Handsome bastard, fighting me all the way...

[lesapandre]

16 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Bloody hell... I'm watching Bangers And Cash, where they've just sunk £30k into a 1.6 Capri.  Maybe I got off lightly!

Looking online this generation of Jaguar 🐆 seem to be increasing in value?

I'd keep it - try and anticipate the problems (air suspension etc) - and get some parts in in advance where they can be found inexpensively. Better than in emergencys.

But overall it is the last of the 'proper' 3-box William Lyons inspired cars.

[SiC]

Have you driven it anywhere decent yet Eddy?

[Matty]

22 minutes ago, SiC said:

Have you driven it anywhere decent yet Eddy?

Hard not to find a good road up there Si 😀

[SiC]

I kinda meant decent as in not from the end of the street where the garage is to back home.

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, lesapandre said:

Looking online this generation of Jaguar 🐆 seem to be increasing in value?

I'd keep it - try and anticipate the problems (air suspension etc) - and get some parts in in advance where they can be found inexpensively. Better than in emergencys.

But overall it is the last of the 'proper' 3-box William Lyons inspired cars.

I don't wanna be negative but an X350 Jag has at least another decade before anything increases in value. And then it'll be super low mileage Super V8s and XJRs. Banking on this being a financially sensible investment long-term would be a big mistake.

[SiC]

I think they should be well and truly at the bottom of their depreciation curve though, so hopefully getting your money back would be straightforward. Albeit, like Cornwall, Barrow-in-furness is an arse to get to for most of the population. 

[eddyramrod]

4 hours ago, SiC said:

Have you driven it anywhere decent yet Eddy?

 

4 hours ago, Matty said:

Hard not to find a good road up there Si 😀

 

4 hours ago, SiC said:

I kinda meant decent as in not from the end of the street where the garage is to back home.

Heh... no.  I brought it home, a trip I can walk in sixty seconds.  Then last night I had a meeting to go to, so I took the Jag, and it behaved, although it was slower to pump up the suspension than it ever was before.  This morning, when I particularly wanted it for an occasion in town, I went outside a bit early, started the engine, and waited for the system to pump up.  And waited.  And waited.  And wai- well you get the idea.  Ten minutes and still "Vehicle Too Low" and "Air Suspension Fault."  So I took the Suzuki.

Tomorrow I'm going to Lancaster for another day out with my sister.  I would have liked to take the Jag but was already thinking better of it because of the wheel alignment.  Now it's absolutely not going and I'll be in the Suzuki again.  This is 13 weeks since our last day out together, which is when the front strut called it a day at Chester Services.

What have I done to upset this car?  It's clearly retaliating at me for something, but I don't know what.  Is it just because most of what I ask it to do is short-distance crawling-around-town jobs?   Is it clamouring for more motorway and I haven't been listening?  Does it not like standard unleaded?  Can someone who speaks fluent Jag interpret for me?

 

@Matty: those "decent roads" are surprisingly sparse!  If you can find one, it's at least half an hour away, full of cyclists, tourists or tractors, and very likely littered with roadworks.

[DirtyDaily]

I'd check the connection for the new strut as a start. If it's doing something it didn't before it's probably something that's been interfered with in the interim.

[eddyramrod]

That was my thought, but under the bonnet is a daytrip to Hogwarts on this thing.  I've been round and told Tom, he said bring it round on Monday morning.  TBF he was on the brink of closing for the weekend so that was the best I was going to get today.

I'm going to have my planned day out tomorrow, ignore the thing on Sunday, and on Monday drive it the few yards it has to go whether or not it pumps up.

[eddyramrod]

Oh and for those weighing up the car's open-market value: at the moment I don't care.

[SiC]

I don't know about the X350 but I thought all air suspension cars would hold their pressure and height for a few days/week or so without a full pump up? If so then must be a quite a bad leak somewhere?

[DirtyDaily]

I don't know about the X350 but I thought all air suspension cars would hold their pressure and height for a few days/week or so without a full pump up? If so then must be a quite a bad leak somewhere?

This is correct. To not pump up at all would suggest a break in the system. The system has been apart so it would have been low but the pump fail slowly so if it was providing pressure before and not triggering the code then I'd be very surprised if it's given up now.

[lesapandre]

17 hours ago, Schaefft said:

I don't wanna be negative but an X350 Jag has at least another decade before anything increases in value. And then it'll be super low mileage Super V8s and XJRs. Banking on this being a financially sensible investment long-term would be a big mistake.

They seem to be £2000+ on EBay with anything decent at 5k. You right it is the V8 and possibly the diesels that will get expensive.

