I just bought an 89 XJS and I love the car. 53,000 miles and well cared for.

I have two questions
1) I can't figure out how to light up the dash/gauges at night. When I turn on my lights no light comes on around the gauges and I can't see them. It's probably a simple switch or something but I can find no reference to this in my manual.

2)When I hit a bump I can hear what sound to me to be the shock absorber bottoming out. Since the manual is in British-ese I can't tell whether I have have shocks or struts or just rubber bands. The car has absolutely no rust that I can find anywhere. The car steers fine and is tight but feels a bit mushy travelling down the road. I fear some front end parts may be bad but am hoping it is shocks or struts. Any recommendation on the best replacements?

Submitted by dougdwyer1@com… on Sun, 05/18/2008 - 18:52

Dash lights: there's a rheostat on the under-dash trim panle---right about in front of your right knee. Perhaps its been turned all the way down?

On the best day (or should I say night?) the panel lights are none to bright. Bypassing the rheostat helps, as does new panel bulbs and cleaning the contacts on the circuit board behind the gauge cluster.

Suspension: most likely culprit is the upper shock bushings, which often crumble away. Replacements available from any of the usual Jag suppliers or some use generics from a neighborhood parts store.

Sometimes the shocks themsleves make noise, but that's less likely. I've also found that shocks on these older Jags tend to clunk unless the mounting bolts are tight---tighter than you'd expect they'd need to be. Also check the end links for the anti-roll bar and make sure the braces running from the firewall to the sides of the engine bay are tight. really tight.

I agree on downloading Kirby Palms book....tons of great info you'll never find in any Jaguar tech literature. But one warning: it tends to paint an overly-gloomy picture of these cars...so don't get too worried as read along :-)

Cheers
DD

Cheers
DD