I am a Jaguar lover and I have two, one of them being an XJS. In my hometown of Barcelona, we are lucky to have an independent mechanic who is one of the best experts in classic Jaguars in all of the EU. He knows XJS' like the back of his hand and he says EXACTLY THE SAME that you are saying: if well maintained by the proper hands, these intimidating V12 are extremely reliable. But what gives him the most work and frustration is having to refix all the screw ups of prior incompetent mechanics. My XJS is maintained only by him, and despite the bad reputation of this model, mine is probably one of the best and most reliable cars I have ever owned.
You're fortunate to know an expert mechanic. The XJS is one of the cars I'd like to own but finding a place to get it serviced properly would be very frustrating.
@@danpatterson8009 if you want something doing right, do it yourself, a good workshop manual, and a friendly mechanic on speed dial should see you through, and cars of this era, really don't require much in the way of specialist tools for service work, a methodical approach, patience and simple hand tools will get you there 99% of the time, and so much more rewarding than taking a chance with a mechanic you don't know or trust!
@@danpatterson8009 Hello Dan I understand that not every mechanic can handle those V12's, but......have you considered a straight six XJS? If you buy one of the last series (from 1992 to 1996), their engines are extremely reliable and can be fixed by any competent mechanic without having to be Jaguar experts. If you do your homework properly and take your time to find a good unit, owning this car does not have to be a nightmare at all.
I knew a great mechanic once that specialized in repairing European vehicles. I used to tow all kinds of vehicles to this man. One day he had a V12 Jaguar pulled apart for engine valve timing problems and I asked him if he minded working on V12 Jags and he told me, “as long as you know what you are doing, you’ll be fine”. The man was never intimated by ANY make of car. You remind me of a young version of this man Wizard. Outstanding diagnosis Wizard!
I'd bet Italian electrics would throw you!!! Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati, Lanborgini, Ferrari. Under the skin they're all part of the government funded industry, and no better for that.
The XJ-S still had an old-fashioned rope seal for it's rear main seal. I heard Jaguar dealers used to keep oil drip pans in the show room floor!!! (Ford redesigned it right away in early 90s). To replace rope seal, you need to pull the engine! But rope seals will always leak a tiny bit, that's just their nature. I've heard of guys replacing it to stop annoying oil drips, only to have it start leaking again within a few months. Best thing to do is change oil regularly, use recommended 20/50W, and don't let your engine sit non-running for extended periods. A few odd drips now and then is normal. (Not a puddle)
Im 66 years old now and a retired dental tech., but I had a part-time job working as the car detailer in the shop of Roth Bros. Imported Cars in Philadelphia in summer of 1972 when I was a kid and these Jaguar V12's were new and all the rage, if you had a few extra sheckles to afford one. One of the salesmen took one of the demo V12's home for the weekend and he got stranded on the road when it quit running for no apparent reason. The car was towed back to the shop and it took two of their top tier mechanics, one was a Brit., and a week of completely dismantling the entire engine to get it up and running again. My detailing bay was not far from their bay so I watched them for a week pulling their hair out and trying to diagnose the issue, and then the high fives when it started agin. Thanks car wizard for this one, it made me smile remembering those old summer days. And you really are a wizard being able to fix difficult tricky issues.
@@enterBJ40 Impact or abrupt vehicle movement will trigger the inertia switch which kills the electric fuel pump. Safety feature that was/is unknown to many people.
Absolutely gorgeous body. One of the best looking cars of the 80s by far, and STILL better looking than most cars today. I tried my hardest to get my wife to let me buy one ( could have bought one cheap!), drop in a chevy 350, but she didn't want to hear it. Ended up.buying her a Monte Carlo with the WORST engine Chevy ever made. 😡
@@IsleOfFeldspar There weren't too many cars that looked better, unless you're talking about Ferraris, Lambos, or Maseratis. I think it makes perfect sense. But you're entitled to your opinion.
