Yesterday I drove my lovely Mk9, with its T-700 transmission, for 350 miles. Have done this trip a few times before. A few observations: temp was constant at about 82deg, but when I stopped on 3 occasions the temp gauge climbed beyond the 100 mark and parked at the 100 OP mark. After a few minutes, shen I took off again, the needle went back to 82. Once at home, with engine cool, I checked the coolant level. Had not diminished and remained a bit over the core of tge rad.
As I get out of tge car, there is a very noticeable squeak from the rear left spring.
By the way, what is the correct height at the rear, either ground to chassis or, close enough, ground to ottom of the spat, as on the picture.
OP was at 50 all the time Nd oil consumption about 1/4 of the area between the marks on the stick.
Fuel consumption about 12L per 100km, due to not passing 3000 which is 75 mph with the T-700 box. Window down and elbow out for the most part. Seating nearly as high as on all the SUVs😅
Hi, Peder Nice car. I had one back in the 70,s
I expect that what you are seeing is perfectly normal.
The water temperature in the head and therefore the sender unit rises when the engine is turned off
and the water pump is not circulating. The hot water rises to the top of the head and rad
and because the gauge is a capillary tube( I think) it registers even when the engine is turned off
Hope this helps
Brian
Would it be 8-1/2", the same as a Mark VII?
Thanks. Sounds vety complicated. Perhaps just measuring the distance between ground and bottom of the chassis, is close enough!? And hopefully see those 21,6 cm
The squeaking rear left spring can perhaps be sorted by spraying a suitable oil or grease berween the blades.
Yes, that seems unnecessarily complex, very Jaguar-isk. On the BMC 1100/1300 cars the measurement, which varies slightly between brands of cars, is done from the center of the hub cap to the underside of the wheel well. Very simple, no climbing under the car needed.
If someone has a Mk7-9 and could measure the distance between ground and spat, as on the picture, I would be most grateful.
Peder
On my Mk9 it’s 17.5inches on one side and 17.25 on the other.i suppose the tyre profile might influence things a bit. The distance from ground to hubcap centerline is 13.5.
I replaced the springs about 8 years ago as I thought it looked a bit low, but that made hardly any difference. A fellow Mk9 owner said his is about the same.
The springs have the proper number of leaves and were made to the original spec.
Thanks, mine is a bit lower, at 12,75”
And the squeaking left spring also sits the car 1/4” lower on the left side. 6 blades non tapered (was it only the earlier cars, Mk7 and XK120 that had those beautifully tapered blades!?).
I have read that blade springs can be retempered by someone who knows what he is doing. I’ll ask around what is available new as well.
And to cure the squeaks…?
Nothing complicated if you just want to check it.
Here is my “test pieces”, 4 stacks of wood.
If it is off, the springs can be re-arched by a trailer shop.
BTW the first “Checking” paragraph with taking the wheels off was about checking the front, but I thought you were only interested in knowing the measurement, which is the same.
For squeaks, certainly squirt some oil on the spring leaves and see if it does any good.
In the old days there were tools for separating the leaves enough to shoot some grease in there, when this was a common practice at fuel stations and auto repair shops.
I had the rear springs on the 1967 Mark 2 replaced 15 months ago. Shortly thereafter, left rear spring squeaked when I parked and exited the car. I crawled under the car and gave both springs a light spray of lithium grease. All has been quiet ever since.