Jaguar XJ-S HE brochure + Price List

It was bound to happen, I purchased the first XJS brochure. And I have no intention to buy any other. Promiss. It’s just that I like mostly all aspects of a car. As such that includes the original matching brochure that belongs to the car. I’m still overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information and documentation Available for this car. This is no different  for the brochures. Reason for searching it was the following brochure picture I came across (at least I think it was a brochure):

I liked the very detailed and clear picture of the engine. As such I wanted to have this particular brochure. The picture also showed it had this specific topped off air nipple on the manifold which I noticed on the last maintenance I was doing. Apparently this is supposed to be original so I’m not missing any disconnected hose or such. I’m still unsure of it’s purpose though, perhaps it can be used for testing / diagnostics?

In any case I also noticed this engine bay did had specific relays which were not mounted in my engine bay. As such I figured this brochure had to be of a later HE series then mine. I was keen to get the correct brochure though. So I just had a look on Ebay and found a brochure that did mention it was from ca 1983. Since my car is delivered early 1984  this had to be the right one for my car, so I made an offer and agreed in the middle.

The brochure was offered in Germany and arrived this week. And by great surprise it did contain an original Dutch pricelist by the British Leylands importer in Gouda. What a welcomed gift!

Needless to say I’m very happy with this. Also the brochure was in good shape and about the first XJS HE series. Cool. And that all for 11,95 Euro including shipping.

The brochure and pricelist will be made available in the download folder.

BAT : 47k-Mile 1989 Jaguar XJS Coupe

Anoter BAT posting that showed up on my FB account. So just adding it for reading pleasure.
I don't fancy the wired wheels on this one. The massive US bumper extensions are ugly as well.
Curious to see for how much this one will go. Just like the 400 it seems these cars go for so much less in the USA or UK compared to Mainland Europe.

http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1989-jaguar-xj-s-coupe/

XJS spotted

Guess what, I spotted today this XJS at the parking place nearby my working office. It's quite rare to see these in the wild nowadays. This is however the least attractive model in my opinion.
Furthermore it's the 4.0 6 cylinder  version.

Maintenance and Costs

Just want to keep track of all the costs made on the XJS. The costs listed for 2015 are done by the previous owner and was carried out by a garage. I'm including it as apart from the costs it sums up a nice maintenance overview as well. For the actual maintenance carried out I have got a seperate label you can find in the side bar on the right.

