XF Rear Suspension

[J44EAG]

Here is a link to Racing Green Cars who market lower rear wishbone repair bushes.

Prices are £60 inc VAT for each bush which they now sell only in pairs. Sensible in my opinion.

http://www.thejaguarshop.com/Jaguar/spe ... %20109.htm

As regards fitting costs, before I got my bench press, I used to pay a local engineer chappie £40 to change two bushes. Now I have the kit, I can do it myself. (Big grin from ear to ear)!

If you have either a bench press or a universal bush removal/replace mandrel kit in your workshop, a wishbone can be re-lifed for just £120. If you have to pay someone to fit the bushes, rekon on around £160 or if you buy new, prices start from around £235 typically from Neville at North east Jaguar Spares. Nev sells genuine parts identical to those sold by the Jaguar network for nearly double the price.

Removal of a time expired wishbone from a car takes around half an hour. A similar time scale for re-fitment. Three large nuts and bolts to remove, plus the damper bottom bolt and the somewhat small, weedy, awkward and rusty vertical arb Z link. Clean of rust and grease threads on the Z-link before attempting to remove the nut. Replace links if gaiters are shot or if there are signs of looseness or wear. Use of a nut splitter is always an option if nuts prove suborn. 60-80k life generally with those links. £15 a pair on the front and £32 a pair for the larger rear units. Prices current as of July 2014 on ebay. Includes free post and packing. Must fit the pair I have here sometime before the winter and MOT arrive.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-REAR-STABIL ... 35c4b846cc


Mike

[WULLIE4567]

Thanks again Mike
No time today to get below car but I did get a quick look below front end to see what they have been up to and to my disgust they haven't refitted the huge plastic under tray which goes from the front bumper right back about 6 ft prob 2.5 ft wide, this means that all the pipes etc are all hanging down. This was the way Parks Jaguar gave me the car back knowing we are towing a large caravan to York hundreds of miles this Friday. These are the guy's that's trying to repair my car . Tomorrow after work I'll go see them & get the under tray fitted, think I will ask to speak to the manager. I will also make a list of the items you said to check see if it will help them prob not they are incompetent. I'll let you know how I get on etc.

Wullie.

[oldtimer]

Mike, Also have noticed an increase in broken springs in recent years!

[J44EAG]

Not seen or heard of any broken springs myself, Phil.

The ommision of the tray is certainly curious. One wonders what else has been missed...

If you want a job done properly, do it yourself!

Mike

[oldtimer]

Mike, You are so right.
Our Sales people used to say it is eight times harder to get a new customer that keep an existing one. God knows where they dredge these numbers up from! However I would be carefully formulating a very strong letter to the Franchised Dealer Principal with a Copy to the Sales Director Jaguar Cars. And enclose a couple of photo's.

[J44EAG]

Here I am again with results from my own work on my S-type today. Subjects covered are applicable to previous posts on this thread in regard to XF suspension issues.

Rear vertical arb to lower wishbone links. Although not particularly worn, noisy or having perished gaiters, I`ve found on a previous V6 S-type that these units were clapped at 60k miles. The current V8 is coming up to 90k miles so I replaced the links fering an MOT fail this coming December. true preventative maintenance in good weather rather than an MOT fail and repair in the open in Arctic conditions. When worn these links make a click clack sound.

So car jacked both sides at the rear, wheels off and quite simply four nuts to remove to rip out the old parts. New fitted and all is up to snuff again in that department.

This image is most revealing.

It shows to the left the damper bush which can become a rattle subject when worn, also the new vertical link joining the lower wishbone AND the rear tie bar end where it joins the rear vertical hub carrier. Reason for posting this pic? Take a close look at the tie bar gaiter. It is seriously perished and not found at the last MOT. Probably because I have 9.5j rims fitted which obscure a good view of the joint. These joints can also be a subject for wear especially when dirt gets past a split gaiter and begins to grind away joint internals. Maybe that is where the XF noises are coming from as described by the originator of this thread. I`d quite forgotten that this joint can also become noisy. Sorry about that.

Both outer parts of this tie rod need urgent replacement. Seen on ebay for about £16 each. Then I googled further and found both inner and outer tie rod parts sold as a complete item for £32 each including postage! It makes sense to replace the complete units both sides rather than to cobble together a 90k mile inner part with a new outer part. Here is the ebay link. Note that the unit shown here is for an early model S-type and not for an XF which will need correct part number matching against your Vin No and model to obtain the correct unit. I just show this here in order that an example of such a unit can be seen. Similar but possibly not identical units are fitted to the XF and X350 models.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-S-Type ... 5d4cb2945b

Also to be seen in this image is the lower wishbone joint to the hub carrier.

