. I did not know I had ever had one and there is no evidence that I do (another story). I had paid for the policy outright which had nearly emptied my bank account so I couldn't afford another policy with someone else. It took Adrian Flux over four days to return my money during which time I was uninsured and so couldn't get to work 20 miles away. This cost me approximately £350. I went back through the "Google Compare" system and at no point was I asked if I had a CCJ. So even if I had known that I (allegedly) had one I wasn't asked about it so Adrian Flux assumed that I didn't and therefore based my quote on false information. I tried to get compensation for my loss of earnings but was given such a load of contradictory BS by the legal department that I would have needed a law degree to decipher it, shamefully I gave up and moved on like a good prole should. The company and their practice ethos is absolutely disgusting. I doubt they are significantly worse than any other but I've been burned twice by a company that drapes semi-naked slags across cars to sell their services, that's enough for me to take time out to bad-mouth them. They have a website which to be fair is not as cheap looking as the Max Power type ads from before but still has nothing to do with something as boring and bureaucratic as insuring your car; http://www.fluxbabes.co.uk/ That just screams professionalism doesn't it? I'll be sure to choose my next phone and broadband supplier by how much skin they show dancing on a telegraph pole..

I'm with Hastings. 35 years old, no tickets/convictions etc. no named drivers, 8k miles, standard car, 7 years NCB. It would have been £280 but paying by instalments cost me an extra £20ish. The cheapest car insurance I've ever had is a classic policy. The caveats are that you earn no NCB on them (hence me only having 7 years despite no claims against me ever), and that you must own or have another vehicle to use other than the classic you're insuring. Ah, but no-one said the "other car" couldn't be a classic car, and so I was insuring a V8 Land Rover and a modified VW Corrado for far less than I'm paying for just the Jaguar now. Unfortunately nowadays some companies say the other car has to be "modern" but I don't know what that means technically. I suspect an early STR could be put on a classic policy if you can convince the underwriter that it is indeed a cherished investment and not a hooligans toy. If you're trying to justify buying one to the boss then a saving of several hundred pounds a year, every year could be good ammo..