I really wish people would quit beating up on Lucas. It boils down to this: British Leyland calls Lucas and says: "We need an x to do y." Lucas replies: "OK, what are the design parameters and what sort of MTBF are you looking for." BL says: "MTBF is z hours". Lucas: "Ok that'll cost you say 5 quid each." BL: "We had more like 10 shillings in mind." Lucas: "MTBF will drop to z/10" (or some such). Go talk to Bosch BL: But they're not British and we wouldn't want Sir Humphrey get involved. Lucas: (sighs) Fine. We'll cut the corners and build it for 15 shillings. BL: "Great, we'll sell replacements to the punters at 5 quid every time it craps out." Lucas: (breaks the 4th wall and shrugs) "It's a living." The devil curse the value engineers. All the cars that ran Cosworth engines in F1 back in the day had no problems with Lucas injectors or electrics. Lucas was allowed to build it properly.
Yup. Capable engineers, stymied by cost cutting management. Lucas also made the electronics for the Rolls-Royce Olympus that powered Concorde. No complaints there.
@@cambridgemart2075 I think the main issue with Lucas was American mechanics not understanding a foreign car, scarcity of spare parts available (especially as the cars got older) plus the inordinate amount of smog/emissions crap the cars had to have in order to be sold in the US.
American here with a great respect for British engineering. You guys built a lot of neat things, seems like management and the government were the problem!
In my shop that was the biggest headache,people trying to fix their own cars,especially something as complex like a V12 jag. We used to have a Lucas EPI tester(we used to call it the epidemic tester) for these old Bosch and Lucas system,nothing more than a glorified volt/Ohm meter,but it did speed up the diagnostic process.
I had a 1992 XJS. I bought it cheap because of its reputation. It was twelve years old and only about 32,000 miles. A beautiful black convertible with lovely tan interior. Everything worked terrifically. The secret is that the late 1980s into the 1990s V12 were different than the 1982 in this video. Jaguar had corrected so many of the defects of the early ones that the one I had was very reliable. Part of it was fuel injection and electronic ignition. I had it for 6-7 years and it ran great. And, such a wonderful ride. The one issue I had repeatedly is the cruise control. The first time it happened, I noticed the rod running in line with the engine had a broken part that connected it. I used a rubber grommet and a zip tie to reconnect and back in business. It would fail again in a year, but 15 cents and two minutes was the repeated fix. The XJS was made for over twenty years. Most of those years with a V12. The XJS kept the company afloat during tough times. Jaguar switched in a six cylinder around 1994, but the V12 by then was a great engine.
The XJS just gets more gorgeous with age... so in the shadow of the e-type, but a design classic in its own right, so nice to see it being looked after.
@@johngaither3830 they really are not any more complicated than any other EFI engine of the era. You just had to actually have a clue and know how to do proper diagnostics.
Still crazy to think that this engine was the foundation for the race engine that won a 24 hours of Le Mans in 1988, a race that emphasises reliability.
@@mikelynx4953 - Such a shame they only sold them in the U.S. for four model years, 1993-1996. Then after the '96 model year they discontinued the engine altogether.
god damn, my grandfather had one.. an 86 kept in his garage! I loved it so much he had the plemums chromed, the car had 12k miles and he unloaded it. Guy saw it coming off the transporter to the classic dealer... guy said idc what the price is he bought it off the truck. I hope its living well, I grew up with rides time to time, literally to church in the back of an xjs, marveling at the hood view. What a beautiful car man, I so want my own but I don't have money fallling out of my ass. So I just admire from afar
It is rare to find a mechanic with your experience, knowledge, skill and patience. I love your show because of all the challenges you take on. The advice you give and most of all the warnings you give. Thank you.
We had one in the mid 90s, a V12 Cabriolet with the removable roof panels, lighter than the later convertible. It was wonderful. I had it up to an indicated 140mph, rock steady, utterly smooth and still accelerating, traffic appeared ahead so I had to back off. Then No.1 Son arrived and it had to go. Aged 24 he now wants a Yaris hybrid, so a gene has clearly gone astray.
This video brought back memories I worked for an independent Jag workshop and the amount of work we got from other garages because they couldn't fix them was astonishing. The main engine components and gearbox didn't really give too much trouble. But everything else would fall apart for fun. Changing the handbrake pads would test anybody's patience if they had not done them before.
I cried the day a friend sold his for a Toyota. The Jag was British racing green with biscuit interior. Pushing the ego thing aside, I was a wonderful machine to drive, the handling was superb, and it was definitely a gentleman's automobile.
My '73 XJ12L was a dream to drive, and you felt like it could pull up tree stumps. But on the highway you could quite literally see the needle on the fuel gauge move, and one of the SU fuel pumps broke while it was sitting in the garage overnight. Nor was it very funny when the wipers suddenly stopped working in the rain during a road trip.
