Raising a 1995 Xj6 vanden plas with a rolling floor jack?

Is it ok to lift the front of the car placing a floor jack under the front cross member? Needing to check out and maybe replace the starter which works most of the time but not always. tapping sharply on it with a fence post gets it to work.

I jack up mine using the wishbone inner area and use jack stands, I take up one side at a time, being carful when lowering the car onto the stands.

Thank you Robin, is the wishbone inner area what I am calling a cross member, its the steel cross piece that connects to the suspension both sides, has extrusions. hard to see the car is so low . i was going to center the jack and lift both sides together. Its a mechanical floor jack, ratchet style from the era of Model T Ford. quite powerful and not prone to failure like the hydraulic versions of today. Been on the farm for decades.

LOL @ fence post “technique” … usually it’s with the handle end of a hammer or some such … :smiley_cat:

I have always had a related question about the back end of the X-308s (suspension) … Is it O.K. to raise the rear end under the rear cross members with a floor jack? I know on the XJSes it’s a no no when lifting back there to put the jack under the center of the member (pan?) that runs under the rear differential, b/c lifting the weight of the car on same can result in damage to those part(s). :no_entry: :grimacing: Therefore, we have to improvise with 3 pieces of lumber nailed together in such a configuration that it forms a “U” around that part (and therefore no contact), shifting the contact points to either side of same instead. :+1: Is it necessary to do the same thing with the X-308s, or do they not have the same type of suspension configuration as the XJS model? :confused: IIRC, only the XJS model “floats” independently back there (ala that of the Chevy Corvette) … whereas the X-300s and X-308s have a more traditional rear suspension set up. :thinking:

Well, you may find it needs to be “low profile” in design, in order have sufficient room to slide under there … I know I have to use one on the front suspension of my XJSes … :thinking:

No its the area where the inner bushes for the lower arms are located, so side by side as I mentioned, the only way I would lift from the centre would be with an intermediate piece of stout timber between the head of the jack and the cross member to spread the load.
And Paul, yes I routinely jack up the rear of my cars with the IRS by the centre plate, its location points are much closer together.

understood, plain “English” LOL, colonials here… I have oak in various sizes to spread the load, would need that anyway because the jack as you surmised is only about a 5" flat cup with ears… I put it on 8" ramps this AM, not near high enough to remove starter. that doesn’t look like much fun either. no corrosion, orginal starter almost for certain. with 110,000 miles of short haul starts its probably the brushes…

The x300 workshop manual says to jack under the front or rear crossmembers or alternatively under the spring pans if lifting the front side by side.

Thanks Harold and all. I bought a workshop manual on CD but was never able to install it correctly. My PC skills near to nothing. usually, i do not attempt repairs without factory manual. What does it say about removing the starter :slight_smile:

Just to update, Im comfortable with raising the car now after studying the design and reviewing information given from others. I had the car on 8" steel ramps, not enough to remove the starter, while looking around I did clean the ground connection to body. The car has no corrosion issues bottom side, ground was probably ok. I checked both the starter relay fuses , no corrosion there. Battery passed a load test , no apparent reason for starter to be acting up other than age. appears to be factory original equipment. Having purchased a Bosch remanufactured starter my plan is to leave it on the shelf till starter acts up again, at that time I will replace it , save it and give it a good look inside to see if it was the problem. If not I will be stuck and post it.:slight_smile: The car spends the winter in a heated garage, the annual layover possibly a factor here?

You have heated garage in (Vero Beach) FL ??? :confused:

If OEM starter, it is a Japanese make :japan: … Nippon, IIRC … ? :confused:

LOL, The XJ6 lives in Illinois on the farm, when I go to Vero Beach before it snows the Jaguar is put away, Battery on solar with all the tractor batteries. I have had good luck wiring groups of fully charged 12-volt bats connected to 3 solar chargers. As long as they are all good they stay up. Put one bad one in and they all go down. I have an E Jaguar in Vero under reconstruction for winter fun.
As far as I know OEM is Bosch for the starters in 1995 XJ6, Lucas in the 67 E

Oh, that’s right … I was thinking X-308 … IIRC, the starter on Scrapper, my earlier '96 X-300, was in fact made by Bosch. :blush: