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Hi there

My name is Alan and I have just joined JEC following my purchase 2 weeks ago of my first ever Jaguar. Found an SE v6 S-Type in mint condition with full Jaguar service history, 9 years old and only 62.5K on the clock. So happy!!

My Father has owned a few Daimlers and Jaguars in his past with his first purchase aged 50...I got mine at 49! (it's a personal one-upmanship joke between us!)

The car is in the vehicle register with a few photos for anyone interested. Looking forward to joining in any club drives/days etc. (Just need to "educate" the girlfriend into not calling it "kitty" in public lol).

No issues with the car other than the Michelin tyres a previous owner fitted due to them being employed by said company and receiving free tyres! Wheels are currently 16" however, I will be at some point changing to 18" Alloys.

I have also noticed that the wiper arm on the driver's side, keeps knocking the bonnet on it's downward stroke causing a bit of a clunk every time they are on. Annoying but no damage being done. Not sure if they have been fitted correctly, looks like there is a longer blade on the passenger side and a shorter version on driver's. I note Halfords don't carry blades for the 03 S Type but in my case, I think it is the actual arms that I will need to replace so if anyone can help with recommending a parts dealer in or near Gloucestershire, I would be grateful.

Taking the car to visit my parents who live in France, in July so really looking forward to a decent tour in her over 2 weeks. Currently getting 32.6 mpg with mix of motorway and country roads. (Although my first tank went "slightly" faster as I just had to "play" with her lol)

Well, that's all from me for now. Hopefully meet up with some fellow S Type owners soon.

All the best

AlanC

Hi Alan,

Welcome aboard, you didn't waste much time getting on line and posting pictures in the vehicle register. Car looks to be in superb condition especially inside. I took my car over to France last July and am doing so again this July, its a superb car for eating up the miles and getting out the other end feeling good. Enjoy the car and your club membership

All the best
Chris

Welcome, Alan. You appear to have a nice car.

Wiper blades. Take a look on eBay. Go for Champions or Bosch. The blades seem to be of better quality than the budget brands. If you lift the wiper spindle cap on each blade arm, a 13mm spanner will slacken the arm on the spindle and you can then lift the arm and reposition without any fuss. A five minute job.

Bristol Region meet near Thornbury on the first Tuesday of the month. Details on page 108 of the May 2012 edition of our magazine. Chairman, Dave Hills contact details therein. They have a good calendar of events to attend.

You will find the larger rim diameters give a ride that is much improved. The 16" rims and 55% tyres do not seem well phased with the spring damper combination and the suspension is somewhat harsh and noisy as a result. Lower profile tyres are better suited to the suspension design. again, eBay is the place to look for good second hand rims but bear in mind that a set of decent tyres such as Pirrelli, Michelin, Continental or Dunlop could cost between £130-£180 a piece unless you can find a bargain on eBay.

A couple of pointers as a new owner may help you. You have a lowish mileage car and I`d strongly suggest you should now attend to a couple of items in order to keep your car in tip top condition. Firstly gearbox oil changing is not on the Jaguar service schedule. Oil does wear out and you are at a mileage where your oil will beginning to become tired. This is not DIY ob so would again suggest that you drop down to see Simon Park at Bristol Transmissions at Fishponds in Bristol and have the gearbox oil changed as soon as possible. £300 or so spent now could save you £2000 in the long run. When oil breaks down it wrecks gearbox components which disintegrate and end up in the gearbox sump. When that happens, it becomes a rebuild job. Definitely a stitch in time saves nine. If you wish to know more about this issue, go to the gearbox sections of X308, XK8 and S-type Forums where this debate has rattled on for years!

Secondly, open the bonnet and turn the front serpentine drive belt 90 degrees. If you see cracks across the belt, you should change the belt as soon as possible. They are not expensive, are easy to fit and will save a boiled up engine if they were to break. These belts do get overlooked.

Thirdly drop all your windows down into the door and lightly smear white grease or Vaseline on the window channel rubbers. This will stop the glass sticking in the rubbers and avoid window winder cable breakage caused by the rubber grabbing the glass and placing undue strain on the cables in the winder mechanism. Also do not slam the rear doors with the window glass down. Doing so will break a plastic link in the winder mechanism which entails a whole new lift unit to be fitted as a repair.

So just a few hints here to get you started.

Enjoy your car and stay in touch with us here on this Bulletin Board. Any problems, just post and we will all try to help.

Hope you can get to Weston Park for the show this year. Come and have a chat to us on the Forums stand if you can make it.

Mike K

Hi Chris and Mike and many thanks for your comments and the hints. These are most welcomed as I will be using the car for work visits to client sites so will most likely do around 10,000 business miles a year. (One of main ways I am able to afford to run it, is work lol - 45p per mile on expenses!)