2015	Price
MOT + Oil fluids	?
Pair of Tyres (Vredestein Sprint Classic 215/70)	€ 768,38
Revision Caliper + Brake pads (Left Front)	€ 834,90
Battery	€ 172,13
2016	Price
Ownership transfer	€ 9,91
Oldtimer Insureance (WA)	€ 60,50
Roadtax	€ 0,00
1x Distributor cap + rotor	€ 54,40
2x Bonnet Struts	€ 65,78
1x Petrol Tank Sender	€ 51,10
1x gasket	€ 1,54
1x Transparent hose 5M	€ 16,94
2x 5W5 lights	€ 2,50
2x 5WX38 lights	€ 1,50
Classic Car Mart Back issue Vol 21 No 10 Sept 2015	€ 7,29
Socket Wrench PH3	€ 14,52
Brochure	€ 11,95
5x W5W 12V - 5W	€ 3,63
20 x W2x4.6D 12V - 1.2W	€ 17,00
1x AAV	€ 209,40
1x AAV gasket	€ 3,61
1x AAV airhose	€ 14,57
3x clip pipe (CAC8770)	€ 1,42
Traumwagen magazine - Jaguar XJS kaufberatung	€ 2,37
1x fuel filter	€ 9,80
1x fuel filter sump tank	€ 16,09
1x fuel sump tank gasket	€ 1,54
2 x fuel pump	€ 96,68
1x forte fuel system cleaner	€ 20,49
1x pair lower balljoints	€ 29,40
1x battery charger	€ 67,64
1x battery charger adapter USA -> Euro	€ 7,99
1x keyfob	€ 7,00
1x book Jaguar XJ-S by Brian Long	€ 40,02
3x bulb holder (13H5270J) + 1  trunk interior lightholder	€ 28,69
1x radio cassette player	€ 89,24
2x bulb lights Philips 12V 5W C5W	€ 1,74
2x bulb lights Philips 12V 5W W5W	€ 1,67
2017	Price
roadtax	€ 122,00
1x electrical aerial	€ 110,81
1x pair front lower ball joints (CAC9937)	€ 27,50
1x pair front upper ball joints (CAC9938)	€ 27,50
1x key blank waso type	€ 10,00
1x liter ATF fluid (powersteering)	€ 12,50
1x 500 ml Brake fluid Dot 4	€ 7,50
MOT + 2 repairs (light & wheel bearing/hub)	€ 269,76
1x Radio DAC-3716	€ 92,67
1x Toolkit	€ 84,92
1x Caliper Seal kit (L+R)	€ 26,42
4x Caliper pistons	€ 48,54
1x Magazine Classic Cars	€ 4,95
1x Brass floater gastank	€ 24,72
Chrome polish	€ 15,88
Colour & Trim guide	€ 6,20
Jaguar flag	€ 17,50
Oldtimer insurance	€ 60,50
Jaguar Parking card	€ 8,75
Jaguar XJS Cassette	€ 29,78
Car cover new	€ 153,00
roadtax 2018	€ 122,00
1 full set of used rims with tyres	€ 200,00
2018	Price
2x kruiskoppeling	€ 38,45
Spray can Black paint MOTIP Heat resistant	€ 16,83
1 pair used horns	€ 20,00
1 used bumper blinkerlight unit complete	€ 17,50
1 Nylon Hammer - Tool	€ 36,03
1 Dopsleutel nr 13 - Tool	€ 5,74
1 Cardangewricht - Tool	€ 25,05
1 Alternator/Dynamo revision	€ 54,45
8 kg zandstraalmiddel / Sandblasting	€ 17,95
1 Sandblastpistol	€ 21,95
1 Alabastine Plamuur	€ 5,00
1 oldtimer insurance	€ 60,50
1 roadtax 2019	€ 125,00
1 waterpump	€ 146,11
1 thermostat	€ 12,50
1 thermostat gasket	€ 1,28
1 fan belt	€ 11,33
1 alternator belt	€ 16,41
1 aircopump belt	€ 13,95
1 powersteering belt	€ 15,56
12 spark plugs	€ 53,00
1 airco dryer	€ 15,70
1 airco condensor	€ 108,42
1 hose kit	€ 101,37
TOTAL	€ 3.391,40

2023	Price
1 Fuel rail overhaul  kit	€ 233,78

Stor og sexet – men skal det være XJ-S eller CSi?

This one showed up on my FB wall. Thought it was a nice one to share. In fact I recognized the picture used as it's Dutch. It was printed in a magazine I bought about 2 months ago. And no, I didn't buy it because of this article. It had an article about a Dutch car drawning artist: Rens Biesma. But yes, the XJS article was a nice extra. And on top of that it had also a one-page column about the 400 :-)

So, just adding this one for the records. And yes, the magazine article will be scanned and added as well to this blog:

http://www.viaretro.com/2016/09/stor-og-sexet-men-skal-det-vaere-xj-s-eller-csi/

MOT/APK & fluids refresh

One thing I was not sure about was the state of the fluids. Although when the car was purchased a MOT was carried out and also some additional maintenance was done afterwards there was no mention on the fluids. Clearly I could see that the transmission oil was fresh.  I also could see the engine oil looked fairly clean.

When cleaning out the car last week I also found this maintenance label. It was done by the garage which provided the MOT when the car was purchased at the auction with 130.901 Km on the meter. Unfortunately the owner didn't had that invoice (I have only the MOT paper). But with this label I now know it was done. If I understand it correctly they also had done the gearbox, cooling system and the brake system fluids. The filters however have likely not been done.

I did wrote them an email if they could provide more history on the car and possibly an invoice of the work done. But they didn't respond to my request. Bummer.

For the records, it was done by this company:

Garage Willem
Burgermeester Baumannlaan 182
3042 AJ Rotterdam
010-4157403
http://www.garagewillem.nl/

Update 29-9-2016: Since I didn't got any email response from the garage I called them instead. It was a very short call; sorry sir, we don't keep track of this. Bye. Yeah right, tell that your accountant and the tax authorities.

Auxiliary Air Valve - High idle

Today I made an attempt to fix the AAV as I suspected this item to be the culprit of the high idle. I'm still amazed how much information can be found on the web on this car. All very detailed and lot's of crafty people coming up with tutorials and fixes. This makes it so much more easy to do fault finding or doing repairs.

