S-Type (2001): FANtastic fix and Fluid situation

[RichardMoss]

dredged up from another forum.  It's 13 years old and whether it qualifies as "shite" will be a matter of opinion but certainly in a local context out here in Abu Dhabi it would. 

 

June 2013:

 

So here it is.  2001 S-Type 4L V8.  BRG metallic, cream leather, 111,000 miles (178,000km).  A slightly uneven idle seems to be the only noticeable mechanical issue, plus a few bits of broken plastic trim, seats need to be re-dyed, sunroof stuck closed (AC works beautifully), a lot of lacquer peel on the paint and scratched/yellowed headlights.  Smooth, comfortable, quiet, quick - precisely why I bought it and 17mpg around town isn't too bad........

11 months "MOT", no road tax required and £130 per year to insure and I got it cheap by local market standards - bought from a British expat, ex-RAF engineer who works for a company in the same group as I do.  Bargain (maybe).

Parked next to Mr M's Kia Soul (which is known as Our Soul)

[RichardMoss]

August 13 2013:

 

The headlights on this were dull and crazed, as well as going yellow.  It's a combination of sun and sand that does it but because the lenses are plastic, you can clean them up with fine wet and dry paper and then polish them up with rubbing compound.  The results are quite good.




The plastic surrounds for the interior door handles were broken so ebay came to the rescue.  Not quite the right shade but there are some many different shades of brown/beige/cream inside the car that it doesn't matter!



The centre console was badly smashed up so I've fitted a second hand one - again, wrong shade but it does the job



at the same time I fitted a triple power socket into the slot where there used to be a a cassette holder (to power satnav and phone charger etc)


and I also found a couple of small rust patches but nothing major



As for servicing etc, the local Jaguar dealer came up with some real comedy prices for me (I've converted the prices to £):  
Ignition coils - £69 each and it has 8 of them
Front brake pads - £106 per set
and so on.  So I went internet shopping (http://www.rockauto.com)

Coils £10 each
Brake pads £6 a set - yep, £6!
Air and oil filters less than £3 each
NGK platinum plugs (original spec) £2 each
and even with shipping it has saved me a HUUUUUUUUGE amount of money and so now I just need a day/evening that is cool enough to fit it all.

The car is running well enough (apart from a small misfire at light throttle settings) and is burning fuel at the rate of 1 gallon every 20 miles (fewer miles if I play with the power - and it has plenty of that!) and is beautifully smooth, quite refined and comfortable.  It doesn't quite have the "gentlemans' club on wheels" feel that my XJ40 had but it is pretty damned good. It DOES have the smoothest cruise control system of any car that I have ever driven, so smooth that it's hard to tell it has even engaged and the dual-zone climate control system is superb, thankfully.   The cast aluminium suspension arms are gorgeous, too - I'll take a photo some time.

On the downside - the roofline is a bit low, affecting visibility (especially when combined with the sloping A-pillars and the ridiculously oversized rearview mirror) and the Ford supplied 5-speed transmission can be a bit indecisive, making the odd harsh change (a "feature" that they all share, apparently).  It's also a bit low slung for some of the speedbumps here so I have to be careful with them.  

Overall, though:  I LOVE IT!  (note:  opinion modified later on!)

[RichardMoss]

August 14 2013:

 

I swapped all four coils on the right hand bank of cylinders (as viewed from inside the car)  for the new ones and the misfire has gone.  One of the original coils had a broken mounting bracket so I suspect that it was making an intermittent connection.  Normal "Jag-like" running has been restored   i did all four as it was quicker and easier than trying to track down the faulty one.

[RichardMoss]

August 30 2013:

 

The transmission mount was rather knackered - split across the middle and artfully bodged with some random bits of rubber and duct tape!  The old one is in the foreground - in case you hadn't guessed!



The suspension on this is a work of art - beautifully cast alloy crossmember, uprights and wishbones, although this photos don't really do them justice.



Ever since I bought the car it has had a power steering fluid leak.  The previous owner said his mechanic had told him that it was coming from the reservoir but anyone with half a brain and at least one eye could see that the reservoir and its pipes were dry.  A look underneath showed a leak in the pipe from the pump to the rack:, or more precisely, the pressure sensor on that pipe which is there to tell you when you've lost pressure due to a leak.  Excellent - the warning system causes the leak that it is supposed to warm you about!  You can also see that there is a bit of aircon oil on the compressor but the system is working OK so can wait a while.


The PAS leak is actually coming through the middle of the sensor, not from a seal or anything easy, so the sensor will have to be replaced.  Annoyingly, Jaguar only sell the sensor as part of the complete pipe - $205 US or £130 for the complete assembly and a wait of 2-3 weeks to ship it over here.  However, thanks to the wonders of the internet and a post on http://www.jaguarforums.com by one R T Cosic of Milford Haven (Dusan's dad?) I was able to find out that the same sensor is used on the Lincoln LS and is available for about 1/4 of the price.  Our local Jaguar, Ford and Lincoln dealers are one and the same so I have ordered the Lincoln part from the same parts department that would be supplying the Jaguar part.  Bizarre.  In the meantime whilst I wait a couple of weeks for it to arrive from the  USA I plan to fit an old oil pressure sensor from one of my Jeeps to stem the leak.

