keltiks' 2006 XJR shouldn't be a daily but is

[keltik]

Just making a thread in here so I can post some crap and get feedback.  I've had the car a year now and still don't want to sell it so I think it's officially out of probation.

Here's a quick run down of things that have gone wrong so far:

1) All 4 door speakers died due to the original glue used in manufacture dissolving the copper wires to the voice coils. Since they are reasonably nice Alpine speakers, I repaired them.

2) The front tyres were rather lumpy. 255/35R20s don't have much give so I think the previous owner smashed them into some potholes causing them to delaminate.

3) Trans cooler pipes have started weeping oil from a crimp. Looks like a total pain in the ass to replace so I'm ignoring it for now.

4) Engine oil pan also weeping a bit.  See above note.

5) Engine light is constantly on for both banks catalyst efficiency. 

6) The front left air shock developed a leak requiring a complete replacement as the air bags are all crimped together and not serviceable.

7) There's a bizarre rattle from somewhere in the front subframe that I can't locate.

8 ) Im not sure why but there's more engine noise when turning than driving straight.  Mounts perhaps?

Anyways, these cars are regarded as being pretty reliable except for the air shocks.  At somewhere between 2-3k per shock, I'm not looking forward to buying more of them. 

It does look good at max slam but I wouldn't want to drive it on or near the bump stops as they are inside the shocks... and the top hat seals would probably not like it.

To balance out the problems, I'll share a few good points:

1) Fairly comfy ride, I'd give it an 8/10 overall or 10/10 comparing to anything else you'd buy for this money.

2) Reasonably fast thanks to it's relatively light weight. The whole body is aluminium and I think it weighs about the same as a Subaru Legacy.

3) Having big comfy armchairs with adjustable reach pedals and steering makes it very comfy for my lanky frame to drive long distance.

4) OK on fuel, I get a consistent 10.5l/100km when the bulk of my driving is open road 100kph.

5) Very quiet cabin with lots of insulation and double glazing.  I don't get irritated by road noise on our shit roads.

I've got a few projects to do on this thing so hopefully some people here can share advice.  

[keltik]

Things I'd like to do:

1) Convert the interior to a nicer color.  Mine is 90s nicotine stained sun yellowed plastic.  Or 'Sand' as Jaguar called it.

Id like to change it to grey or ivory white. 

Also would love a heated wood grain wheel.  So to accomplish this, I plan on buying an XJ8 which is cheaper and swapping the interiors, then selling the donor car on.

2) Either get the centre display screen modified to run Android with a 'Jagdroid' conversion or add an Arduino Bluetooth module into the existing minidisc player which will allow the steering wheel controls to skip tracks.

3) Sort out the exhaust so it makes a tiny bit more noise but not too much.

4) Aftermarket intake pipe to delete the silencer on it and get a smidge more supercharger noise.

5) Supercharger pulley

6) LSD

[keltik]

Forgot to mention I bought this thing from a dealer and got a 1 year 'Protecta' mechanical warranty thrown in.

From the warranty booklet:

Suspension air bags, shock absorbers, rubber components that have failed due to wear or degradation and catalytic converters are specifically excluded.

But I did manage to claim for the instrument cluster repair when the speedometer stopped working.  So a $900 job only cost me the claim excess of $395.  

None of this surprises me as I have weekly phone calls with these warranty companies about customers vehicles... But everyone seems to be shocked and offended when they find out how little is actually covered.

So let this be a lesson.  Read the exclusions, actually fuck it - read everything.  Owners manual, insurance policy wording, anything you are buying or signing.

 

[Nominal]

How come the XJ8 is a cheaper purchase?

Also, Land Rover is high performance?

That exclusion is wide open to interpretation.

[RUNAMUCK]

To a dumb hillbilly like me, 06 is a pretty new car. Surprised so much has given trouble on a car so new?

[VitesseEFI]

12 hours ago, Nominal said:

Land Rover is high performance

Not really….. but really, really unreliable and not small problems either. The insurance companies know this.

[keltik]

15 hours ago, Nominal said:

How come the XJ8 is a cheaper purchase?

The regular v8 is lower spec and they made more of them.

8 hours ago, RUNAMUCK said:

To a dumb hillbilly like me, 06 is a pretty new car. Surprised so much has given trouble on a car so new?

There's a reason $160,000 fell off the price tag. Still a reliable car compared to a BMW.  

[RUNAMUCK]

That's a bit like saying someone is "less evil than the Nazis"........

