97 X300 4.0 Manual Sport- P889 NRW

[naki]

Hello all, as the name suggest i bought myself another new toy.
97 X300 4.0 Manual Sport, P889 NRW.
Antigua Blue, Oatmeal

As usual for a Manual its had a long hard life. I am still not sure what to do with it, as it might end up as parts, but its got some MOT left. I am sticking it through for a new ticket on Thursday, so will see whats what after that.
Its great fun to drive, handles great, plenty of power from the engine. The clutch is notably lighter than on my 40 manuals too.
But the usual raft of cosmetic issues, and a high idle to tackle.
I do like the 4.0 Manuals, but they are so hard to come by, really dont get the luxury of being picky about "condition", when you want a manual
The last one i saw RJ was selling last year, if anyone remembers that? But other than that, i dont remember see one around for years?
Its a Jaguar first owner car too, loads of service history, book stamped up 199,000 from 2 different Main dealers, and wait for it, currently sits at 245,000 miles

It needed a ruddy good clean, and many other cosmetics doing.
Unusually the seat bolster is not worn through, which is a result.
I fitted a new thermostat, fresh coolant, screwed down the broken cup holder, re fixed the passenger glovebox that was hanging down, found the radio on/ off knob under the seat, and fixed that back on, under bonnet liner secured, as had missing fixings, replaced the boot carpet set for a better one.
Cleaned up all sensors. Cleaned engine bay as it was filthy.

Pinned up the headliner for now.

High idle, no obvious air leaks, changed the stepper motor for a cleaned out one, Idle went to normal. Then next time i turned the engine on, the idle was back high again. I might try one more idel valve just incase this other one is stuck.
MAF swapped out. Replacement coil packs changed, Throttle body cleaned.


The ubiquitous P1621 fault code present, but no immobiliser issues noted







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[naki]

What is the consensus on sparks plugs? I tend to use NGK these days, but theres a few different part numbers listed for X300, included some the same as for AJ6 (BCPR6E).

this is whats in there currently



quite a gap on it

[jBlackwell]

Busy man!!

Looks good though.

James

[naki]

Long overdue wheel upgrade. starting to look like a half decent car (from a distance).



Compared to the shocking wheels that were on when i bought it!


i have a found a local paint shop who i might get to paint the bonnet and roof again, but the painter is away on holiday until early august.

i have a cleaned a spare Throttle position sensor ready to change too, to try and alleviate the high idle.

a few more small improvements like new top rad cradle bushes and cleaned up the scabby exhaust manifold cover. why did they stop doing chrome covers on x300? The 40 ones look much better IMO.

so its some kind of progress, but no mot yet and no road yet...

[Popsjag]

Looks like you've got quite a collection there, Naki!

[YoungX300]

naki, if you don't mind my asking, what is the quote you have been given for repainting the roof and bonnet? I need my roof and boot repainted, so an idea from you would be great

[ptjs1]

naki,

Is this one not a keeper for you as noticed that you hadn't updated your membership record with this car? Tut, Tut!

It must have been a busy month for Jaguar Staff registrations back in 1997! As you probably know we also have members with P760NRW (Rob - XJR Manual), P880 NRW (Daimler Double Six) & P809 NRW (XJR Auto)!

Cheers

Paul

[naki]

naki, if you don't mind my asking, what is the quote you have been given for repainting the roof and bonnet? I need my roof and boot repainted, so an idea from you would be great

They quoted me £150 all in. I am aware this is very cheap for this job, considering the size of the area to paint.
so am slightly skeptical about how good it will look.
I will remove all the screen rubbers, and replace them myself, to save them messing it up with bad masking though, and also the grill then masking the bonnet and roof should be straight forward and hiding the mask line under the screen rubber is the way to go.
They are no dents to fill or anything like that, but i do understand the quality of the paint finish is down to the prep work, to a large extent. so will see. i have never actually had any of my cars painted to date, though they nearly all need it! So it will be an experiment!
I was toying with the idea of buying the kit and painting them myself, but i doubt i will ever get around to it, considering how many other jobs need doing that are more accessible.

Yes i was aware of RJ's P760NRW. and talked to him after buying P889. Though i didn't know about the other NRW's. Though its not surprising there are other similar regs. Do we know who has them, on here?
I think that could make a interesting feature in the JE mag? to get them all together?

Looks like you've got quite a collection there, Naki!

yep, thats about half of them! Others inside the barn there, and two more to bring down from my parents house. we moved afew months ago for "more space", so i can fill it with more of my old junk.

I bought so many cars this past year, i haven't updated much and my signature strip is full! Thanks for the prod though. i will try and get that updated soon.