Here in the UK I don't know of any V12 Jags that have had the engine swapped for an alternative, and I am a member of the XJS Owners Club, so see a lot of XJS's. I have owned a V12 convertible for 10 years, which runs perfectly and has never let me down.it is regularly serviced by an independent, but Jag Dealer trained mechanic - there is nothing he doesn't know about these cars, and there a lot of specialists like that in the UK. To suggest the V12 is not a good engine is very unfair - it is one of the best V12's ever made, if looked after and serviced/repaired by someone who knows what they are doing. I would rather scrap an XJS than put a V8 in it!
@M Bacon That's a fair comment and understandable, we still have lots of specialists in the UK, and a good supply of parts, as the V12 was also used in the XJ and late E types
@@busman7228 there not all like that. most will not drive long distance because of fuel prices in uk they drink to much if driven wrong and insurance is hefty
My dad bought a brand new 1979 XJS. He said the first year of ownership was horrible. Constantly at dealer. After that initial year it was a pretty good car for him. He had 10 years and over a 100k miles
70s XJSs were terrible build quality, on top of the terrible Opus ignition system. By early 80s, the new Lucas ignition system (fuel injection was actually designed by Bosch) was superior, and build quality went up through the 80s after Thatcher privatized Jaguar. Also, when Ford bought them in 89, the build quality kept increasing too. The 70s were so bad, that there is no 1981 US model. Jaguar was about to kill the XJ-S in 1980, but the new HE technology (bringing gas mileage up from 8 to 12mpg in the city) gave it new life.
And yet my Acura Legend is 30 years old just shy of 300k, just as luxurious with reliable electronics, and still starts every time and has never left me stranded.
@@G0ZERIAN The Acura Legend was a joint Honda/Rover project and actually has a Rover electrical system. Of course Rover and Jaguar were part of BL back then. Your car probably shares much of its electrics with Jags of that era.
@@agt155 sorry that is incorrect. The Rover/Sterling version used the chasis, suspension, and drive train of the Honda/Acura Legend. The body panels, electrics and interior appointments were proprietary to each manufacturer. Dont belive me? Go tear two of them apart and see how the Hondas wiring and connectors are almost carbon copies of other Hondas from the era, and how the Sterlings/Rovers are completely different wiring and connectors, unmistakably British. Ive disassembled both cars myself many times over many years of ownership.
@@G0ZERIAN The development work was carried out at Rover's Cowley plant and Honda's Tochigi development centre. Both cars shared the same core structure and floorpan, but they each had their own unique exterior bodywork and interior. Under the agreement, Honda would supply the V6 petrol engine, both automatic and manual transmissions and the chassis design, whilst BL would provide the 4-cylinder petrol engine and much of the electrical systems.
Hi “jaguar” wizard….thank you so much for this video: I followed your advice and exchanged the coolant temperature sensor in my 85 XJS that was starting to run too rich from one day to the other and created large clouds of smoke. I thought it had a blown head gasket! $26 and a few minutes later to exchange the sensor and it runs perfectly smooth again! Engine temperature is back to normal and multiple electric gremlins are gone after the sensor exchange. It must have created some short and turned out to be totally corroded inside! These are my favorite cars….as they run so smooth if they work as intended. Actually way more reliable than you would expect but you have to drive regularly! Great video!
Well now that makes good sense, and I will now do same as have exactly this problem where it runs excessively rich cold hot or any time. I can also add flushing an overheating cooling system with 10 bottles of diet coke left overnight worked particularly well for it overheating as well (strange yet true).
My XJ40 puffs a cloud of white smoke for 3 seconds after a cold start and takes ages to get up to temperature (according to the dashboard dial). Is that the same issue?
I'm a rookie and I have a Daimler DD6 with the same engine. I have change the 12 sparkplugs, leads and cap. (took me 16 hours, the AC compressor is heavy and difficult) New oil, filter and gasket for lower oilpan, and new dampers front. Great car for a beginner :-) Good luck with the XJS, its so nice looking!!