[RichardMoss]

August 31 2013:

 

I got a phone call today from the dealer saying that the sensor was in - that was 3 days, not 3 weeks.  New one fitted leak gone, happy owner - especially as they discounted the price to just AED165 / £28 / $45.  Fitting was a bit awkward due to restricted access - but unbolting the steering rack from the crossmember gave me more room for manoeuvre.

[RichardMoss]

October 18 2013:

 

New front shocks, bump stops and brake pads fitted today. Not a bad job to do - especially when you can use the weight of the car to assist the spring compressors (by jacking the car up and lowering it down as necessary). The front now rides better and doesn't crash over speed bumps. The old shocks were a bit soft, their bottom bushes were worn out and the bump stops were shot - one was missing altogether and the other was only half the height it should have been. I got genuine Jaguar shocks (and bump stops) for a total of £170 and I hate to think how much the Jaguar dealer would have charged! The brake pads cost me under £7 + shipping from the USA - compared to £120 from the Jaguar parts man in town.

I also fitted the "new" grille that I bought back in July - I finally got around to it.  The temperature here is dropping nicely with peak daytime temps "only" 35C or so and as long as you're in the shade it's quite pleasant to work on the cars now.

Next up:  new track rod ends and front engine mounts.  One of each needs doing but I'll change both whilst at it.  Parts purchased from the USA at a fraction of the local Jag specialist price

[RichardMoss]

February 1 2014:

As well as fitting new track rod ends (a REALLY easy job) I fitted new anti-roll bar bushes up front (a REALLY difficult job).  The bushes make the suspension "clonk" when worn and are only about $6 each from the USA but fitting them is a real ****** of a job due to very restricted access.  Thankfully the 3 hours of blood, sweat and swearing cured the problem and the cuts on my hands and arms will heal eventually!  I haven't done the engine mounts yet because a) I don't want to bleed to death whilst doing it and the noise that I thought was the sound of shagged out hydraulic engine mounts was in fact down tot he worn anti-roll bar bushes

Expecting that the rear brake pads would need replacing, I decided to get a set - and I'm glad I did.  On removing the wheels and calipers I found that the rear pads were worn down to just a sliver of friction material and one had even worn so far as to be making metal-to-metal contact (thankfully with no significant damage to the disc).  The previous owner (an aircraft engineer from Abu Dhabi) claimed to have maintained the car meticulously.  Given that I've only done 7000km in this car, that level of pad wear indicate a long story of neglect, so the moral of the story is never trust the previous owner!  Pictures below:

All four pads:

Slightly worn

Yellow arrow for new, red for old!


As a costly bonus (?) I found this tyre damage - split and showing the steel cords - and I'd been driving at high speeds on the main roads!  This was the inner edge and was not clearly visible when the wheel was on the car.  The front tyres were also a bit worn (because the steering alignment was a bit out) so with 3 out of 4 due for replacement, I bit the bullet and replaced all 4.  Still, shouldn't need doing again for a while.

[purplebargeken]

Great stuff. Nice old things but am too wary of the one's on ebay that all seem to have gearbox 'issues'.

[RichardMoss]

The ZF six speeder is a lot more expensive to maintain than the Ford 5 speeder (like this).  Ford trans filter:  $8.  ZF: $120 and transmission fluid for the ZF is also six times the price of the Ford stuff and there are other issues with it.   Many people fall for the manufacturers bullshit about it being "lifetime" transmission fluid on both boxes when in reality 80,000 miles or so is the limit.  When they find out that it will cost $300+ (£200+) to change the fluid in a ZF box, many people decide not to bother.

 

The Ford transmission can suffer from weak springs in the valve block which is (apparently) a reasonably easy fix at the cost of just a few quid. 

[twosmoke300]

Very nice . I've got a soft spot for these. One of my customers has an R . Got a hard spot for that 😊.

That pas switch is to tell the ecu that the pump is under load and raise idle etc so it doesnt pull the engine down when turning at low speed.

[saucedoctor]

Dickie: if the car develops a rattle in the next thousand miles or so while driving on an uneven surface, try applying the brakes to see if that shuts it up. If that is the case, you've been given the rong pads. There are 3 or 4 different pads for the S Type, and they're very nearly identical.

 

What happens is that the pads of rongness are ok until they wear down a bit, then they clatter about in the hub carrier because they are slightly too small. Drove me fucking nuts on one of my S Types- I had the bumpers off, side skirts, all sorts looking for this damn rattle.

[dieselnutjob]

are there different dash designs on the s type?

 

I had a look at a colleagues one and the passenger side appeared to be a tall vertical slab which I thought made the interior quite claustrophobic.

 

This one seems better

[RichardMoss]

are there different dash designs on the s type?