Some resources I checked:

http://digital.graphcompubs.com/article/AAV+Rebuild+Procedure/2044913/0/article.html

http://www.bernardembden.com/xjs/idle/index.htm

http://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xjs-x27-32/aav-valve-replaced-now-101505/

And the best source for this matter:

http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/AAV.html

I was hoping that my piston was only stuck and could be losened up easily but it turned out differently. Here the location of the AAV:

At first I removed the airfilter, started up the engine again and put my thumb in the airhole going to the AAV. Idling went down drastically and engine almost stalled.

 The airfilter itself looked recently OK, no immediate need to get replaced.

 In order to access the AAV properly I moved the bar and the filter completely:

Then I noticed this air nipple which was topped off. Likely part of the vacuum circuit? I need to find out to what is should be connected to? 

With the airbox removed I now easily could remove the airhose connected to the AAV. I then noticed this had another airhose connected to it which was topped off with a screw. Now I know this one needs to be connected to the airvent on the distributor cap
( http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/09/distributor-cap-and-rotor-replacement.html )

Unscrewing the AAV was done easily. The 90 degree hose going to the manifold however slightly torn at the edge, so that will require a new one.

 I did soak the AAV with WD40 hoping that would do the trick:

But this didn't work at all. So the only option was to dismantle the AAV, following the guidelines:

http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/AAVdisassembly.html

Making a small cut to losen up the inner valve holder. The valve itself was severely stuck. I had to jam it out with a hammer! That explains the failure. Before sanding it I tested the thermostat bulb in boiling water but it seems that one wasn't moving at all.

So I have two failures on this AAV. I'm not going to attempt to patch it up and will buy a complete new unit instead. Perhaps slightly more expensive but I would like to get everything in good working order and don't have to worry about that things will play up again shortly. To be continued.

Good I read the following as there appears to be various AAVs around:

http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/AAVdifferences.html

Double parked

This week I was using the XJS as my daily driver and so I drove it a couple of days to my work. In the parking garage there are on the first floor two spots on both ends which have a small concrete wall and only place to park two small cars. Often these spots are taken by large cars and as such taking up two places. So this time around I used the opportunity to park my car on that spot, mostly to avoid any parking damage by other car doors. I have to admit I parked it slightly diagonal but the result would have been in any case that I was using up two parking spots. I also hoped that a classic car would be excused to take up these two spots. But apparently someone disagreed with me. I suspect it must have been this motorcycle rider who managed to squeeze in his bike. It had a Dutch license plate though but judging on the written message I sense it must have been a native English person.

Engine shutting off / stalling

As per blog http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/09/eureka-fuel-gauge-repair.html I had been using the car as a daily driver for a few days. On Saturday I visited a friend to show the car. On Sunday I used it for a small trip nearby where we had a family brunch. On Monday I used it to go to the office and so I did on Tuesday. When driving home on Tuesday afternoon it started to play up a little just when I hit a traffic jam nearby home. And eventually it completely shut off. So I had to push the car to the emergency lane. Doh! Was I completely out of gas? I only had driven around 300 kilometers and I was sure it was loaded with more then 70 liters of gas. So I had already calculated I should be able to make 350 km at least. But perhaps I was wrong and I used up more gas then anticipated. So I called the missus to get over with a jerrycan of gas. Once filled up the engine started ok (this was about 1 hour later) and I could complete my journey home. In the evening I had an appointment with some of the IHWC (www.italyherewe.com) guys to show the car. So I filled it up with another 40 liters. By then the fuel gauge still didn't work. After a 30 min drive or so the engine started to play up and faded away. Thus ending up on the emergency lane again. Sigh. What was going on? I was only 5 min away to reach my endpoint. I started the engine and somehow it was picking up but very poorly. I took the gamble and continued on the emergency lane. Somehow I made it to my destination, the last 100 meters I arrived with the engine off and rolling out on to his property. Pffff. The other guys didn't show up as there was a change of plan with the car exchange they had organized. And I was not informed accordingly. The only good news is, the place I arrived was at the mechanics house. Although I didn't expect him to fix it on the spot he certainly could have a look. Or alternatively bring me home. When I left home I joked to the missus that hopefully I didn't had to call her in the evening - you can imagine her reaction. In any case, after 15 min or so, the mechanic and I had a look. We started the engine and everything was all running ok. We both made a small drive and nothing unusual happened. Weird. Clearly I was not happy with the situation as I expected it would shut off on my way home and it's dark. So I didn't fancy that. The mechanic offered his support in case I got stuck again. So I drove back home again and yes, after 20 min or so, the engine shut off. Just before this happened I noticed by surprise the fuel gauge was working all of the sudden. Not sure when that happened. In any case, the engine shut off and this just happened nearby the gas station. So I was rolling out on the gas station. I waited again 15 min and all was working normally again and I was able to get home again - about another 15/20 min drive. So my guess is that the first time this happened I wasn't out of gas at all (perhaps close though). I have no idea whats causing this either but likely it must be something related to the fuel system. The car is not running hot either so it's definately not caused by overheating. I don't think it's a poor fuel pump either or a dirty gasfilter / injectors or so. It runs to good for that matter. It's typical this only manifest after a few days I have replaced the fuel sender unit. Not sure if it's related. For now I will first look into the AAV as the high idling is very annoying and I suspect that's the culprit. After that I will looking into this new problem. I welcome any advise or tips.