I have a 1992 XJS convertible, spark plugs same as, and it took me less than a hour to replace, with out removing the AC compressor, let me know for the next time you change spark plugs, and I'll show you
@@MrXlskywolf Thats impressive! I got a quote from a Classic car shop for estimate 5 hours. I thought, nah, I can do it myself with the tools at hand. It took me 6 hours to remove compressor, cruise, throtle-tower etc, and to get the new plugs, cap n leads in... But then additional 10hours and a lot of money in the swear jar to get all stuff back, the AC was difficult until I remove the front mount plate on the compressor as well.. Learing by doing..
I don't get why so many people have trouble with the Jag V12's, they are pretty simple really, they just look complicated because there's so much packed into the bay.
You still can’t “just see what the computer says”. You still have to figure out whether the sensor is bad or if it’s fine and the fault lies elsewhere.....
@@shawnbottom4769 I think his comment was to say that the car is not like the new ones, a lot of detective work in the old style had to be done here without a scanner computer
Good lesson in troubleshooting. No reason to get mad/frustrated... that's when blood usually gets spilled LOL... follow the path and expect positive results... as my sage father once told me... "It's a machine made by man. It Ran before and it will run again!"
Wish i had found such a great mechanic like Wizard when i lived overthere in US. I had a jaguar and my map sensor got changed 2 times and still had the faulty code P105. I was pissed because there was not a single shop who had the willingness to measuring out the electrical wires. They just like the retirees on a bingo party constantly taking guesses and my wallet just got thinner.
The XJ-S is one of the best designs of the era, especially for a relatively mass produced car . Leyland had a winner, shame they never could really develop them properly and instead frittered the cash the specialist divisions generated on dreck like the Marina.
He does seem to think a great deal of the MAGNITUDE of automotive intellect that was required to achieve this impossible feat. ......FAR above the capability of any "common" technician
I had one of these for several years. The car always started and ran without any issues. Wish I still had it. The V12 was a very refined and smooth running engine.
Car wizard, at 5:26 you can see a large electrical arc near the firewall when you hit the key to crank the car over. Might be something to look into. More Lucas to exercise from the car.
Nice spot on that arcing! That can't be normal, can it? Maybe because that exposed wire? Good thing there wasn't any fuel vapors in the air above the engine there, woulda been a nice big bang!
Well said abd if it was a Jaguar, Rover SDi or any BL vehicle and was not plagued by electric gremlins, then it was not built to the very high standards of spare parts left over from other models. Such as Allegro parts going into a Princess, or Truimph Acclaim bits going into a Rover straight six or 3500 V8!!!
THANK YOU Car Wizard for saving this car's heart. It's sad when I see that SBC on ads for these. I've driven a V12 XJS once, and it's a phenomenal car. I don't own one and admit that British engineering of that era is a process. Saving jewels like this give proper cred to the term Car Wizard.
Over the years I've had to teach a few younger mechanics that the problem isn't always a "single point of failure". Actually it usually is... I mean most commonly some single thing went bad that stopped the car from running, but the moment some screwball got into the car all bets are off. On my wife's car I found some hatchet mechanic had kludged in an after market alarm system then another tweaker ripped it out, while chasing a no crank - no start issue. The car also had an aftermarket stereo/infotainment system. I found the starter relay hanging mid air between the fuse box and starter motor in a ball of electrical tape. Oddly that wasn't the problem. But once you find dozens of wires and dozens of home brew splices that don't go anywhere and a relay mounted mid-air all bets are off, there's no wiring diagram for your car and you're troubleshooting blind starting from square one. In my case, it was either the fuel injector driver section of the ECU or the wiring. I told my wife I would have to chase the wiring to confirm the ECU was faulty... but she didn't want to wait a week for me to test and re-wire the car. She found a used ECU for $80.00 and when I popped it in the car ran fine... I got lucky... thanks to my wife's impatience, I didn't have to untangle a hundred yards of psychedelic spaghetti. I should add that other mechanics had already installed a new alternator, fuel pump, starter motor and valve cover gasket. I'm guessing the problem was intermittent and I also got lucky that the ECU hard failed two weeks after we bought the car. Chasing the problem if it were still intermittent would have been three times the nightmare. So yes... usually a single thing stopped the car, but if someone else has already been under the hood all bets are off, and if there's one thing wrong with the car there's no reason a lot of other things can't be wrong with it too.