[ptjs1]

Naki,

Hi, Yes the owners of the other "NRW's" are known, although naturally it wouldn't be correct to publish those details on the BB. As you say, it could make for an interesting magazine article along with the "JVC" Jaguar registered cars. As Forum Co-Ordinator, you would normally have administrator rights relating to the membership vehicle details and also administrator rights over the XJ Forum pages and the XJ40 section of the Bulletin Board. If you contact Mike H, I'm sure he can sort it for you.

Cheers

Paul

[YoungX300]

Cheers naki, thats great! Do let us know how it goes if you go ahead with it

[naki]

I will yes. As/ when/ if i can get it MOT'd again.
The main plan is the try a few track days with this one, as the 40 XJR manual is too precious to track day.

i vaguely remember something about admin rights, but that was at a meeting a year+ ago. so yes, i will ask Mike H

yes, i think i will purse a feataure on NRW/ FVC cars, and what they mean. will be a good one for the nerds amongst us, sorry connoisseurs.
email sent to the best man to write it.....

[naki]

Also, some pictures from March this year. Only just getting round to posting them!

I took the chance to have a good look underneath when it was on the MOT ramp.
The usual mixed results, though certainly not the worst i have seen!

sill to floor on passenger side opened up though. so that will be done if i can get the running issue sorted first.



replacement aftermarket cats


more replacement exhaust parts




carbon canister


fuel lines good though!


not too bad?


mysterious long oil leak


manual box output







rear ARB. I wish 40s had this. really does work well.

[naki]

slow progress as ever with this project car, as ever, but i have saved it from the scrap for now. so will see who much more it has to offer?
i thought i had done a recent update, but apparently not?


better than this!



i got the idle speed down from around 1300rpm to around 900 rpm. though i have not run it to temperature or any italian tune up, but i am hoping it will drop from back to a more normal 750rpm with some use.
I am pleased to have some progress though. more optimistic its got a better chance at the next mot, as the emissions were the main concern at the last MOT fail.
cleaned up TPS sensor swapped in seem to do the trick. now i have heard that these need "setting up" after replacement.

old one off


new one on.


had a little nose around the air pump hoses, to check they were clean.
curious valve thing or is it to release oil or moisture? who knows?




all looked clean inside


anyone ever tired to undo this EGR valve in place? BIG spanner needed, and no room to swing a cat. big pliers failed too! i wanted to make sure that was clean. quite likely gunked up at 250K!
gave up as too many things would need removing to allow access.




almost entirely aftermarket exhaust system on it. Poor quality exhaust finishers rusting. cleaned them up for now, but was going to swap on original tips, but why do people weld them on! Makes it much more difficult to reuse them. i know they are available new, so might have to go that route! As i had to cut them off to remove from some scrap back boxes.

tried to clean up the exhaust manifold cover. why did they discontinue the chrome covers!
i guess its going to need HT paint. at least the crustiness has gone for now.


Still the lingering ABS light. Any thoughts? Start inspecting the sensors?

[PeterDavisX300]

Naki

I'm a bit of a newbie on here right enough, but not without about 40 years of mechanical experience on all-sorts of cars, cutting my teeth on old Triumph Pi's. Your ABS problem is probably down to the electrical unit attached to the pump, it might come up with a 'dreaded' 1095 problem which is to do with a dried-up soldering joint. I only know this because I have a few 'older' cars, one of which is a Ford Scorpio Ultima, (not to be confused with a Granada Scorpio) that uses the same ABS unit. This unit isn't rubber-mounted on the Scorpio, and fails regularly because of vibration. The repair is easy enough, but you need to know a bit about soldering, and brave and able enough to cut a hole in the plastic-casing of the control-unit. If you're interested, I'll try and put up a link to the Scorpio site that shows all. The biggest job is removing the electrical unit from the bottom of the pump, on the Scorpio it's mounted above so the brakes can stay intact.

Peter

[naki]

Naki

I'm a bit of a newbie on here right enough, but not without about 40 years of mechanical experience on all-sorts of cars, cutting my teeth on old Triumph Pi's. Your ABS problem is probably down to the electrical unit attached to the pump, it might come up with a 'dreaded' 1095 problem which is to do with a dried-up soldering joint. I only know this because I have a few 'older' cars, one of which is a Ford Scorpio Ultima, (not to be confused with a Granada Scorpio) that uses the same ABS unit. This unit isn't rubber-mounted on the Scorpio, and fails regularly because of vibration. The repair is easy enough, but you need to know a bit about soldering, and brave and able enough to cut a hole in the plastic-casing of the control-unit. If you're interested, I'll try and put up a link to the Scorpio site that shows all. The biggest job is removing the electrical unit from the bottom of the pump, on the Scorpio it's mounted above so the brakes can stay intact.

Peter

Hi Peter. I still have the car. I am planning to chip away at it bit by bit.
I did read your reply two years ago, but never got around to replying.

I do agree, theres a fair chance the the Pump ECU is failing and dry soldering joints seems to be running theme for Jaguar electronics of this era.
I have done loads of soldering on XJ40, but none on X300 yet.