I have a 88 XJ-S V12 & a 90 XJ-S 3.6 - both just for driving not show. The 3.6 was produced for France and could use a re-spray to brighten up the paint - I heard somewhere that the paint jobs for French cars needed some special handling to get a good re-paint. Is this true and what are the special needs?

Second....both cars' interiors start to smell of gas fumes after sitting parked for a few days. Is this a common problem and what might be the problem?

Thanks!

Submitted by dwcurtiss@virt… on Thu, 01/19/2006 - 20:01

The other possibility is the pesky body rivet that causes a pin hole leak on the bottom of the gas tank. You might check the area under the tanks for gas or a strong gas smell. If this is the problem the tanks need to be removed, repaired, and the rivet smoothed. Add a buffer of gasket material to the bottom of the tank to give a bit of room, to avoid rubbing of the rivet on the tank.

1990 XJ-S Convertible - Collector Edition

Submitted by dwcurtiss@virt… on Thu, 01/19/2006 - 19:56

Concerning the gas fumes - I had the same problem with my XJ-S; turned out to be small tear in the rubber gator (out of sight naturally) where the gator was torn by the worm gear clamp for the by-pass hose.
It was a bugger replacing the gator and o-ring; not much room to work. My tip to you on the assembly sequence:

1.Blue masking tape (the 3M type or similar) to protect body paint in the proximity.
2. Assuming you purchase new a new gator, o-ring, and worm gear clamps (highly recommended) slip the larger end of the gator over the tank neck and clamp (easy does it - no need to muscle it down).
3. Install the new o-ring in the interior of the tank neck (use a little white grease for a later step).
3. Work the cap assembly into the body and work the smaller end of the gator onto the cap assembly.
4. Unscrew the smaller worm gear clamp and wrap it around the assembly were it is suppose to go (getting the worm gear to re-engage is a bugger but it will go with enough cussing). The body hole for the assembly is elongated so that the worm gear on the clamp should be towards the rear of the body. Clamp it down enough to hold and then
5. Slip the cap assembly into the tank next (compressing the greased 0-ring.
6. Slip the by-pass hose and worm gear clamp back onto the cap assembly (the worst past of this whole excercise. Make sure you get the clamp over the correct part of the assembly to effect a proper seal. Also, make sure not to tear (doh!) the gator with the sharp edge of the clamp when in the final installed position.

1990 XJ-S Convertible - Collector Edition

Submitted by silver007@shaw.ca on Sun, 01/15/2006 - 21:28

Art Dickenson.
1983 XJS GT "Silver"
Pacific Jaguar.ca

I believe the gas smell issue was pert of a recall by Jaguar, I could be wrong , but check your vehicles with the local authorised dealer . He can check whether all recall upgrades have been carried out.
As for the paint I personally have not hears of any problems painting french cars. Of course in Canada we are bilingual by law, if you know what I mean,
Regards, Art