@@johnchristmas7522 When I was a kid, cutting my teeth on 1960's cars, swapping parts often worked, systems were not very interconnected and parts were a lot cheaper. Still, anyone who called themselves a mechanic had at least a couple of meters and gauges and knew how to use them. And even then we had to learn to diagnose by ear sometimes. In some ways the new cars are even easier. I can jack in my laptop and most of the diagnostics will pop up on the screen real time. No timing lights, gauges or meters required, but it still requires skill and experience and test equipment to then run down the problem to a loose hose, wire or failed component. Parts swapping can still work, sometimes, but it can get really expensive, really fast on some cars. And with so many computer controlled integrated components, a fuel system problem might show up as a transmission problem, or something likewise absurd. As a kid, we used to call parts swapping. "shot-gunning the problem" now it's literally called "shooting a parts cannon at the car". I'm too old to really do much heavy mechanical work anymore, but I try to stay current on diagnostics. But if someone is actually charging money for their services, the least they should do is learn their trade, before ripping people off.
@@RJ-vb7gh Well you sound like a fine mechanic but point was, that Jags and many other cars got bad reputations from very poor work done in the past, by so called mechanics. Add to that , that some customers just lie and hate to pay out money to get the job done right. All Jaguars were cars of a fine breed, priced much lower than they could of expected to charge. Some of the finest designs, even today came out from jaguars, so for me they were brilliant cars at a brilliant price. Coming from a different stable would have cost twice as much. Why someone would stick a V8 in one defeats me.
@@johnchristmas7522 Aesthetically, I kind of like Jags, mechanically some are better than others... economically a high mileage older jag can eat a lower income person alive. As rich kids toys and collectables there are some that fit the bill superbly. But if I was the guy who had to work on one and foot the bill for parts... it wouldn't be my first choice for a daily driver. If it were your car and you were paying for repairs, I wouldn't mind driving it or even fixing it at dealer rates.
@@RJ-vb7gh You are correct RJ but the Jaguars were never aimed at the normal working guy-big cars come with big bills. As the saying goes "If you can't stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen" and that applies to all cars. A big BMW would eat you alive just on the parts prices. I still love the JAGS, so please let me Dream!
The V12 Jaguar was an amazing engine. Very strong, powerful and an absolute bargain at the time. It had to be maintained properly otherwise overheating can be a problem. Changing the plugs is a nightmare. Many engines never had a plug change.
I ran a Jaguar for some years and knew a guy who was one of the development engineers at Jaguar. He also used to say that many engines never had a plug change. Having tried it myself I had to remove the A/C module.
Always check the condition of the fuel hoses between the fuel rail and the injectors when one of these V12 Jaguars is in the shop. These engines can easily burst into flames if any of those hoses starts to leak gasoline.
OIL LEAK: If the new sensor doesn’t fix it, there are EXTERNAL oil lines on the rear of the block. They leak at the copper washers. Second, just above that, there’s a half moon rubber plug under the cam cover rear that shrinks and falls out. I think your puddle is more likely from these locations.
@@CarWizard I trust the car wizard that the sensor was leaking! If there is still a drip under the car, check out those other two notorious leaky spots also. The XJS is my favorite terrible car and I’m glad you made a video on it. Been daily driving XJSs since 1996!
I worked for a Jaguar MG and Triumph dealership in the late 70s and early 80s and we called Lucas the Prince of Darkness. I was always surprised by the amount of work we got from the much larger towns. I think many mechanics at the large dealerships were scared by these cars. My auto mechanics instructor always taught us to go back to basics when in doubt, which never failed me.
I've been collecting/restoring/repairing Jag xj-s's for 10 years now. Once you get your mind wrapped around how they work (which involves a lot of reading) they're actually a joy to work on.
These cars were phenomenal when new I remember sitting in a V12 on a UK motorway at an indicated 170mph (probably 150 to 160 mph ) in comfort and just wind noise and feeling perfectly stable and safe. These cars were not then fitted with a speed limiter and fuel consumption was probably 4 or 5 mpg ! The sad fact was that these cars were expensive and need the attention of the Best Jaguar mechanic at the Dealers not the guy who was clock watching. As the cars got older people who could afford to buy them were not able to afford service them correctly and they went to garages who thought they "knew a bit" and then they went down hill and got very unreliable. A friend who had one from new and had it correctly serviced never had any problems, ( he was a wealthy man) he sold it when the mechanic who was the expert on older Jaguars retired as he lost faith in the " New" expert. The new owner got an exceptional car I hope he kept up the maintenance .
