The first repair that I did to this car was preventative. The Jaguar 4.0l v8 used a series of plastic timing chain tensioners up until about 2002 depending on your engine code.

They have a tendency to crack in half and jump your timing chain bending your valves. The replacement tensioner is metal with plastic ends, which they started using in 2002. Jaguar parts are unreal expensive but luckily Ford used that engine in their Lincoln LS so some of the parts have ford crossovers. I replaced both without replacing anything else by lifting the outer cams up to get the tensioners out without taking the chains off. There is a how to on doing this if you search.

Ford Part #'s for upper timing chain tensioner replacement:

2W9Z-6K254-BA TENSIONER
2W9Z-6K254-CA TENSIONER
W705391-S300 BOLTS (need 4 I believe)
2W9Z-6268-BA CHAINS (need two if you're replacing them)
XW4Z-6584-AB ( valve cover gasket )
XW4Z-6584-BB ( valve cover gasket )

The second repair was the drivers side ball joint. It was clearly bad and I went ahead and did the inner bushings on that side as well as the shock bushing. Getting the ball joint out of the arm is not easy, good luck. In order to get the lower arm out you need an inside the spring spring compressor, which they sell for trucks at most parts stores. It's sketchy though and if you kill yourself with the spring it's not my fault. Anyone who isn't experienced should just buy the parts and take it to a Jag specialist.

Here is my old drivers side lower rear control arm with a new bushing and ball joint installed. Unfortunately that didn't fix my clunk, though those parts were bad. I suspect stabilizer bar end links, frame bushings, and maybe shock mounts.

My last problem is that on a cold start the serpentine belt tries to jump off the alternator. Due to some other pulley being misaligned. The water pump and the ps pump both have some play to them.

I also replaced the headliner which was sagging. The fabric I chose wasn't thick enough and had trouble biting into the spray glue I was using. I recommend something somewhat fuzzy or porous and some glue with a thickness to it. It is a very tedious job but if you take your time it beats paying out the ear for someone else to do it. The photo is right before I took the headliner out.

Another repair I did was re-seal the leaking thermostat housing. They have a tendency to crack, which wasn't the problem in my case, the gasket had just failed. I resealed it with some RTV. Now to get that thing off you either need an 8mm crows foot or an 8mm stubby end wrench. Sears has the wrench, snap on has the crows foot. Once you get it off, take the shorter bolts from the front of the thermostat housing are use those in the rear location at the base. It will make future repairs much easier. Perhaps even a hex key bolt would be easier to get in and out, I didn't have time to try. They do make metal housings if yours is cracked. Be sure to shop around though.

The radiator had failed at some point in the past and I didn't notice until a fairly peppy drive one day when some steam was coming out of the front grill. I found a used one for 150$ and it works great. Getting it out of the car is not easy, I jacket it up as high as I could and snaked it out the bottom. Try not to bend your A/C lines or the lines going to your A/T cooler. New dextron (orange) and no more leaks!

The wheel bearing was also bad. You have to have this crazy Jaguar ABS ring socket to get the hub out of the knuckle. I had to buy the socket and take the knuckle to a shop where they put a 3/4 " impact on it for some time before it came apart. I got the socket from Welsh Enterprises for 130$ which is a lot less than most places. Be careful putting your wheels back on, its easy to missalign them and get a vibration that isn't wheel bearing related.

In this photo you can see the drivers side front suspension. That lower control arm is a two piece cast iron unit with a spring pan bolted to the bottom. Awful design to work on. Both front stabilizer bar end links are bad. Shock bushing was bad. lower ball joint was bad. Stabilizer frame bushings are bad. Shock mounts may be bad. The previous owner wasn't into the Jaguar repair bills aparently.

My drivers side window stopped working rendering me bank drivethroughless and unable to answer officer friendly should he have come along. I read on a forum that it's just a controler glitch and the fix is to unplug your battery for a few minutes, which did indeed fix it.

One thing to look out for. The transmission computer has an adaptive learning program that is bat shit crazy. For instance, once I reset the battery to fix the window switch the car liked to hold the throttle open for long periods of time after my foot was off of the gas pedal. This surpised me somewhat and I proceeded to drive about with my foot often hovering over the brake. Once the transmission learns for a bit it stops doing this but I've found in sport mode that happens at random. How Jaguar has not been sued into oblivion by this I do not know.

 

 

My overall impression of this car is positive though. It is a very smooth, quiet ride. The interior smells wonderful. The chimes are pleasant and unobtrusive. Civilized. Press the sport mode button on the console and it just goes. No noise or delay, just delicious forward thrust to the surprise of the poor saps around you.

This car makes me look forward to trying out the Jaguar XJR, XKR, S Type 4.2, and the S Type R. Most importantly this car has made me consider large luxury cars as another category to watch, another fun delegation of tasks, gas money permitting.