1995 Jaguar Vanden Plas 4.0 from North America

Summary:

Beautiful, elegant car that time will tell on reliability

Faults:

Transmission fluid leak from a break in the elbow from the dip stick to the pan.

General Comments:

This is not so much a review as it is comments seeking to help you Jag owners who may not know some things. I bought this car in beautiful blue and great interior thinking I had a great car. When I test drove it, I did so all inside city limits and didn't take it out on the highway. So, on the way home, 70 miles away, I get about 50 of those miles in and the car began to jerk, and I could not accelerate. I pulled over and attempted to rev it, and it wouldn't even do that. I had noticed earlier in the trip it wouldn't go into passing gear and I figured it just to be a kick down switch, no big deal. So, I begin the hunt for what is wrong, replacing a crank sensor, cleaning all sensors, doing a fuel induction, new fuel filter, Cataclean and nothing worked! In fact, the car got so bad that it wouldn't even go past 5mph at one point. Took it to a shop, and they wanted $1800 to put on a catalytic converter. I replaced the coils and plugs as I saw some had done that. The reason I didn't go with doing a converter is, 1.) The cost; 2.) I have never known cats to be bad and keep you a 5mph one day, then the next day you can do 80 with no problem.

So, here's the rub; All my symptoms that appeared to be fuel/ignition related were completely due to a TRANSMISSION LEAK! The computer is very sensitive to the fluid level, that it was throwing it into LIMP MODE. I would turn the car off, turn it back on, and I could roll again. I had my indie mechanic come out to check my computer and fix the trans leak. He soldered the leak and put as much fluid as he could in it. It was still about a quart low, so when I drove it, same symptoms as before. I filled it with fluid, and have been driving in style and harmony since.

My fellow JAG OWNERS, if you have the following symptoms, please check your trans fluid level: Car speed reduced, jerking, sputtering, backfiring (yes, backfiring! The computer cuts the fuel but you're still applying gas...), car suddenly cutting off while at 60, 70mph, long time shifting gears. These WERE the symptoms, believe it or not, and all cured with proper transmission level. Hope this has helped.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 7th September, 2017

28th Sep 2017, 13:59

Original poster here. Well, my face is red as I am ashamed of leaping in this advice to Jag owners, and now have come to realize I was wrong! After the transmission leak was repaired, the car drove almost without flaw UNTIL it didn't. Turns out, it WAS FUEL related all along. The fuel pump was not getting any current and must have allowed intermittent fuel that allowed me to still operate the vehicle. Well, well over a thousand dollars later, and I'll finally be driving, I think.

28th Sep 2017, 20:46

Thanks for the update. It's owner experiences like these which are very valuable to readers, the hard-to-diagnose problems.