@@KiwiCatherineJemma ah! Smog control, MG B's had one SU carb tiny bore exhaust and so much "plumbing" for the air pump it was unreal , it took the sport out of sports car...
You are a true Crossover between Automotive Mechanic and Technician. The role is to diagnose the problem accurately and repair. Working on cars or trucks both domestic and foreign, you have to do it all. Brilliant job.
It takes longer to "unpick" the mess from the previous guy, that to fix the fault. Coax cable is notorious for breaking, they really don't like bending or going round bends. Oh the delicious irony that the Wizard dissed Lucas, just to find out the faulty internals were US made.
Kevin Short If something is a true piece of shit, it won’t last almost 40 years. This car is clearly not that bad, as it still runs 40 years later. Sure, it’s no Honda but it certainly ain’t as bad as it seems.
@M Bacon It must be very expensive, because I haven't ever seen it being used anywhere. Coax BNC cables, coax TV cables, etc are all not happy with bending and sharp corners.
At the beginning when I saw the Lucas label on the ignition module I knew there was trouble. Years ago Lucas made a vacuum cleaner, it was the only thing Lucas made that didn't suck.
Thanks for making a video on an XJS! I have an 83 that was imported from the UK that i'm trying to get running right. Please please please tell the owner to replace the fuel injection wiring harness, they get cooked being deep in the V. Also check the fuel rail hoses! I'll have to try your coolant temperature sensor trick because mine smokes up the neighborhood. I would recommend to anyone interested in old jags to check out Living With A Classic, he's incredibly knowledgeable on them.
Love your show! I also love the XJS! One of the biggest importance with this engines is to have a working cooling system. The engines is extremely sensitive for overheating, and also made of aluminum so coolent fluid needs to be replaced latest every second year (mainly due to the inhibitor). If the engine has been standing still for s long time its a risk of heavy corrosion inside. Flush the cooling system and secure that it has full functionallity. The radiator can be clogged due to corrosion. Best Wishes from Sweden!
Overheating problems are seldom issues with the cooling system, but with the distributor advance and retard being frozen. The reason for this is nearly always the felt pad under the rotor arm that is supposed to be oiled every service is nearly always missed out. This has nothing to do with the 12 leads that need to come off to remove the cap to remove the rotor to get to said felt pad of course..
@@robertmaybeth3434 yeah its hit or miss. I have an 86 xj6 and it either works great or not at all. But to be fair the car did sit for 10 years prior. Overall maintenance will keep them going well, but neglecting it will ruin the engine completely. But the lucas system is awful
I am a motorcycle tech, used to be a service manager for a Honda shop, I also did, and still do side jobs. Both at work and home, people wouldn’t tell you all the stuff they messed with, trying to “fix” it. I’d be going insane, only to find issues like your 180 out distributor. They don’t my realize time is their money for some reason, and would rather pay, then suffer the embarrassment of admitting they screwed it up. It’s insane. Nice job Wizard.
I've just resurrected one of these things that's been standing for 11 years literally this week; got it started fairly easily and it's running smoothly, but have exactly the rich running you describe including the smoke, smells like it's running on coal. Thanks for the tip about the coolant sensor, will try it, might've saved me hours.
My dad* had the V12 XJS. He had his engine modified and went to a stand alone ECU. This was done in 2014 with Haltech. Car produces over 500 hp, 6 speed manual. The car had originally 83.000 km so it was used and now its kind of a resto mod
@@tehgzizlauw1787 No just naturally aspirated, slightly bigger cams and different crankshaft, pistons, rods and a better flowing intake with a better flowing exhaust with race cats and mufflers
Had one come in shop years ago, he wanted fluids checked, He popped hood, was still running, injectors had been leaking and fumes got in dist and had split dist cap, could see rotor button spinning thru split cap, I said Guy? hows car running? Said never been better! lol
I wished I'd known about this man when I had my 1976 XJ 12 L I took it to a shop who claimed they knew Jaguars it wouldn't start by the time they had supposed to have fixed it $3600 later I brought it home went to start it the following day and again no start .I was angry went back to the shop, complained they told me they never wanted to see the car again. It was a rare car had a 4 speed standard transmission with electronic overdrive ,ended up selling it cheap
I remember looking at one of these engines when I was 13 years old. We asked a old guy that pulled into the pub if we could look at the engine. It was brand new car. And all we seen was a mass of pipe work. The guy was cool for taking the time and showing us. I'm fifty six years old now looking into this engine. Lol.
