"Superblack" Has Arrived

XJ-S
1

Finally after all this time, the transport arrived today with my black/black '92 5.3 coupe (93K miles). :joy:

The good points are her engine purrs quiet and smooth as a V-12 cat should. No signs of dents or rust on the body, although it looks like someone tried sanding down her horizontal surfaces, possibly to re-spray the clear coat, which had been peeling, at least on the boot lid deck area. A $1,600.00 top of the line MAACO job and she should look good as new. :high_brightness: Trans shifts smooth (although kind of rough going into reverse - maybe needs fluid/filter change?). All the gauges read good and correct levels. The interior upholstery is in very good shape, with the seats looking like new. Same for the wood trim.

The bads: she was almost out of power steering fluid, but that was a known issue in that one of the hoses is bad. Will have my tech bud crawl under her this weekend and find out which of the two hoses that is. Also saw where the turn signals are not working (known issue, too) but I found a new flasher still in the package in the glove box that I guess the seller was going to install but didnā€™t get to it. Also known issue is the clip that holds the glove box door closed is broken. The seller told me he put the parts to fix it in the glove box, but I didnā€™t find them there. :disappointed: For some reason the seller did not put the driverā€™s door panel back on after resolving the door release issue that arose after the sale, but good thing he didnā€™t as the driverā€™s window is not going up/down. Iā€™ll check the fuse, relay and switch and hopefully that is the issue, and not the motor itself (they are usually pretty ā€œbulletproofā€). One thing that the seller did not tell me about (wondered what that was the area of the car NOT photographed) is the loose headliner has been pinned up, which is typical for old Jags. Also, for some reason the dome light was removed and is laying inside the glove box, with the bare wires hanging out of the opening. :angry: Also, apparently the seat belt buzzer does not shut off so long as the car is running (seat belt not fastened). Since Iā€™m not a big seat belt fan (:blush:) is there any way to disconnect that circuit? For some reason the seller also had the passenger side knee bolster panel removed from the dash and was found laying in the backseat. :confused: Hopefully there are no broken brackets or some such with that. :grimacing: Boot looks O.K., although the spare wheel cover needs a good cleaning (any suggestions?) ā€¦ Although the battery started the car O.K. (Sears Die Hard 3-Year Gold), it looked pretty rough, so I took it o a local auto shop and they tested it. Good thing, as it tested ā€œbadā€. I will take it to Sears this weekend to see what they think, and maybe there is a pro-rated warranty on it (although Iā€™m not the purchaser ā€¦ ?). Looks like the boot and hood struts are shot, so will replace those soon.

Overall, not bad for under $2K ā€¦ and with less than another $2K or so to put into her, she should look and run very nice. :smile:

btw, the seller did not provide a fob for the car ā€¦ Did Jag not have remote key fobs for the '92 MY XJ-S yet? :confused:

2

I simply removed buzzer for seat belt.

Rough shift into Reverse, if it clunks, you could have same issue I had, bad trans mount.

Great deal for $2000! I would replace all fuel lines and do a full ignition tune up, hopefully thatā€™s all you need to do, besides the P/S hoses.

3

Thanks, Greg ā€¦ Supposedly the guy he bought it from the year before (the one who bought it from the original owner for 20+ years) did a full tune up on it (which might be why it runs so nicely). I havenā€™t examined the dist. system closely yet (waiting for the new hood struts - lol!) but it doesnā€™t look like he went with Magnecore wires (unless they come in black and not just red ?).

4

love thy car like it lives for you!
ron

5

standard OEM wires are black and 7mm. Magnecore wires for our cars are blue and 8mm.

IMO the only difference is the Magnecore wires will last longer.

6

Unfortunately, to many owners and many mechs, that just means new spark plugs, cap and rotor. It does not mean the spark plugs were properly gapped or that the distributor shaft was modified or that silicone was applied to the rotor.

7

I would include in a tune up, testing and possibly replacing the GM Module in the ignition amp (Do 92s have that?)

8

No, they donā€™t. This is a Marelli car.

1 Like
9

What about CTS and Crankshaft sensor as a preventative measure?

I see so many Marelli cars here have issues with crankshaft sensor.
And CTS is so important and cheap to buy.

10

This is likely incorrect. The issue is most likely the connector, not the sensor.

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Congrats! Iā€™m slowly assessing my recent acquisition too. There are always plenty of little things that will need resolution. I too, need to remove that annoying buzzer and I just replaced the hood struts. I decided to go with the ā€œmodified Honda Accordā€ version as noted in the ā€œbookā€. I ended up having to lengthen the mounting holes much more than I expected but the end result is very nice.
Check out the added headroom:
hood-struts