I have descended into madness.
This is a 1992 Jaguar Sovereign, which is a high trim distinct model of the XJ40 platform. It is powered by a Jag AJ6 4.0L inline 6 gas engine, with a ZF automatic transmission (I believe 4HP24), and is rear wheel drive. It has 51,768km showing on the odometer, and has been sitting in storage which recently kicked the car out, causing its sale. The mileage is very believable and I'd be rather surprised if it's been winter driven.
I have long liked the XJ cars, of all generations from all iterations of the Jaguar brand under all of its various parent companies. I believe this is a Ford-era car in terms of when it was built, but it was engineered well before that. I have long said I'd like to drive one sometime. This turned up on Facebook Marketplace for a little too much money to be a frivolous buy, but not unreasonable if it turned out to be a clean car, so I went to check it out.
I neglected to take any underbody photos but it is in excellent condition. I haggled a bit, found the seller to be pretty firm at $2500, and I agreed the car was worth it so here we are, the second most expensive car I've bought yet. This stings only because the car does not presently run - the ad included a video showing it running (and smoothly), but the seller confessed that after several showings, the fuel level ran low and the car stopped running. Adding fuel from a gas can did not revive it. So, I took a small gamble that it may be something worse than a fuel pump but hopefully is only that. Also, the ignition lock cylinder is seized and presently removed, but the keys received with the car do operate all of the other locks so I'm hopeful that I can un-seize the ignition cylinder.
I did buy the car a battery. It takes a group 47, which doesn't seem to exist anymore, but the seemingly identical H5 does, so it got one of those from Costco. I also brought it a bigger gas can full of its required premium gas, but unfortunately the starting issue does persist. The very first time I tried, it did start and idle quite roughly, then died. I do suspect a fuel issue and at no point do I hear a pump run, though it's not clear to me if I should be able to hear it. I located the fuel pump relay, found the wiring into it is a little green but not severely, swapped the relay for another, and had no change.
The plan for this is similar to the Acclaim, but with decidedly less commitment I think, since that went insanely off the rails very quickly. I'd like to get this running, drive it a bit, and evaluate from there. I am not removing its engine. I am not removing its transmission. I'm sticking to reasonable things with this one - fluid changes, perhaps a couple gaskets and seals but no serious surgery, maybe some wheel-end stuff as required, but then just drive it. If I fall in love, then commit to going insane with it, but if I don't, sell it for whatever I have into it by that point, and move on.
This is a 1992 Jaguar Sovereign, which is a high trim distinct model of the XJ40 platform. It is powered by a Jag AJ6 4.0L inline 6 gas engine, with a ZF automatic transmission (I believe 4HP24), and is rear wheel drive. It has 51,768km showing on the odometer, and has been sitting in storage which recently kicked the car out, causing its sale. The mileage is very believable and I'd be rather surprised if it's been winter driven.
I have long liked the XJ cars, of all generations from all iterations of the Jaguar brand under all of its various parent companies. I believe this is a Ford-era car in terms of when it was built, but it was engineered well before that. I have long said I'd like to drive one sometime. This turned up on Facebook Marketplace for a little too much money to be a frivolous buy, but not unreasonable if it turned out to be a clean car, so I went to check it out.
I neglected to take any underbody photos but it is in excellent condition. I haggled a bit, found the seller to be pretty firm at $2500, and I agreed the car was worth it so here we are, the second most expensive car I've bought yet. This stings only because the car does not presently run - the ad included a video showing it running (and smoothly), but the seller confessed that after several showings, the fuel level ran low and the car stopped running. Adding fuel from a gas can did not revive it. So, I took a small gamble that it may be something worse than a fuel pump but hopefully is only that. Also, the ignition lock cylinder is seized and presently removed, but the keys received with the car do operate all of the other locks so I'm hopeful that I can un-seize the ignition cylinder.
I did buy the car a battery. It takes a group 47, which doesn't seem to exist anymore, but the seemingly identical H5 does, so it got one of those from Costco. I also brought it a bigger gas can full of its required premium gas, but unfortunately the starting issue does persist. The very first time I tried, it did start and idle quite roughly, then died. I do suspect a fuel issue and at no point do I hear a pump run, though it's not clear to me if I should be able to hear it. I located the fuel pump relay, found the wiring into it is a little green but not severely, swapped the relay for another, and had no change.
The plan for this is similar to the Acclaim, but with decidedly less commitment I think, since that went insanely off the rails very quickly. I'd like to get this running, drive it a bit, and evaluate from there. I am not removing its engine. I am not removing its transmission. I'm sticking to reasonable things with this one - fluid changes, perhaps a couple gaskets and seals but no serious surgery, maybe some wheel-end stuff as required, but then just drive it. If I fall in love, then commit to going insane with it, but if I don't, sell it for whatever I have into it by that point, and move on.