@@adriandean7815 thank you I appreciate it! Trying to as best as I can, and that will definitely be watched tonight! Best of luck to you too, stay safe
@@mpkp2011 - Not really 'insane'... The Jaguar V12 was developed from the old 1951 Buick 215"/3.5L all aluminum V8 with same over square 3.5" bore x 2.8" stroke. 8 cylinders = 3.5L, 12 cylinders = 5.3L. Before then UK engines were under square, long stroke, and slow revving. High revs on the new freeways would kill them in 25K miles.
Fact is the Jaguar V12 was developed from the old 1951 Buick 215"/3.5L all aluminum V8 with same over square 3.5" bore x 2.8" stroke. 8 cylinders = 3.5L, 12 cylinders = 5.3L. Before then UK engines were under square, long stroke, and slow revving. High revs on the new freeways would kill them in 25K miles.
Having owned both in the past, I feel like owning an old Jag is a lot like owning a boat. The two best days of ownership are the day you buy it, and the day you sell it.
Amen Loren, beautiful to look at and when they run they are lovely. Everything cost £1000 on them... Hi can you service my jag ... yeah £1000 My dad had 4 over the years... he’d hide the service bills from my mum!!😂😂😂
It's unfair to call the v12 cursed. It's rare that a race engine goes into a production car rather than a production engine goes into a race car. You've clearly got the brains to fix it properly! Thanks Dave for the vids
Do you care to expand on this comment? What modifications and specs were the Group C TWR cars? Or for that matter how about the XJS's that were run at Bathurst? Cheers
EASY, I apprenticed on those things to a jag master tech back then. Not sure what you are using to back the claim that V12 is/was a bad motor. All the crap hung on the car was shite but that motor itself was bullet proof.
@@charlesstiesmeyer1494 291hp and 319lb-ft of torque doesn't sound bad at all for 1982. 13mpg city/19mpg hwy doesn't sound bad for '82 either, much less a V12 of the era.
@@macgroober1396 I remember, back in the day, reading a magazine's review of the, then new v12 "HE" (High Efficiency) hardtop coupe model where they drove from England through Europe and back to England and achieved a VERY respectable fuel economy. I believe it was something like 29mpg (Imperial gallons).
I'm glad to see him working on one. I have two of them. One is a Hess and Eisenhart convertible believed to be the last one off the line before the factory burned. It has an intermittent no start. I may bring it to the wizard after I fix a couple unrelated things first.
Two guys were talking, and one had an old Land Rover. The other guy looks inside, and saw that every switch was blank. He asked his friend how he remembered what every switch did without having labels. He looked and replied, “it doesn’t matter, none of them work anyway”
This is my Bucket List car. With the V12 blueprinted, roll cage installed, resprayed in candy apple BRG, and then I go up Pike's Peak as fast as I can while all of the James Bond instrumental albums blare on a portable speaker. Need to hear that exhaust note! This was awesome, thanks!
@@brianevans656 yeah those are actually the 2 most common causes of windshield greasyness...either owned by a smoker at some point, or problems with the heater-even in other makes/models...heater core leaks make a vapor of coolant(and if there's a slight headgasket leak, oil as well) that condenses on the inside of windshield through the defrost vents and believe me...it is so hard to clean up-and combat if the cause is still an issue. Sadly, dinking with heater cores & such can be a pain too as it often involves taking apart a lot of stuff to get to it in most vehicles.
Drove one of these on a long trip and it was such a great sport tourer. Lots of power and so smooth, was a pleasure to drive. Glad it wasn't mine though.
