[modern] Momentary hard sterring

Hello Jaguar lovers

This is about the 1991 Vanden Plas that I bought on behalf of my
friend/stockbroker who picked it up Monday.

He called me this morning and said the car drove great but there was still
some “music” from the center of the rear end (no big deal, I figure it is the
output bearings, fairly easy fix). He ran the car up to 120 MPH on an
isolated road with the car asking for more, no vibration, evidently running
like it should.
However, this morning as he turned out to go to the office he said that the
power steering seemed to be absent for a brief while. The self leveling
suspension had already been changed. The PO had left the pump, various
lines and so forth and we removed them. Could we have gotten some sludge or
something unleashed which would cause an intermittent problem
or is there another viable suspect? He had no problem after about one more
corner with the car, a mystery to me. I have owned XJ40’s for several years
and have never had this happen except with low HSMO levels, he reported no
“growl” and I checked the fluid level when he picked up the car and it was as
it should be.
I checked the somewhat limited service information that I have at my
disposal, found nothing.
The belts are all new, I did dress up the engine bay after it was cleaned
with a sealer that I have used many times and I’ve never experienced any belt
slip after an application.

Anyone having an idea please please post.

David Nichols

I have exactly the same steering ‘feature’ on my '91 XJ40. Seems to be
caused by a worn steering rack rather than a specific hydraulic problem.
It’s not getting any worse with time, so I’m ignoring it until the rest of
the rack merits replacement.

Cheers - Jez>-----Original Message-----

From: Egan8@aol.com [mailto:Egan8@aol.com]
Sent: 15 December 1999 09:57
To: modern@jag-lovers.org
Subject: [modern] Momentary hard sterring

Hello Jaguar lovers

This is about the 1991 Vanden Plas that I bought on behalf of my
friend/stockbroker who picked it up Monday.

He called me this morning and said the car drove great but there was still
some “music” from the center of the rear end (no big deal, I
figure it is the
output bearings, fairly easy fix). He ran the car up to 120 MPH on an
isolated road with the car asking for more, no vibration,
evidently running
like it should.
However, this morning as he turned out to go to the office he said
that the
power steering seemed to be absent for a brief while. The self leveling
suspension had already been changed. The PO had left the pump, various
lines and so forth and we removed them. Could we have gotten some
sludge or
something unleashed which would cause an intermittent problem
or is there another viable suspect? He had no problem after about one more
corner with the car, a mystery to me. I have owned XJ40’s for
several years
and have never had this happen except with low HSMO levels, he reported no
“growl” and I checked the fluid level when he picked up the car
and it was as
it should be.
I checked the somewhat limited service information that I have at my
disposal, found nothing.
The belts are all new, I did dress up the engine bay after it was cleaned
with a sealer that I have used many times and I’ve never
experienced any belt
slip after an application.

Anyone having an idea please please post.

David Nichols