The S-type got about a million upgrades in 2002 - one of which was a new dash design.  They are almost two different cars, to be honest.

 

Saucedoctor - thanks for the tip although the pads do seem to be a nice, snug fit in the caliper carriers.

[garethj]

Excellent write up.  Mrs_garethj has a 2003 3 litre V6 which is a lovely thing to drive.  It's only got 240bhp but it mostly encourages wafting rather than thrashing.  There's plenty of power when you need it and it's been reliable over the 18 months we've had it, other than the occasional worn rear tyre.

 

When I was looking for one, a friend who works for Jaguar said the V8 4.2 was excellent in the S Type, not only is it bonkers-fast but you can upgrade the supercharger pulley and get even more power.

[tooSavvy]

PAS sensor leak....... my Savvy has one [Renault] and they can leak

 

TS

[RichardMoss]

When I was looking for one, a friend who works for Jaguar said the V8 4.2 was excellent in the S Type, not only is it bonkers-fast but you can upgrade the supercharger pulley and get even more power.

The 4.2 was also available as a NASP engine. The 4.2 benefit from having cam chain tensioners which are made from aluminium rather than the 4.0's plastic. The plakky ones crack, causing the chains to go slack, then slip and trash the valves the later tensioners can be retrofitted but it's not a small job and the tensioners are £50 each and it has 4. Some day I must check what is fitted to my car - but i sort-of don't want to!

[dieselnutjob]

which is the early and which is the late?  Did they do the same thing on the right hand drive one?

 

 

 

is the bottom one available with the V6 diesel engine?

[r.welfare]

No. Top one is late and that's the only one with the 2.7D. My old boss used to have one, it shat a gearbox (automatic) during the lease period, but it used to do 40mpg no bother.

[oldford]

which is the early and which is the late?  Did they do the same thing on the right hand drive one?

 

 

 

is the bottom one available with the V6 diesel engine?

The top one is the late one, the electronic parking brake gives it away.

[Junkman]

These are so gleefully kitsch and magnificient at the same time, like no other car of EVAH.

Deffo on my shopping list, especially in MKII 4.2 V8 flavour.

I guess checking for rot when buying a used car is not necessary where you are located?

[Partridge]

Hmm, these are actually starting to look OK now they're getting on a bit. The interior is still pants on the MK1s though.

I enjoyed reading it, so thanks for sharing

[NorfolkNWeigh]

 

 

Sorry,this thread reminded me I've got an S Type . 3.0 manual, my wife's favourite car ever. The clutch went at 220,000 miles I left it parked up for a couple of months then the heater valve broke and a coil pack caused a misfire which fucked one of the cats. It's in storage and I haven't seen it for a year, if anybody wants it,you can have it for nowt,just let me have 'er indoors' number plate off it when it's MOT'd. There's even a clutch and flywheel in the boot.

[Pillock]

...and they say there's no cheap cars around any more. Cats are probably megabucks but more than offset by free car.

[scruff]

Paging Mr Bollox...? 

[RichardMoss]

Rust is not too much of an issue - especially this far inland (80 miles or so from thenearest sea). The later dash is known as the horseshoe type and the early one half moon (or something like that). Knackered paint, rubber, plastic and leather are a problem due to the intense sunlight.

 

Heater valves and coils are weak spots wherever you live!

 

Parts are expensive - even independent specialists seem to think that Jags are only owned by oil sheiks - and the internet and couriers are lifesavers.

 

In all honesty, it's not a bad car but lacks the style and presence of an XJ40. I half half-toyed with the idea of flogging it and it should now be worth more than I paid. That said, it is shite and everyone needs some shite in their life

[AnthonyG]

Forgot just how horrible the early dashes were, like they were designed by same US team that screwed up the US market version of the mk1 Mondeo. I note the second generation one looks like a straight copy of the xk8's.

[RichardMoss]

The facelifted S-types are significantly better than the early cars because they sorted out a lot of the design faults that Ford allowed to slip through the net first time around.

[garethj]

I could suggest that Mrs_garethj swaps her S Type for a Vauxhall Insignia, but I don't fancy sleeping in the shed.

 

Perhaps it's just the difference between a new car and an old one (yeah, like 10 years is an old car).  It's that kind of thing that keeps most people buying new cars.

[brickwall]

These are strange machines. I baulked at them when they came out but over the years they have grown on me to the extent that I do believe it will make my bucket list. I would prefer one that looks really natty with tons of colour clash and chrome.

[RichardMoss]

I don't reckon I'll be keeping it much longer. The driving position is a crippler on long trips because there is no way to support my right leg and the 90mile each way trip to Dubai today left my right leg and hip in agony. Visibility is crap because of the low roofline, high seat and thick pillars. I love the power, handling and ride but the rest is annoying.

To be honest this car just isn't interesting or pleasant enough to keep my attention.  If it was pleasant to use on long trips I could accept it being uninteresting.  Similarly, if it was interesting to own and drive I could forgive a few flaws.  Sadly it really fails on both counts.