A small portion of one of the infamous "non replaceable" bushes is just visible. No. I didn`t lever mine around today but as the car mileage is increasing towards the time bush failure can occur, this matter will be investigated in the near future. I`m lucky in respect of lower wishbone arms as I have spare reconditioned units waiting in my parts store.
Hope this help show where and what these parts are.

Mike

[WULLIE4567]

Hi Guy's
Mike thanks again for your input first class, I went back to complain about the missing shield which they fitted I also told them they had moved something because the steering wheel was well out of line whilst driving straight, was fine when it went in, they also done wheel alignment. I'm going on holiday this Sunday for a week (York) with my touring caravan hopefully it will make the noise worse. The car has to go back in when I come back that will be interesting I will get a look at it myself when I come back check out bushing & arms.

Wullie.

[J44EAG]

Heck! What a shambles!! How to wreck a car in stages. Regret to say that these guys are clutching at straws without establishing hard points.

No Main Dealer should be sending out a car with such issues. The steering rack needs to be centred, then all further adjustments done once each and every ball joint and bush has been checked for integrity.

I have today gained a better insight into rear adjustable tie rods. More in due course on part numbers and replacement of items detailed in my last post.

Mike

[WULLIE4567]

Well the cars away back in to dealer on Tuesday, I asked to speak to the mechanic working on my car. I asked what he had done so far, he had tried replacing various parts with no joy including lower arm & drop links I asked if he had checked anti roll bar bushes & drop links he said when he disconnected bar the noise was gone, stating arb bushes were very dry?? greased them up still making noise, (Iv'e never grease arb bushes maybe a scoot with wd40,) that tells me something DUH! something to do with arb or where they mount on to chassis, he also suspects the steering rack OMG I've no chance.
He also dropped subframe and checked mounts etc. well I'll wait and see what he comes up with next.

Wullie

[J44EAG]

Visual checks of ARB wear are difficult. They flatten rather than wear. Cross hatch pattern is often still visible and looks unworn. Fit poly prop uprated bushes if you are faced with bush renewal.

Rack failure is rare. Test for lift at the rack ends within the gaiter areas. Test at all extensions of the rack to ensure the rack end rods cannot be lifted at the ends of the rack.

Also lever test front lower ball joints. The inverted ball joint on later S-types and XF models lasts longer than the early S-type units. Wear can occur at very early mileages. On the other hand mine are still intact at nearly 90k miles.. That said I replaced a front leg and ball joint when I replaced a wheel bearing as I didn`t want to call back a few thousand miles on because a tired joint had materialised. Ball joints on ebay can be had for around £13 onwards.

If the noise disappears when the roll bar is disconnected, then I would be replalcing click-clack Z links. Easy enough job. See above. If in doubt, swap`em out.

Keep at it.

Mike

[WULLIE4567]

Well it gets better the cars been in for two weeks now still have their courtesy car 14 plate XF 2.2 d, I went a bit mental today at the manager for the time it's taking, he explained they have had guy's on holiday off sick and so on ( I got the violin out ) they think they've located the noise using a chassis ear and recorded the noise, they have also contacted Jaguar they think it's the front subframe so Parks are waiting for conformation before fitting a new one at £800 quid, I'll find out what there doing in a couple of day's I doubt the car will ever be the same again, the enjoyment of getting my XF has been wiped out, I know it's not the car but pure incompetence .

Wullie.

[J44EAG]

This is something completely new to those of us who have been running the DEW 98 chassis format on S, X350 and XF cars for several years now.

I don`t think we have ever had or heard of any subframe issues to date.

Perhaps a long term view might help. Once fixed the magic can return. Rather a shame this problem has been so difficult to diagnose.

Please keep us informed on progress. It all adds to the knowledge pool.

Mike

[oldtimer]

Hi Mike,
I've just re - read this thread, talk about a scatter gun approach! It will be interesting to hear what the final solution is. Mind you if they keep making all those mistakes it will end up a new car.

By the way saw another broken spring today, This time a BMW

Regards
Oldtimer

[WULLIE4567]

Guy's
It will be interesting to say the least, I will keep you posted on the outcome if there is one & if they ever manage to fix it.

Wullie.

[raysearles]

This would make good sit-com material if it was not really funny. I hope you have kept a log - because it would be worth going to Jag direct with a reasoned letter to see what they think of their dealer's approach and its impact on their reputation - can't hurt to express your disappointment.