It’s taken the best part of a year to find it, but I’m very pleased to say that I bought a new XJ-S yesterday.
I had been looking for a low mileage 3.6 manual and after searching nationwide, and considering driving 100s of miles for the right car, it actually turned up less than 10 miles from my house. It’s a funny world. I nearly gave up on the XJ-S and bought a cheap XKR in London, but that was a moment of madness and thankfully an HPI check showed all was not as it seemed…!
The new car has only 31,000 miles on the odometer and is a 1-owner car, having belonged to a local company director, who, it seems didn’t do a lot of mileage, using it infrequently but steadily for business meetings. It needs a fair bit of bodywork to bring it up to ‘tidy’ condition but I feel it’s money worth spending as I’ve not seen another one for sale with such a good history and mileage. Call me sad, but I’m also pretty pleased that it was sold by Marshalls of Cambridge (my local dealership) and has the correct dealer number plates and other bits and bobs, such as a period XJ-S and Series 3 XJ car brochure, car stickers and key fobs. I will be returning its original registration mark (and original number plates) to the car in due course as I don’t much like the Northern Irish plate it has now.
It’s been standing for a few months and the MoT is due in March but I’m not in any rush to drive it until the weather improves, and I’ve had the opportunity to address the areas that need attention.
I’ve not checked the date codes as I’m picking it up next week, but it’s entirely possible that it is standing on some very old Pirelli P600s (it doesn’t look like the spare has ever been out of the boot) and it’ll also need a full service so there are a few things to do.
My plan is to keep it original and as pristine as possible, but as well as a bit of bodywork repair, it will need a gentle suspension overhaul as although much or the original finish remains on all the components, it’s beginning to corrode slightly and the bushes look like they could do with being replaced.
Congrats. Looks like you found a nice one! Took me about a year too.
Does the straight six use a yellow fan similar to V12? Looks like it, these are known to explode one day at high rpm due to cracks. Pretty cheap and easy to replace with the newer black fan. Change clutch fan while at it.
Hi Greg - cheers for the reply It was a tense search with a few dead ends, missed opportunities and regretful moments where I phoned the seller about half an hour too late… In the end I needn’t have worried!
Yes, I believe the fan is the same as the V12 and I did know of that issue - thanks for reminding me. I’ll add it to the list of things I need to do to the car.
Please - if anyone else has recommendations for preventative maintenance do let me know.
Yeah, very nice color too! I was holding out for British Racing Green, but it is SO hard to get all your ducks in a row. I finally found the perfect car I was looking for, in Dorchester Grey.
1 Like
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
6
It has Teves III ABS. Some of us consider that a problem. My recommendation would be to plan to retrofit the pre-ABS braking system as soon as that thing causes any trouble, if not before.
I’m curious what sort of EFI system the car has. The early 3.6 had an 8CU ECU, but Jaguar had switched to a different EFI system by the time the XJ40 was introduced. If you have the XJ40 system, you might want to join the XJ40 forum as well, as they’ll be more knowledgeable about that EFI than we will here. If you have the 8CU, you might consider shipping that ECU off to AJ6 Engineering pronto while Roger Bywater is still in business to get that ECU modified with an idle mixture correction for a worn engine. Don’t wait until the engine is worn.
@gregma - it’s funny how the colour is important. I originally wanted a black one as that’s my favourite XJS colour, because all the rubber and plastic parts are then body-coloured, but it became obvious that I was going to have to be flexible. I had options on a gold one but it was a premium price and I decided I just couldn’t live with the colour. I like the metallic blue and when I saw it in person it was really beautiful so it worked out OK. A Jag Racing Green one would have been perfect as well!
@Kirbert - I’ll do a bit of reading about the Teves III system - at least you have your answer to the question in the other thread!! I’ve seen this system in cars as early as late 1987. I hope it hasn’t got a reputation for unpredictable and complete brake failure… Thanks for the tip with the ECU as well. I will check that when I pick the car up next week.
@j_limongelli Thank you I totally agree. so underrated. I would only really want a pre-facelift car, unless a really exceptional later body-style one turned up.
These don’t wear, when I stripped my 2.9 XJ40 at some huge kilometers there was still the cross hatch in the bores. The bearings were about done though.
I’ve just had a read of an historic Jag Lovers thread about testing the Teves III ABS system to see what condition the accumulator is in, and with a recommendation to change it every 10 years. I checked the paperwork for my car and I don’t see a receipt for a new accumulator. Could it really be the original one from 1989? I’ll add one of those to my list of replacement items.
On a separate note, I saw that the car has been back to the garage 5 times since 2011 for checks of the ignition module and ECU connections, and it’s had four crank sensors in its lifetime, too. Looks like I could have a bit of a battle on my hands there - I guess it’s "failed to proceed’ each time and then spontaneously started running again under testing. Something to bear in mind.
There really isn’t a whole lot of other work that’s been done to it in that time except the routine services and inspections when it was really young.
When I was running an AJ16, replacing the crank position sensor was a twice a year job. I kept a new one and the required socket and ratchet in the trunk. I had the whole process down to about five minutes. The car did 200,000 miles before it was simply too ugly to keep driving. Clear coat was completely gone, seats worn through, but aside from that damn CPS it was great.
Interesting comparison, the only time I had to replace a CPS was when the shield wire frayed and gave me an intermittent stall, it immediately started when I turned the key.
VERY nice, and congrats, Moonr … I can’t imagine one in better condition What MY is it, btw? Always gives me a strange feeling to look at the European market models - with their pre-facelift rear-ends and interiors, and yet post-face-lift AJ6 engines, headlights, and wheels. It’s sort of a “hybrid”, as though the Jag gods decided to pick and choose certain (fav.) features from both models to come up with a third version.
The only thing, other than the yellow fan as Gregmatic mentioned, and this is purely cosmetic - is to search around either for less-faded veneer pieces for the interior (or pony up for new pieces) to really make the interior look almost-new. There are also some great veneer (faux) “stick on” custom kits on Ebay for around $150 or so for the XJS. Curious as to the fading, as I would think in the U.K. there would not be nearly as much as we suffer from here in the U.S., esp. w. coupes, due to the hot summer sun.
Which, as I have found out from Superblack (and a black XJ-S I briefly had before her), black seems to be the worst color to suffer from “de-clearcoating”, presumably b/c it holds in the sun’s heat the most.
Not my cup of tea, but your new car looks great. My 92 V-12 needs the brakes fixed, as it has the Teeves 3 system that currently does not work. Not a bad old car, and starts right up and purrs. Clear coat peel (red) is apparent, but I may not try for a respray. This is my first XJS and may be my last, but a friend got it in trade and had no use for it. I bought it for what a cheap set of tires would cost, so I am not out a lot of money. It deserves a fair shake, and once the warmth returns, I will make an honest try at the brakes. Good luck on yours, and would just love to have the manual transmission on mine.
It was a tense search with a few dead ends, missed opportunities and regretful moments where I phoned the seller about half an hour too late… In the end I needn’t have worried!
What MY is it, btw? Always gives me a strange feeling to look at the European market models - with their pre-facelift rear-ends and interiors, and yet post-face-lift AJ6 engines, headlights, and wheels. It’s sort of a “hybrid”, as though the Jag gods decided to pick and choose certain (fav.) features from both models to come up with a third version. 
for new pieces) to really make the interior look almost-new. There are also some great veneer (faux) “stick on” custom kits on Ebay for around $150 or so for the XJS. Curious as to the fading, as I would think in the U.K. there would not be nearly as much as we suffer from here in the U.S., esp. w. coupes, due to the hot summer sun. 
