Why do Jaguars leak?

[silverrat]

Ive seen a large number of Jaguars of different years at our shop. The only one that wasn't leaking was a 2009 XF with 6000kms on it. I saw a 2003 X Type with 54,000kms with heavy engine leaks. What is it about these cars? Are the maintenance intensive and people dont keep up with it or are they poorly designed? This goes for old Jags and through the Ford era Jags. They look really nice for the most part.

 

[calvinnnnnnnnn]

bad pvc design
high oil pressure
lots of possibilities...

 

[Papa Bear]

Jaguar is an English marque, all English machinery leaks oil.

 

[mechtech2]

Right.
Made in England.
We've all heard stories about salesmen in British car or motorcycle dealerships that wore shoes with soft soles to wipe up the oil drips on the showroom floor, so customers would not be alarmed.
Rolls Royce and Bentley used a pan under the car with vents.
IT would catch all the fluids. But on the highway at speed, it was designed to vent it out from air flow.

Their electronics were referred to as 'Father of Darkness', also.

 

[VK56VD]

Oil change intervals in these cars are stretched out and many don't even bother with synthetic in these extended OCI's. Over time the seals become brittle and leak.

 

[CourierDriver]

they use to make great aircraft engines,,well those were the days,,,,,,,,in the 60s the MGB's were popular and had tons of problems, but we loved them anyway, go figure. Jags were always a pain, but I like them, never had the money to buy them in the 60's and they were only 4400 or 5500 i think.

 

[cchase]

I always wonder this too. Seems that just about any older Jag you see is spewing blue smoke on the highway or from a stop.

 

[simple_gifts]

IT joke:The don't make computers in GB because they haven't figured out how to make them leak oil yet.

 

[Zedhed]

Jags are made by Ford and they are MUCH better made than they used to be. The problem with old Jags was the electrical systems, oil leaks were the least of their problems.

You can always add more oil, but try driving down a dark country lane at night and all of a sudden -- no lights -- nothing.

Lucas Electrics, Prince of Darkness.

 

[simple_gifts]

I think Jaguar was sold to India's Tata Motors.

 

[Jonny Z]

Yes, everyone come check out our new Tatas.

 

[Scienceman]

There were. I guess ford saw no profit in them. But, how often do you see a Jaguar around?

 

[Art_Vandelay]

Years ago Car and Driver (or Road and Track) joked about Jaguar reliability. "We drove an XJS from New York to Los Angeles in record time and the engine only caught fire twice." Something like that. Of course fit and finish were always top notch. I didn't know the newer ones still had issues.

How Ford didn't use Jaguar, to reinvent Lincoln, as a world class line of automobiles, was one of the greatest automotive blunders of the last forty years.

 

[bdcardinal]

We see a ton of Jags here, but thats because this is the land of fruits and nuts. The Jags under Ford's reign were better, but still had issues, no problems, just issues. All i can say is the lower ball joints on S-Types/LS/Thunderbird is the lamest design i have ever seen.

 

[tom slick]

Those old jags are just marking their territory.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: Zedhed
Jags are made by Ford and they are MUCH better made than they used to be. The problem with old Jags was the electrical systems, oil leaks were the least of their problems.

You can always add more oil, but try driving down a dark country lane at night and all of a sudden -- no lights -- nothing.

Lucas Electrics, Prince of Darkness.


The term that a true Jag owner responded when confronted with these types of comments would be "well, it's new". It took you a while to work the bugs out.

It was almost like someone did the coachwork and farmed out the rest of the assembly to the lowest bidder to get it to the customer.

Leaks were due to crude machining. Modern sealers would have been great in the 60's through the 70's

 

[VNTS]

Paass the Grey Poupon please .

My neighbor has 2 Jags err 1 Jag now. One was an 04 wagon and the other an 05 Convertible. He spent 1400$ on the wagon fixing a leakey transmission and 800$ on convertible on an electrical problem.

he has an GMC envoy so he smiles and says at least on of my cars will run LOL The wagon went by by ,since he really didnt need it and now knows what a pleasure it is owning a Euro trash import as he says, never again.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Jaguar is an English marque, all English machinery leaks oil.


Ain't that the truth...

(I've got two English turbines, and 2 Japanese. Guess which ones I don't have to worry about additive depletion/oxidation ?)

 

[silverrat]

So the consensus is "because it's English"? Crude machining? Bad design? Maintenance?

 

[Win]

I've had four, and still have two, and would like to add an E type and maybe a new XF. Mine do not leak or consume detectable amounts of oil.

The first Xj40's (late 80's) had a hydraulic suspension system that was somewhat ahead of its time, and ran high pressure hydraulic lines to the back of the car. Most owners eventually gave up (as did Jaguar) and recommended retrofitting the cars to a conventional suspension. The modern C.A.T.S. hydraulic suspension does not leak.

The Xj40 also used a true hydraulic brake system with a hydraulic accumulator to ensure full stopping power even in the event of failure of the hydraulic pump. Every hydraulic system had its own pump and lines, of course.

If one wanted to leak, there were more potential leak points than on comparable higher end cars. And British rubber seemed to be really crummy. Our '04 was the first to have decent rubber.

Ford cheapened the cars in many respects. They got rid of the aircraft style hydraulic brake system and replaced it with an ordinary vacuum system. They cheaped the interiors - no more Wilton wool carpet and headliners, inlaid wood, Connolly Hides or Bridge of Weir leather. On the other hand, the aircraft style bonded aluminum construction started under Ford and remains the state of the art for automobile construction.

Many higher end cars are damaged by mechanics that are unfamiliar with the cars and their various systems. There is a lot of truth to the adage that if you want to indulge yourself with higher end European cars you need to be a good wrench on your cars, have deep pockets, or, best of all, both.