(so much for the Lucky dime: http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/09/tlc-cleaning-cosmetics-caring.html)

Gear selector light indicator

When I had dismantled the gearbox selector housing I accidently damaged the lightholder. It was a very fragile item that easily snapped because it had become brittle due to ageing. The fix was to glue it. I also noticed the lightbulb itself was broken too. So replaced it et voila.

Alarm removal control unit

Although the car is mostly Original, except for the radio, there was one more item that I disliked very much; the alarm control unit. Luckily it was not active or functioning. It's such an ugly sight. And the good news, it was not mounted with screws. So it was easily removed. The car itself did not had a proper cleaning for a long time. As can be seen, the midconsole is quite dirty, so a quick rinse with a wet dishclothing was a huge improvement. Even the creme leather was easily cleaned but I leave that for the next time to give it a good leather treatment.

TLC : Cleaning & Cosmetics & Caring

Today I spend a bit of time on cleaning the car. As mentioned, the previous owner had nothing done on the car as for cleaning and washing. The interior was quite dirty. And for me a clean car drives simply better, at least pshycological.

And I was lucky as I found the missing knob to lift the back of the chair forwards so the rear passenger can step in. If you look closely on this old advert photo you can see it was already missing back then (metal pin lever). But it was simply fallen off and located under the chair. Another item ticked off my list.

And I was even more Lucky as I found a dime (duppie in Dutch slang). Although I'm not supersticious I now consider this my Lucky Dime and will keep it in the car. Let's see how much luck it will bring me.

I only vacuum cleaned the car which made already a good improvement. Last time I had also cleaned the midconsole and removed the alarm box. So now it looks more tidy.

The leather cleaning and treatment will happen another time as that will take up quite a bit of time. Perhaps it looks ok on these pictures but I can tell you it's not the case.

Next I removed these silly car alarm stickers. Quite period correct but the car has no longer the Original radio, nor a Philips radio. Instead it has this ugly Pioneer radio.

And here the ugly decals before removal on both sides:

I found this old wallpaper scraper in the shed which helped to remove the sticker. Once the corner was peeled off I didn't needed the scraper anymore as the sticker let go easily.

Then a little bit of cleaning to remove the glue staints and presto, all looks shiney and clean:

While I was at it I also removed the plastic protection covers on the doors. These grey fat covers does not look good to me.

They were easily removed and of course showed very little marks underneath but nothing worrisome in my opinion. Only the coachline stickers underneath had obviously a slightly different color/teint and also were a little deformed. But I like it better this way, makes the car so much cleaner:

By now I also noticed that one interior light in the back was not working and also one light on the right front door was not working. I can see though in the first picture at the start of this blog it was working though.

First I removed the cover at the backside. The plastic cover was of course very fragile and one of the plastic pins snapped, sigh:

The bulblight was very dark and I though it was broken. When I wanted to take it out it suddenly brightened up, so likely a bad contact. When moving around one end snapped off, so it was surely broken now.

On to the door light. Easily removed the lense and took out the broken lightbulb. The contacts were lightly corroded.

Drove to the gas station to get both lights but they only had the ones for the door. The other lightbulbs were off a smaller size so I need to obtain them elsewhere. This pair costed me € 2,50
Of course I replaced the other side as well.

Today I was just in time for the car spare parts shop to get these other light bulbs. Only € 1,50 for a pair. On 2nd look I could now see the lightholder unit could simply detached, which is the appropiate way, rather then taking off the lens. Luckily the old lens went back in without trouble. And of course I replaced the other side as well. Another minor job done.

These smalls jobs are so rewarding.