my 92 XJS 12. has developed a fluter in the front end. Had complete alignment and wheel balancing- did not help. feels like coming from drivers side. very bothersome! what are all of the possibilities for the problem? many thanks. Jim
Expliain “flutter” more: at what speeds/conditions?
a bounce in the left front wheel area. at all speeds- a little worse at higher speeds
This sounds like this may be a bad shock. Have someone drive along side of you while you are driving at speed and see if the tire/wheel is bouncing around up and down. I see this on other cars occasionally on the road and wonder why they don’t feel the tire/wheel bouncing around.
Regards,
Paul M. Novak
1990 Series III V12 Vanden Plas
1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible
1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1969 E-Type FHC
1957 MK VIII Saloon
Ramona, CA USA
many thanks!!! come to my house- I have an 87 Coupe also
Besides checking the shocks, check the trueness (look out Websters I just made up a word!) of the tire and wheel, depending on mileage and maintenance; warn balljoints and a good drunk on will also cause the shakes.
Since I only buy clapped out Jags, (except the 88 XJS and the '02 XJR these I bought in like new condition and still are), and repair as I get them. I keep a stock of all suspension bits. Bushes, upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, bearings, and spindles. These are often worn out items by the time I get the car. Inner tie rods I fix myself, by making replacement shims; providing the nut isn’t completely warn out.
Ball joints (if you don’t know already)
If you’re keeping the care OE stock, the bottom balljoints can be a bit fiddly to repair. rockauto.com sometimes has the shim and socket repair kits cheap. otherwise moss motors, david manners, SNG Barrat, Terry’s Jag and the like have the rebuild kits as well as replacement balljoints. If OE isn’t your bag, and you just wanna get the car back on the road, then later (xj40 / xj6) lower ball joint - one piece unit bolt in and forget it.
Another top tip
If the OE ball joint is still installed. don’t freak out when it comes apart in pieces. It’s supposed to. here’s a couple handy tricks.
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Use a press out ball joint remover ($20.00 at Harbored Fraught), replace the nyloc nut on the top with a non nyloc nut (BEFORE) the taper fit is broken, Press the ball joint out of the taper. the nut is important cause you’ll want to keep it on there so to keep the ball joint tool from slipping off, and at least scaring the crap out of you. The non-nyloc is so you can get the nut off after you break the taper. I learned this the hard way. broke the taper then couldn’t get the nut off.
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another handy trick to get the ball cup out of the vertical upright, take the ball from the lower ball joint that you just removed, thread it through the bottom hole that was once occupied by the ball joint, pointy bit down, and give it a wack with a hammer. The ring and ball will pop right out.
This took me a couple days, a couple packs of smokes and liquid libations, and a whole lot of arse scratching, to figure out.
Anyway, if the above items are in good shape, then look into the transmission mount and/or carrier bearing (between the two drive line segments. My green XJ6 had the same issue, replaced all of the bushes, ball joints, wheel bearings and spindles. the problem didn’t go away. checked the roundness of the tires and (wire) wheels everything checked out fine. I thought the shake was coming from up front, but it was a broken rear transmission mount which I’m thinking caused the floppy carrier bearing mount. Well, that and the constant oil bath from the leaking D plugs…
Anyway, something to look at with a pack of smokes, and your favorite libation.
Cheers!
Mark
you are so kind with all of this info!!! I will keep in touch