I was wondering about the gearbox oil and have already put that into next month's budget, will get the belt checked at same time.

As soon as this "drought" weather stops lol, I will endeavour to sort out the wipers.

Wheels and tyres will need to wait till after France though as I don't see them as high priority.

I'm finding the car is a real head turner which both surprises and secretly delights me! Although I am somewhat in the "honeymoon" period of a new (to me) car, I have to say, I am totally over the moon with her and how she drives. I love the styling with her retro looks and yes Chris, I know what you mean about getting out after a trip, feeling better than when you got in!

Can't wait for 1st July and our French adventure starting with the cruise over to Caen followed by either (can't make our minds up which route to take yet!) a trip via Tours to the Bordeaux region, then up to Limoges and onto the Auvergne Region to visit my Parents or, follow the Loire valley towards Burgundy, down to Beaujolais then across to Avergne. The route back is easy but afraid I can't post about it here as there is a surprise for the girlfriend and as she might read the BB too, can't risk her finding out early!

I will definitely check out the Bristol Branch of the club as soon as I can however, I unfortunately won't be able to make the show at Weston Park.

many thanks for the welcome chaps.

AlanC

Makes me want my S Type back.....

Andy,

I might have one for sale soon. Goes like stink but needs a few bits nailed back on. Every Doctor should have one!

Mike

Don't tempt me, can't fit the cars we already have on the drive!

Just out of interest, I plumbed my V8 4.0 with 77k miles as a standard car onto one of those quick buy online sites and subject to inspection the figure was £1250. I suspect that upon inspection, the offer would have been around £900.

Remember that a car of that age has no value to a Main Dealer. It just gets fired onto a transporter and off to the banger auctions.

The trade in value will always be a much lower figure that a private sale price. One can`t expect a good price for a trade in.

Mike

Hi Alan
Just a quick tip on the removal of your wiper arms, A few days before you do the job undo the 13 mm nuts and apply some penatrating oil down the spindles. Tighten up the nuts and when you come to do the the job the arms should come off (with a little rocking motion) quite easily.

Jeff.

Hi Jeff

Thanks for your tip. I have actually sorted the issue on my recent 1700 mile return trip to my parents who live in France. (Great driving holiday!)

Using my Father's workshop, we removed the noisy offending arm and carefully "manipulated" it in the vice! (Wiper arm....not my Father's!!! )

Obviously we took great care in case it was cast and therefore, liable to snap. A couple of manipulations and it went straight back on with appropriate clearance so it didn't slap the bonnet on it's downward stroke, which was the original fault.

I do however, still seem to have a squeak so thinking I may need to add a bit more oil/grease to the spindle bolt. It isn't heard with the window up and isn't occurring all the time so hasn't really bothered me.

The trip was excellent and the car was a dream to drive. We had a little competition en route, to spot the most number and nationalities of other Jags we saw whilst across the channel. We had a points system with any German number plated Jag and any foreign S Type carrying most points.

Saw about a dozen S Types with only 1 of them being European (French and seen in same village where my parents live!). There were a number of X Types and a few XJ's plus 3 XKR's. I lost and my excuse was that as I was driving, my partner had the "spotting" advantage!!!

Our car was a real head turner with the French who not only stared but a few approached us to ask questions as to what I was driving!

I have had a few "large" cars in my past including a Grand Cherokee Overland which was extremely comfortable and I thought hard to beat for touring, however I have to say, the S Type excelled itself and went way beyond my expectations for comfortable yet exciting touring! Definitely, the best I have experienced to date!

OH and we averaged 53mph for the trip overall (including a lot of local and elevation driving) and still managed to obtain an average of 34.5mpg!!

Best bit - My partner who had a phobia of driving on all motorways...taking the first stint in appalling weather from Cheltenham to Reading! So pleased for her, although I had to take over as we had to catch the ferry! She went on to drive a 100 mile stretch South of Paris on the Autoroute and I even fell asleep, leaving her to it!! (Did get woken with a start though, when I heard the shout "why does that idiot behind have his blue lights flashing"???....but that's another story!

Alan

A good time had by all then, Alan!

I think I would like this post as copy for our Forum pages in the magazine. I`d suggest the copy as a start point with added embellishments and even more details of your trip, preferably in Word 97-2003 .doc format would be good.

Perhaps you could have a think about that and make contact with me at mike.kennedy@jec.org.uk. in due course. A collection of pictures, each of around 700kb+ would be good also but please add to any email as separate attachments rather than embody in the Word script.

If you need any help with copy or ideas, please let me know.

Nice write up, Alan. Thanks.

Mike

Hello Mike

Rather flattered you liked the write up! Many thanks.

I will sort through our photos, add some more details and be in touch at the weekend.

Alan

Thanks, Alan.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Mike