[westy]

I know I really shouldn’t but I really like that. 
Agree on the colour of the interior though. She’s a bit old man’s jacket. The grey appeals. 

[chasinthemirage]

Forget the grey interior, what it really needs is camo door cards and mirror tints.

[keltik]

Hmmm "air suspension fault" on the dash, all shocks on full hard and no ride height corrections happening.

"Leveling plausibility error" isn't very descriptive but usually seems to mean an air leak between the compressor and reservoir or a tired compressor.  Couldn't see any leaks at the reservoir or valve block so time to remove the front guard liner and have a look at the compressor, if I can't see any leaks I'll throw a piston seal kit at it.

And will continue to ignore the cat efficiency faults

[fletch]

Maybe a ride height sensor fault, or difference between them

[keltik]

Done some diagnosing today. I'm putting my money on either the compressor exhaust valve sticking or the main valve block.

All ride height sensors read normal and the only pressure sensor is showing sensible numbers.  Couldn't find any air leaks.

The only way for air to leave the system is through the exhaust valve at the compressor. If it sticks open, the compressor can't air up the reservoir tank and whenever a strut valve is open, the ride height decreases as the air goes out the open exhaust valve - even with the reservoir valve open. So the system gets confused, throws a plausibility error and shuts everything down.

Looking at the live pressure data while driving, this all seems to add up. Next problem is the exhaust valve is part of the compressor assembly. So I might spring for a new one.

[keltik]

More diagnosing and I was pretty sure the exhaust valve or compressor was the fault.

Managed to remove the compressor in half hour, easier than expected.

Dismantled it on the bench and found absolutely nothing wrong with any of it.  Piston rings looked good, the exhaust valve assembly was clean with the right resistance on the solenoid. All the check valves work.

Stuck it all back together and commanded all struts and the reservoir to air down. Starting from there, it pumped everything up to pressure in a normal amount of time.  About 3 minutes to get the car leveled and fill the reservoir to 200psi. 

Watched the live ecu data as it was doing it's thing and everything appeared to make sense.

Then it threw the suspension fault light again. So now I have absolutely no fucking clue what could be wrong.

Tomorrow I'll try recalibrate the ride height sensors and have a play with the valve block.

[keltik]

Pulled the valve block and reservoir this morning.  It sits under the spare tyre in a little foam igloo so it's pretty easy to get at.

Of course everything was dry, free from corrosion and looked fine.  I put some pressure into each port and nothing leaked noticeably.

So I had another go at a ride height calibration.... Which failed as usual. Unable to complete the air up procedure.  The car looked pretty level to me!  Used the scan tool to get it to air all the struts to maximum height and then I found it.

At normal ride height, it doesn't leak.  But as soon as you get any droop on that corner - whoosh.  The system doesn't have a ride height sensor on the driver's front, it just uses the passenger side and looks at the pressure difference between them.

Anyways, its decision time.  The passengers front strut started leaking a few months ago so I threw in a second hand one which ended up having a good air section but the shock is mega soggy.  Do I;

A) Replace both front air struts with new Jaguar/Bilstein ones.  Everything will work, probably won't get change from $4k.

B ) Replace both fronts with Arnott ones, they delete the active damping (which I quite like). Closer to $2.5k.

C) Convert to Jaguar S-Type R coilover struts. Maybe $3k with some modified or custom front strut tops....assuming I can still find the parts 

D) Use the Arnott Eibach coilover conversion kit. Worse ride, no adjustable height or damping, higher ride height than I'd like. It's the simplest conversion to do where everything will bolt in and play nicely. Probably $2.5k

E) Roll the dice on a pair of second hand struts and see how far they go.

Most people online seem to think the adaptive damping isnt worth saving but I think they've never driven the car in a way to make it work - its pretty noticeable when you start throwing the steering wheel around.

[anglia4]

A.

cos it’s not my money 

[Nominal]

8 hours ago, anglia4 said:

A.

cos it’s not my money 

Agree. For the extra $1500 it seems worth it.

[VitesseEFI]

Struts not rebuildable? I mean I’m sure they’re not intended to be but maybe can be done?

Nick

[cletus]

Technically needs a cert too if you're worried about that, if you change from factory air to regular pleb springs  

[keltik]

2 hours ago, VitesseEFI said:

Struts not rebuildable? I mean I’m sure they’re not intended to be but maybe can be done?

Nick

All the gubbins is glued and bead rolled / crimped together like a coke can.  There is a crowd who do rebuilt ones for $1500 each but their reputation is shithouse in the Jag community - lots of early failures and dead ones out of the box.