Regular readers will know that I have succumbed to purchasing yet another project, this time a 2010 Jaguar XF 3.0diesel Portfolio - an ebay purchase that I couldn't get to see in the flesh before bidding. Truly a recipe for unmitigated disaster, a ridiculous thing to do but it was very cheap and the seller seemed like a decent bloke. Yesterday was the first chance I got to have a really good look at it, run diagnostics an see exactly what needed doing. The list is long so please bear with me.
1. Cam belt, it's not broken but I just do not know how old it is. The service schedules seem to have been adhered to and it should have been changed 40k miles back but I have no proof so have to have a new one - this is going to be the biggest expense by far.
2. BMS battery management fault - the battery was new but I could not get it to charge properly even with my trusty old smart charger, bought a brand new one with 4 year warranty just under 100 quid with my Halfords discount card. Sadly the fault is still there, I suspect my alternator has a blown diode or something. The system works by detecting current in the earth lead of the battery, a signal goes to the ecu, which tells the alternator what current to charge at, it's not putting out enough. A common problem here is that the module takes a positive feed straight from the battery, there is a fusible link in the wire, if that burns out you get the same symptoms but mine checks out ok. This is a bummer as alternators for these are really expensive.
3. TPMS tyre pressure monitor system showing an error, ran diagnostics and it's only finding 3 of the 4 sensors. I did a reset, the diag box suggests this will now sort itself after I have driven for a minimum of 15 minutes. I know one wheel had a replacement sensor, it may be that it's faulty and it may sort itself out.
4. A/C vents were not closing - they are automatic on this car they open when the car is running and ac is on and then close when you switch off. They were set to not close in the set up, changing the config saw all 4 working as they should.
5. Passenger side window is not opening, the motor tries to drop the window but the mechanism is seized - need a new one at a cost of about 80 quid. That can wait a while as the ac works so the window does not need to be opened very often.
6. Brake pad wear warning even though the brake pads have plenty of life left - this went away after the battery was replaced. There are only 2 sensors on the car, I thought 2 were missing but that's the way Jaguar did it.
7. Rear camera not working - this is really common, it's to do with the cable that goes from the boot lid to the car, every time the boot is opened or closed it flexes the cable and wires break. The camera cable is a coaxial wire with FAKRA connectors at each end - the sort a lot of manufacturers now use for aerial connection. New cables can be had if you can find one, I am going to have a go at repairing mine.
8. Fuel low erroneous warning - this was annoying, I had cleared most faults and then the car started reporting that the fuel tank was empty when it had nearly half a tank in it. This is another common XF problem, it's to do with a connector in the tank that connects the sender to the fuel pump loom. I need to take the back seat out to get at the tank an repair it, it's not a big deal.
That's the bad news out of the way, the good news is that I am already a good way in to fixing things, the car runs and drives perfectly and looking underneath it is in incredibly good condition. It looks to have been extremely well looked after, which makes the missing cam belt change all the more odd. I can't understand why anybody would lavish so much care on a car yet miss out on such a crucial thing, whose failure would trash the engine. Very odd, might try and find if I can trace the previous owner and ask the question.
anyway, back at it today, will do the fuel sender and maybe the rear view camera fix, depending on how time goes.
Sorry no pictures, phone went dead and I needed to get on.
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