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N118MFV the red Jaaag XJ6 3.2 Sport


Eddie Honda

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Jaaag went into the garage last Friday morning to deal with the rear end rattle. Was still in bits at teatime when I got and update. Bolts seized and on order so delayed until Tuesday. Got a call Tuesday lunchtime and ready for collection. Total, £507.36. Sent Jeeves down to get the car and the rear rattle is no more. I might have a waft later...

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Great stuff on getting work done and MOT passed. I don't quite get what they are charging you for on the parts front. The bushings for the rear shocks are cheap (£15 each I believe). I understand it's a difficult job, but what is the "spheri joint" at £145? When I glanced at the price I thought oh they have gone and changed the rear subframe bushes, which is much harder. I had that done on my red XJR, but even that came to just under £300 with parts. For that job you have to drop part of the rear sub-frame, so it's fairly tough. I wouldn't call the labour rate "very good", more in keeping with specialist rates I think. Medium good perhaps. It's the parts cost I genuinely cannot get my head around.

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On 8/22/2019 at 9:38 PM, Broadsword said:

Great stuff on getting work done and MOT passed. I don't quite get what they are charging you for on the parts front. The bushings for the rear shocks are cheap (£15 each I believe). I understand it's a difficult job, but what is the "spheri joint" at £145? When I glanced at the price I thought oh they have gone and changed the rear subframe bushes, which is much harder. I had that done on my red XJR, but even that came to just under £300 with parts. For that job you have to drop part of the rear sub-frame, so it's fairly tough. I wouldn't call the labour rate "very good", more in keeping with specialist rates I think. Medium good perhaps. It's the parts cost I genuinely cannot get my head around.

Parts as per bill part number. I gather from that they are something like Lemforder and not complete no-name parts. On that basis and delivered it would be fairer to put the price of a pair at £56, which granted will still leave you confused with the price mark-up. Me too, but I'm not losing sleep over it. (Last time I used a garage for repairs was 1991).

As I've no idea about rates in this case -£65 (£78 with VAT) - I've only commented on the time of 2 hours per side.

(The last time I paid labour was at a Kawasaki main dealer in 1996 and that was £32 (£37.60 inc.))

I did briefly consider having a go, but the price of a return ferry to bring the tools to, let alone finding somewhere to work on it and potential for overruns quickly knocked it on the head.

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23 minutes ago, Eddie Honda said:

Parts as per bill part number. I gather from that they are something like Lemforder and not complete no-name parts. On that basis and delivered it would be fairer to put the price of a pair at £56, which granted will still leave you confused with the price mark-up. Me too, but I'm not losing sleep over it. (Last time I used a garage for repairs was 1991).

As I've no idea about rates in this case -£65 (£78 with VAT) - I've only commented on the time of 2 hours per side.

(The last time I paid labour was at a Kawasaki main dealer in 1996 and that was £32 (£37.60 inc.))

I did briefly consider having a go, but the price of a return ferry to bring the tools to, let alone finding somewhere to work on it and potential for overruns quickly knocked it on the head.

I guess at the end of the day it makes sense, I stand corrected. The specialist needs to make its markup somewhere and they are doing it on the parts. At least what parts went on there are good quality so there won’t be a need to rush back there again doing the same job.  When I got rear subframe bushes done on my XJR (another major reason for rear and knocking) it was a similar situation with the seized bolts etc. My local mechanic showed  me just how hard it was to undo some of the bolts under there at which point I too realised there was no way this could be done DIY, so yeah it would end up at at a mechanic anyway with the shock absorbers. In my case the seized bolts and bits and bobs added hours to the labour costs but I bought the parts which kept the cost down somewhat.

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2 minutes ago, The_Equalizer said:

It is a Jag you are running. What was this new in real terms? £45k probably. Lovely cars need a few Bob spent on then now and again. I am busting to own a X308.

If you haven’t had a 90s XJ yet I would recommend staring with an X300, then graduating to the X308. Starting with the simpler car is an easier way in to the whole XJ thing. Engines and gearboxes are pretty much unbreakable on a reasonably well maintained X300. Things are slightly more complicated with the V8s, but the 4.0 V8 in particular is very nice. The X308 XJR is exceedingly fast and it’s lure is rather strong I must I admit.

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I'm grateful on the input on hourly labour rates as I honestly don't have a clue. I did ask if it might need doing anything else while he was in there and I was told no.

I'm not too bothered about it at the minute as I went into ownership with my eyes open and was prepared to roll with the bills - it's like owning a football club!

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11 minutes ago, Broadsword said:

If you haven’t had a 90s XJ yet I would recommend staring with an X300, then graduating to the X308. Starting with the simpler car is an easier way in to the whole XJ thing. Engines and gearboxes are pretty much unbreakable on a reasonably well maintained X300. Things are slightly more complicated with the V8s, but the 4.0 V8 in particular is very nice. The X308 XJR is exceedingly fast and it’s lure is rather strong I must I admit.

Cheers for the tips. I have my eye on a 4-litre X308 with 43k miles. It is up for £3750 which isn't too strong provided it has been looked after. Would love a XJR, but decent mileage ones - including Jap imports- are £7k plus. I have seen XKRs cheaper now. I have run Mercs of a similar period so (fingers crossed) should be okay. 

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The issue with the x308 is their propensity to shit their gearbox's. This is mainly due to lack of maintainence. You really need to change the box oil regularly. 

My 3.2 sport had its box oil changed by the main stealer in Surrey at every main service at £400 a go from new and even that's no guarantee of longevity!

The issue is that the 3.2/4.0 box doesn't have a dipstick so you can't check the oil for either level or condition. By the time a problem rears its head it's too late and needs a rebuild. 2nd hand boxes are very much "you pays your money and takes you chance". They also need filling at a certain temperature range as well.

The x308 xjr box is a different kettle of fish as it's from mercedes (Jag boxes couldnt cope with the torque) and have a dipstick. 

Having had a 3.2 sport in both x300 and x308 flavours, I my opinion I would say that the x308 was a nicer car to drive but felt A LOT more fragile than the x300.

Both rot equally as badly in the front legs and front floor pans. 

Having said that I would have either again in a heartbeat.

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