But these were the last of the glamorous 'gin and tonic' Jags that begun with the MK2. They are quite an achievement with that aluminium body and Ford poured their hearts into it - hugely disappointing sales for them tho.

Give it another few years of hyper-legislated-blando-cars and anything with old  style will be desirable IMHO.  It is a beautiful thing - worth cuddling.

[loserone]

2 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

It is a beautiful thing

Absolutely agree, I think it's the nicest car you've ever had @eddyramrod

[eddyramrod]

38 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

They seem to be £2000+ on EBay with anything decent at 5k. You right it is the V8 and possibly the diesels that will get expensive.

But these were the last of the glamorous 'gin and tonic' Jags that begun with the MK2. They are quite an achievement with that aluminium body and Ford poured their hearts into it - hugely disappointing sales for them tho.

Give it another few years of hyper-legislated-blando-cars and anything with old  style will be desirable IMHO.  It is a beautiful thing - worth cuddling.

Well yes.  Look at the Jags that came after it.  They're all trying to be Audis, which is a dizzying drop of Jaguar's aim.  Audi should be trying to make Jaguars.

I don't think it needs "another few years;"  I think we're there already and have been for several years.

Also, can I steal your phrase there!  Worth cuddling?  Me and the car, both!

Unfortunately this one rejects my advances and slaps me in the face, repeatedly.  I'm not that much of a masochist.

[lesapandre]

Be great to meet you sometime Eddy. Keep on keeping on with it - it will get sorted.

Your Cadillac provided me with so much fun to read about.

I'm currently in France with Cedric...

[eddyramrod]

11 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Be great to meet you sometime Eddy. 

Any time you're in the vicinity!    And thank you for the kind words.

Also, what a lovely Nissan, I well remember these but I've never had one, never even sat in one.

[Matty]

12 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Unfortunately this one rejects my advances and slaps me in the face, repeatedly.  I'm not that much of a masochist.

Keep masochising (is that even a word?). Stick it in the back street, accept you've made progress and have a break and build some finances back up. Cars are your passion bud. Don't reckon you're ready to throw the towel in just yet.

[eddyramrod]

I took Handsome round to see Tom this morning.  Tom disconnected the supply pipe to the OSF strut and refitted it, with PTFE tape on the threads. Seems to have worked; I've been using it.  Let's see how it behaves tomorrow.

[SiC]

PTFE - Plumbers Tape Fixes Everything 

[DirtyDaily]

I took Handsome round to see Tom this morning.  Tom disconnected the supply pipe to the OSF strut and refitted it, with PTFE tape on the threads. Seems to have worked; I've been using it.  Let's see how it behaves tomorrow.

As I thought. Handsome is rocking again!

[tooSavvy]

@eddyramrod.. "those "decent roads" are surprisingly sparse!  If you can find one, it's at least half an hour away, full of cyclists, tourists or tractors, and very likely littered with roadworks".

As WVM I used to 'do' Barrow every so often 🙄. Newcastle/Penrith/M6/and across.

If I was feeling chilled/time spare = Carlisle then Workington and down, could properly wind it up down the coast [*tractors allowing 😉]

...... It is a Long, LONG way....

👍

[eddyramrod]

It's going in tomorrow for the tracking, and a good thing too because it isn't right yet.  It's got a new trick now.  If I leave it for a few minutes, then start up, the mileage appears on the dash.  So naturally I go to drive away in the belief that it's ready.  It lets me get a few yards - just enough to get far enough out of a parking space that I'm obstructing traffic - then replaces the mileage with "Vehicle Too Low."  So I have to stop and wait until it pumps up enough for the message to disappear.  Grrrrrr.

[danthecapriman]

Bloody thing! 
What happens if you ignore it and drive off regardless? Would it pump itself up as you drive or argue back at you!?

[eddyramrod]

I don't know, I haven't been brave enough to do that!

[DirtyDaily]

I had it where I had the same on my old one. It would say vehicle too low shortly after setting off but pump up.
I would still think the new strut is the suspect... I'd want it looking at though with diag that can view the live data in the air suspension module

[bezzabsa]

colder weather affecting the seals on the pump possibly???? cold will make them more rigid (keep it down at the back) and not allow proper suck blow ops

[goosey]

Shouldn’t need any ptfe tape on the strut as I’m sure the air pipe is a push fit fitting with a rubber o ring, 

be careful driving it around with an air leak as you will ware out the compressor 

[DirtyDaily]

Shouldn’t need any ptfe tape on the strut as I’m sure the air pipe is a push fit fitting with a rubber o ring, 
be careful driving it around with an air leak as you will ware out the compressor 

It's a brass threaded fitting

[goosey]

4 minutes ago, DirtyDaily said:

It's a brass threaded fitting

the o ring is what seals it