I used to work at a Jaguar dealer when these were new. They were a dream to drive. I do not recall them causing much in the way of problems, but then they were not 30+ years old back then, and parts were readily available, and there were four on the forcourt for sale. One could simple swap bits from one car to another until once swapped the fault from one car to the other, and then one knew which bit was at fault. Got a 1987 4.2L LWB Daimler Sovereign in at the moment. It was similar, multiple faults preventing it running. Failed fuel pump, blocked fuel degassing valve, blocked flue line, stuck fuel tank switchover valve, stuck fuel return valves. Blocked fuel tank vent, partially blocked fuel filter, all four brake calipers seized up..... and I really dislike having to reassemble the handbrake calipers,
There was a garage I'd hang around that had Mustangs on one side and Jaguars on the other. The guy that restored or repaired the Mustangs usually dealt with rust and would make them beautiful again. The Jaguars on the other hand always looked beautiful inside and out but had electrical or mechanical issues. I was amazed by how inexpensive he purchased the cars for. What I did not realize at the time was how potentially difficult it could be to repair. I get it now after watching this video. He probably purchased cars that had multiple failures by one or more mechanics.
My father in law had one. He said when he went through a car wash it would leak thru the vents. I drove it once I'm 6'4. The wheel well so small I could only get one foot in. But it had a coolness to it. Very hard to work on. Wizard is a real wizard to fix this
Great job! Great video! For those contemplating buying one of these cars: 1st: these are OLD vehicles now. They’ll ALL need work. If you don’t have lots & lots & lots of $$$…DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER buying one. They are exceedingly expensive to fix AND they break down. Rear brake repair alone can cost several thousand $$$. Really understand what you’re buying first. These will bleed your bank account faster than a mistress. Believe me…I was factory trained in these back in the time they were new. They really are for those who have patience, time, & lots & lots of $$$. Nice presentation
Joking aside, Lucas never made domestic appliances, and beer humour coming from a nation that is famous the world over for producing piss like larger, is well, a bit rich.
@@GTVAlfaMan I couldn't care less to be honest, of course it's funny, but American beer is joke all over world and tastes of piss, so I think Americans (didn't know you weren't) should have some self awareness when mocking other nations.
@@stringer-ik1pc Ian Tyrell, whilst obviously a superb specialist, is not exactly lithe in the figure department, not fat, but not exactly skinny either.
As a non-tech person, I commend you on (i) your methodical approach, (ii) your ability to control a natural frustration in dealing with recalcitrant vehicles, and (iii) your persistence. Rare gifts.
The American specification lights look interesting, a bit like Citroen SM, but not really pretty. Changing them to Euro spec, if possible would give it some British class.
@@houseofno No, he was clear the car belongs to a customer. Getting the car to run well is most important. Only then rises the question whether to use it as it is or to change details. That's up to the owner.
@@warrantyvoid100 And you would know if you had a Lucas headlight circuit because it would only have two settings. Flicker, and Off. Having dealt with Lucas on a TR8 I have nothing but respect for Car Wizard for sorting that Jaguar out.
"cursed V12" its a good catchy title. Better / snappier than "much maligned and butchered by incompetent mechanics" V12. Thank for posting the video. Good insight into the realities of owning one. A money pit if you don't have a good shop. A delight if you can find somebody who knows what they're doing. Amazingly good value if you can do it yourself. The parts for this were pennies. The genius is in the diagnosis. Mine is an '87 and I work on it myself with my kid (father son project). Its been fun and actually been so reliable we ran out of things to do! We got an E-Type to work on for more fun! Still have the XJS - love it!
I parked those cars at the local mafia restaurant in the eighties and they were by far the smoothest and quietest of all the cars, my favorite XJS was all black and the leather smell was amazing if you could bottle that smell it would make you rich!
As soon as you said it had an oil leak I knew where it was coming from. Those old Jags have a sense of humor about them and always leak from the oil pressure sending unit.
@Camaro 1968 Nah, when I was a kid in the late '80s these were unique and different from all the Euro-German (and to a lesser extent, Italian) stuff that was popular. Any engine in the consumer market with more than 8 cylinders had additional mystique, too.
You're right, Car Wizard! Been in love with British cars since I saw my first new Bug Eye Sprite as a kid. I still remember going to the foreign car parts shop in the early 1970s and seeing this bumper sticker for sale: "Lucas Electronics, why the British drink warm beer!" Despite the gremlins, I still have a passion for British cars. When my friends went to England in the 1980s, they told me that I would love England because "They work on their cars every weekend." Great cars, when they run right. Lotus nut!
Probably does ruin it... But I'd imagine the goal for most people who do the swap is reliability over refinement, although Chevy LS V8's are not the most "un-smooth" engines out there.
I've found these engines to be reliable in fact . Changing the spark plugs is a bit of a challenge admittedly. And it's a great engine. Turbine smooth..
